The University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC) is set to receive a new student-centered learning and support hub courtesy of ZAS Architects, in collaboration with CEBRA Architecture.
The design of the building is inspired by the form of a 19th century Printer’s Tray. The building’s four distinct facades mirror the tray’s compartments and represent the diversity of spaces and educational environments within. The framed grid that forms the building’s facade creates a design that combines various volumes, scales, surfaces, and spatial qualities.
The facility is described as a dynamic learning landscape that promotes agile and asynchronous education through a complex arrangement of rooms and open public spaces spanning multiple floors. Artificially-created terrain spills from the outside in to create a hybrid of social and study areas that support campus life.
Students will have access to a multitude of flexible, technology-enabled spaces, including 21 classrooms ranging from a 500-seat auditorium (dubbed the Campfire auditorium) to 24-seat active learning environments. The learning spaces sit on top of each other. Creating opportunities for platform and bleacher seating space known as the Knoll, which scales the roof of the 210-seat Butterfly Cave tiered auditorium.
A large study/social space, dubbed the Office, sits atop the Campfire auditorium, which protrudes two meters above the ground floor. Ascending rows allow for spatial flexibility and create a dynamic viewing experience for students, promoting immersive learning in an interactive, asynchronous environment with surrounding digital screens. The learning landscape extends horizontally across the ground floor, which features a recessed facade that is highly transparent with mullion-free structural glass panes. At the top of the building, meanwhile, two rooftop gardens will merge indoor and outdoor spaces to enhance the public realm within the upper floors.
Health and wellness elements are featured throughout, but are central to the fifth floor, where the campus-wide Student Affairs programs will be consolidated and prioritized into one central and accessible space. This will include counseling and mental health resources, a meditation and breastfeeding room, a physician and nurse office, academic advising and accessibility services, and multiple co-working spaces.
Related Stories
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HDR, and HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Construction Management Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, Barton Malow, Hill International top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest construction management and project management firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Contractors [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest contractors in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
