Federal innovation funds support OCAD builds

"TORONTO — Toronto’s OCAD University has announced funding from the federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) that will contribute towards the construction at its Centre for Experiential Learning and Campus for the Connected World (Phase 1).
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OCAD has also allocated an additional $5.8 million for the Centre for Experiential Learning and $2.5 million for the campus.

The OCAD media release issued Jan. 24 notes the funds will be used by the university in part to further expand and develop its growth in digital research and innovation, supporting research, innovation and environmental sustainability programs at the Centre for Experiential Learning. The centre will be located in the Rosalie Sharp Pavilion, at the southeast corner of McCaul and Dundas Streets."

 
This building has been cleared out of everything but construction materials, and the first fencing has gone up!

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I really love he design but I think they may have missed out on adding another 2-3 stories of density here.
 
I feel that would compete too much with the AGO across the street. The curved facade they're going for really ties well into the similar shapes. That said, the proposal for a larger tower north side of Dundas will be interesting contextually.
 
More hoarding up:

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In tangential news, in the Village by the Grange, a Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen opened in the food court.
 
I'm not sure what OCAD's projected space requirements are and how they intend to fill them (they do have the Morphosis-authored main building expansion and long-ago rumored plans to add on top of their building at Richmond and Duncan) but I can't help but think this is a wasted opportunity. This makeover will add years to a building that probably should be redeveloped either with or without the University's involvement (eg. they could sell if they didn't need the space). Something like Ryerson's SLC (or that scale) would work well here.

In any case, I'm really just rooting against Tribute's trash on the north east corner.
 
Agreed. The lost opportunity to place density here, considering its surroundings, is huge.
 
Anyone have an update on this? Are they moving forward with original design? Seems to be lots of activity onsite but hard to tell what's happening...
 
ScottyASAP said:
Anyone have an update on this? Are they moving forward with original design? Seems to be lots of activity onsite but hard to tell what's happening...
Click to expand...

I suspect there's a lot going on inside the building. From my visits there when I was attending the school it wasn't the nicest space. Probably (hopefully) gutting it.
 
Woah! This came out of the blue. Love what I'm seeing so far...huge improvement on the red-painted finish from before.
 
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