The City of Toronto’s Transportation Operation Centre (TOC) has been in place since January
1994. There were no major upgrades to the facilities over the past 20 years. The utilities and
equipment were aging and required replacement and upgrade in order to improve work
efficiency, capacity and productivity, and bring cost savings through reduction of power
consumption and reduction of maintenance costs. The renovation program was initiated in
October 2012 and completed in July 2014. In order to suit both the current and projected
functional needs of TOC operations, the project management team applied various technical
approaches to ensure the operational expectations were met – these included ergonomic
analysis, HVAC capacity evaluation, equipment layout, visibility assessment, lighting and
furniture requirement validation, etc.
This paper addresses the key architectural and engineering design aspects for the TOC
renovation. It provides details on analysing the TOC operational needs to determine the
optimum layout, size of display wall, the most effective use of the display wall and display wall
technology to fit into a confined space. It also discusses the use of 3D modelling techniques to
assess the view distance and angle for video wall placement, and lighting design. A
comprehensive capacity analysis for heating, ventilating and air conditioning system was
conducted to ensure a high quality of air circulation and employee comfort. A holistic solution of
network architecture topology as part of this program to satisfy the needs of both Corporate IT
and Traffic Management Centre is also discussed.