There is a clear and urgent need for a facility exclusively dedicated to homeless and street-involved LGBTIQ2S (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer, questioning and Two Spirit) youth in Toronto.

Nearly one in four homeless youth identify as LGBTIQ2S and, facing non-acceptance at home, they lack the traditional social supports necessary for the transition from childhood to adulthood. Once on the street, these same youth report being afraid to access mainstream shelters and housing for fear of abuse. In response to these challenges, Friends of Ruby Home will be exclusively dedicated to homeless LGBTIQ2S youth.

Friends of Ruby Home will be Canada’s first and only facility (and only the ninth in the world!) that will combine the proven counselling services of Friends of Ruby Home Outreach with emergency and transitional housing exclusively dedicated to serving homeless LGBTIQ2S youth. When its doors open, Friends of Ruby Home promises to fundamentally transform the support services offered to Toronto’s homeless and street-involved youth population.

The facility will be an extensive renovation of two existing housing structures on the site: a historic home from the 1870s, and a small apartment building built in the 1970s. Sustainable’s mission is to preserve and improve these distinct structures, to blend them into a new facility with exceptional energy-efficiency and comfort – and to provide an iconic identity for Friends of Ruby Home.

New west-facing windows with vertical shading devices will create a visual identity that ties the existing structures together and shades the building from summer sun. This will blend passive sustainable features with the architecture of the building, combining beauty and function into one meaningful identity.

Above-code amounts of insulation within a new wood structure will be added to the inside of the existing masonry shells, preserving the exterior aesthetic and creating a very comfortable interior environment. This adaptive construction technique will allow a new, high-efficiency building to be constructed within the shell of an old one. In this way, Sustainable will greatly reduce the carbon emissions during both construction and operation. Additionally, Sustainable will preserve and enhance the social equity of the site by retaining the existing buildings and by adding another layer of meaning to their history.

Details

Location: Toronto, ON
Area: 1672 m², 18,000 ft²
Project Leads: Craig Race, Donald Peckover, & Brad Tapson, Sarah Gilmore
Client: Friends of Ruby Home
Interior Design: Yabu Pushelberg
Contractor: Daniels Corporation
Structural: Atkins + VanGroll
Mechanical & Electrical: Mott MacDonald
Targeted Reduction in Energy Use from Typical: 46%