Poplar Road Public School (Mass Timber Replacement School)

Poplar Road Public School is the TDSB's first mass timber building — a prototypical design approach using prefabricated construction to enable rapid delivery of low-carbon schools. The kit-of-parts system accommodates repeating programmatic components through an expandable timber grid, allowing the model to function at various scales and configurations for future school buildings across Ontario. Sourced from Canadian forests, the mass timber structure addresses four sustainability goals: low embodied carbon, low operational carbon, accelerated construction, and a healthy learning environment. As a public community building, the project offers a visible demonstration of the role timber can play in climate mitigation.