Practical experiment: as the first phase of a new campus, KPMB attempt to resolve the site's awkward geometry and topography

Architectural Review, The, Oct, 2004 by Brian Carter

Centennial College in Toronto was founded in 1966 to offer career-oriented training as an alternative to university education. The most recent addition represents the first phase in the development of a new campus with more innovative and sustainable environments for higher education.

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Constructed on land owned by the University of Toronto and leased to the college, the new HP Science and Technology Centre was prompted by a government initiative to forge new connections with industry. Developed in collaboration with Hewlett Packard, the new centre is in Scarborough adjacent to the satellite campus of the University of Toronto. Conceived as a part of the landscape, the monumental concrete megastructure designed by John Andrews was sited on the crown of a ridge overlooking the valley. However, more recently the setting has changed as evergreen forests have been cleared to create vast car parks, large new buildings and widened roads; an aggressive appropriation of natural landscapes.

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The new building has been organized in two four-storey wings aligned with the Ellesmere and Morningside Avenues. Planned with teaching spaces along each of these long facades, the building has been cracked open to form a zone of public spaces, student amenities and service areas. In contrast to the rational organization of the two classroom wings this space, which forms the heart of the scheme, is conspicuously informal. Glassy and generously opened to southerly views of Highland Creek, it also forms the major entrance into the college. The entrance forecourt at the junction of the two main roads is designed to create waiting spaces and a courtyard close to the existing bus stops. But because of the slope of the site there are two other entrances, one at the northern end of the building at the second floor level, and another at the fourth floor where a black sculpted bridge connects to the plateau to the eastern corner. As a result of these dispersed entry points, which knit the complex into the topography of the site, the building is designed with a series of grand public staircases that are generous, glassy and thoughtfully detailed.

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Anticipating the need to create programmes to serve a growing urban population, the building has been designed to accommodate change. The two wings of teaching space are designed on a 20 X 40ft (6 X 12m) structural grid with a concrete framed structure, raised concrete floors and internal partitions that can be placed anywhere on a 5ft (1.5m) grid. Although this new building is constructed from the same material as Scarborough College, it is largely concealed externally. With the exception of the lowest level--where the concrete forms a stepped podium for the building--it is clad with metal and glass. Along the two street frontages, this cladding is precisely tailored to the building with orthogonal panelized systems and integrated sun-screening to create two large white boxes that float above the podium. The north- and east-facing facades, however, are transformed into warped black corrugated metal planes and more informal patterns of glazing that cloak the building where it is cut into the hill.

Concrete is more obvious inside the building where it is exposed to make best use of its thermal properties. Combined with the use of daylight, external sunscreens and a natural ventilation system that is augmented with air conditioning or heat only when it is really hot or cold, the scheme demonstrates an impressive commitment to reducing energy usage. The concrete also creates fine public spaces, most noticeable in the stairwells and the L-shaped internal spine of the college. A giant flight of steps leads down to a cafe and slips under a sculpted box clad in Douglas fir that houses an auditorium, which pokes out to establish a quirky landmark in the street-like spaces of the centre. Working together with opening windows at the perimeter of the building, the circulation spaces of the spine have been designed not only to assist natural ventilation, but also to help locate the building within the natural folds of the site and focus it to views across the ravine and the city beyond.

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Toronto has been highlighted by the United Nations as the most diverse and multi-cultural city in the world. This new building, an important part of those initiatives, builds on the foundations that were established so assertively by John Andrews at Scarborough College, yet constructs a radically different setting for education today.

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