As the Second Place winner for the Office Division of the 2021 Solar Decathlon Design Competition, this project proved to be resilient in being a self-sustaining Net-Zero office building. The TRCA Satellite Visitors Centre and Office is located in Vaughan, just north of Toronto at the edge of the city. It is within the Kortright Centre surrounded by pristine woodlands. This building shares surplus energy and water with the surrounding buildings to create a sustainable community. The vision of the project presents a minimal impact approach in relation to the surrounding site.

The form of the building is elevated on pile foundations, creating gentle impact and sitting lightly on the land. The goal is to set an example for future developments to follow the principle of modular design, where building components are made from modular parts for assembling, to be used to their full potential, disassembling when necessary, and finally recycled and reused. Key features of the project include mass timber construction, prefabricated modular envelope panels, a living machine, photovoltaic arrays on the roof and parking lot, a DOAS + ERV/ ASHP +VRF system, open concept workstations for promoting collaboration, optimizing for daylight use with southern exposure, light shelves, and a grand skylight crowned on top of the central staircase. One major design goal that was set and achieved includes focusing on occupant health and wellbeing.