Learning Inter-Section:
R.C. Harris Water Education Center

R.C. HARRIS WATER FILTRATION PLANT, TORONTO | 2nd Semester Graduate Studio
Critic: Mason White

Project Overview

The RC Harris Water Education Centre (WEC) offers a unique educational experience through a celebration of the Filtration Plant’s infrastructure and processes. Employing water as education and water as play narratives, the WEC provides both active and passive learning experiences. Navigating the thresholds of the Filtration Building and Alum Tower from city to lake prompts visitors to celebrate the importance of water on a personal, city, and global environmental level.

The RC Harris Water Filtration Plant currently provides about 45% of Toronto and York-Region’s drinking water supply. As such, the plant exists as a vital piece of civic infrastructure which is appropriately safeguarded and inaccessible to the public. Through its interaction with the site, the WEC proposes to create continuity between the termini of the Queen Streetcar route and the Toronto Waterfront, and to provide a didactic interface between visitors and the operational plant infrastructure.

Concept Diagrams

Building Plans / Program

The Water Education Centre bridges the existing plant buildings, allowing visitors to interact with varying degrees of water quality at specific points along their path. From the forecourt, a visitor is immediately presented with views of the massive settling tanks under the front lawn. Learning through water interaction begins at the junction of the WEC and existing Filtration Building where a visitor can experience varying levels of immersion and water purity and temperature in 4 co-opted filter basins.

Education Centre Program

11. Library
12. Office Reception
13. Offices
14. Board Room
15. Water Jet Trough
16. Large Exhibition Space
17. WC
18. Connection to Alum Tower
19. Small Exhibition Space
20. Private Pool (Deep Conditioned Water)
21. Kitchen
22. Restaurant
23. Pure Water Drinking Trough

1. Drop Off/Loading Area
2. Reflecting Pond (Lake Water)
3. Lobby/Entry
4. WC / Changerooms
5. Cafe
6. Exploration Basin (Dry)
7. Gallery Basin (Ankle Deep Water)
8. Swimming Basin (Deep Semi-Cond. Water)
9. Hot/Cold Basin
a. Heated Conditioned Water
b. Cold Lakewater
10. Auditorium

The journey continues with a series of interactive nodes that exhibit the process of water filtration occurring at the RC Harris plant: the Water Jet Trough which represents the power of the lift pumps, the deep recreational pool, and the pure water drinking bar. The WEC creates a necessary link between the dispersed site elements, while the lightness and transparency of this new structure allows old and new to exist independently yet in harmony with each other.