University building

Completed in 1959, the former student social centre at the heart of the Université de Sherbrooke campus was originally designed to house the university administration and a cafeteria. Over time, it gradually became home to student life services, the general management, health, psychology and counselling services, as well as financial aid and student associations, without any major rethinking of the spaces. By the late 2010s, the building had become outdated and poorly adapted to contemporary student needs. Charles Lanteigne Charles Lanteigne The renovation of Pavilion E1 transforms this modest three-storey, 3,000-square-metre building into a clear centre of student life. The project reorganizes the interior around a new &l... More

Steeped in history and tradition, Hannan University is a private liberal arts university celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2025, located in a lush green area along the Yamato River, to the south of central Osaka. Ahead of this milestone year, alongside a faculty reorganization, the university has advanced plans to integrate the previously separate south campus into the main campus grounds. Building 4 was designed not only as a replacement for aging structures, but also as the largest new classroom building on the main campus to accommodate increasing student numbers, capitalizing on faculty reorganization and South Campus integration. Koji Yamazaki [Prise] Koji Yamazaki [Prise] The prior Building 4 had few openings facing the... More

The renovation of McMaster University’s Life Sciences Biology Building (LSBB) involved a multi-phased refurbishment of the original brutalist LSBB (first constructed in the 1970s), with the addition of a state-of-the-art, 11,400 SF Greenhouse with connecting labs, study spaces, and other amenities. This renovation has successfully integrated the new greenhouse with the pre-existing building, while simultaneously fulfilling additional objectives of the university, including operational efficiency, student experience, and sustainability, among others. The renewal of this critical facility has established the Department of Biology as a vital part of the entry sequence to the Hamilton campus, existing as a thoughtfully designed and durabl... More

Three educational institutions come together on the Campus Krems extension site - the Carl Landsteiner University, the University for Continuing Education Krems and the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems.  Maximilian Haidacher Maximilian Haidacher Maximilian Haidacher The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the 4 new campus buildings begin with their form and neutral utilisation. The buildings are kept very compact. The open spaces between the core and façade can be quickly adapted to changing research environments. Economy and ecology also complement each other through the simple design of the building services. Alternative and sustainable systems are mainly used: Geothermal probes, solar cells, compon... More

Protecting, respecting and enhancing the Rideau Canal and River is a fundamental municipal, provincial and national priority. The Carleton University Campus is quite literally framed by these two waterways – the Canal along the east and north edges, and the River to the south. The new campus master plan calls for all buildings on campus to act as paths between these natural landscapes and vessels that frame and highlight views outward. Directly on the waterfront, the 143,000 SF Richcraft Hall (formerly River Building) does just that. Doublespace Photography Doublespace Photography Doublespace Photography Doublespace Photography The multi and interdisciplinary home to the School of International Affairs, Public Pol... More

The Multi-Faith Centre at the University of Toronto accommodates spiritual and faith-based practices, encouraging interfaith dialogue and spiritual development as part of campus life. The space is a uniquely versatile venue in which people of all faiths feel equally welcome and equally valued. Selective alterations to the existing interior create ‘faith-neutral’ spaces that provide sanctuary and retreat for all people, creating opportunities for interfaith dialogue and study.  Tom Arban Tom Arban ‘Light’ (spiritual and metaphysical) emerged as a common theme to all faiths and became the central feature of the main facility hall. A dramatic ceiling and front wall of backlit translucent white onyx panel... More

The Goldring Student Centre at Victoria University, at the University of Toronto, is a renovation and expansion of the existing 1952 Student Union building known as Wymilwood, a historically listed building by Eric Arthur. Designed to LEED Silver, the new Student Centre doubles the size of the original building and introduces contemporary and accessible, indoor and outdoor student and administrative spaces. Tom Arban Tom Arban Tom Arban Formal spaces include the offices of the Dean of Students, Student President and Governing Council, Alumni Affairs, and other governing bodies. A variety of informal spaces, such as student lounges, study and seminar rooms, as well as outdoor patios and terraces, provide users alternative, le... More

The Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw can boast of the new headquarters of the Faculty of Media Art. The building was built in the post-industrial part of Warsaw's Wola district and fits perfectly into the local urban fabric. ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus The design selected in the competition is the work of a team of architects from the Vostok Design studio. ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus ©2018 Mateusz Torbus The new building of the Academy of Fine Arts was built as an expansion of the historic Sanitary Works, classi... More

At the gateway to Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, currently stands Shinhigwauk Hall, the former residential school where children from 184 First Nations communities across Canada were taken from their parents, families, culture and communities. Since the school’s official closure in 1970, the Children of Shinhigwauk Alumni Association, the survivors of the school, have been working with Algoma University to heal this place, and work toward reconciliation through the vision of a cross-cultural learning centre – a facility of healing, cultural preservation, dialogue and transformation. A new heart for the campus, the design intent of the Makwa Waakaa’igan Indigenous Centre of Cultural Excellence is to provide... More

The Student Life project includes the construction of the new living spaces for students, passive outdoor areas for common use, access to the existing street, and the corresponding infrastructure. The proposed new building will have six floors and approximately 182,810 square feet to accommodate the program, projected to have the capacity for 552 students with different types of bedrooms, including single, double and quadruple rooms. The building’s functionality and aesthetics will strategically respond to the surrounding areas activities, from pedestrian activity within the campus, down to the interactions between the students and the community. The Student Life Project’s objective is to become an example of student residentia... More

“The blue copper effectively gave the closest visual match to a natural patinated copper in our opinion – without the 25-year wait for the weather to do the job for us.” Richard Murphy Architects have created a new campus for Anglia Ruskin University, announced by a dramatic curved façade clad in tiered layers of blue-coloured pre-patinated copper. The three buildings comprising the new campus (built by principal Design and Build contractors R G Carter Cambridge Ltd.) share the same external facing brickwork, structured by dark metal detailing. In contrast, vertical standing-seam cladding in pre-patinated copper accentuates the curved facades of the lecture theatre. Richard Murphy Architects’ Director J... More

“Breath-taking” is a double edged sword… in Leh.  There are tomes written about the majesty, grandeur and the raw beauty of Ladakh, and for those who have travelled, and had a bout of “mountain sickness”, it’s quite something else.   The mountains, and the shadows cast by clouds in different seasons create a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of colour and texture. And yet, for those who live there, the weather and the altitude are a formidable companion to live with. And if that was not enough, it is a highly unstable, seismically active geology!  How does one, then, create a built environment, that is …“suitable”!? A simple word.. which sets off a whole area of research. Arm... More