I am really curious as to what they will pull off here. My expectations are not unrealistically high because the site is very tight (only two sides of the building will have a street presence and the Yonge side will consist of mostly retail), and space inside will be at a premium (and throw in budget constraints). It will be interesting to see if they can do something other than a series of stacked glass boxes (not that that would be a bad thing necessarily).
 
Hume did a piece on this a few days ago.........

Hume: A bold step to revamp Ryerson

February 13, 2010

Christopher Hume


Ryerson will never be the same. Neither will the city, for that matter.

This week the university announced an architectural team comprising Norway's leading practice, Snøhetta, and Toronto-based Zeidler Partnership has been chosen to design the new Student Learning Centre. Located on the northeast corner of Yonge and Gould Sts., the $100 million facility will be the school's face to the city and the world beyond.

The name Zeidler will be familiar to Torontonians – think Eaton Centre, Ontario Place, Princess Margaret Hospital – but Snøhetta is still relatively unknown. In fact, the firm has earned an international reputation for its innovative and humanistic approach to architecture. Although Snøhetta entered a competition for redeveloping Toronto's central waterfront some years ago, the student centre will mark its Toronto debut.

"We have no idea how it's going to turn out," admits Snøhetta co-founder Craig Dykers. "It all has to be figured out."

That process will start next week, when team members sit down to begin the laborious task of conjuring something out of nothing.

The site, small but prominent, is known to most Torontonians as the longtime location of Sam the Record Man. It and several other buildings on Yonge are being torn down to make way for the new centre. Though unfortunate, perhaps we can console ourselves with thoughts of what will come next.

If the opera house Snøhetta did in Norway is any indication, the student centre will be remarkable for its innovation, accessibility and sheer originality. Clad in dazzling white marble, the hall, which rises from the waters of the Oslo Fjord, is wrapped in a large ramp-like structure that leads up to the roof. In this way, people become part of the building; inside and out, they function as the animating principle.

Snøhetta's award-winning Alexandria Library, which opened eight years ago, has also been enormously successful. It draws 10,000 visitors daily, most of whom aren't there to look at books.

It was Snøhetta's expertise in library design that prompted Zeidler to get in touch. For both firms, the starting point is the realization that libraries aren't what they used to be. The old ideal of Fort Book, the guarded outpost of knowledge, dark, silent and intimidating, has given way to a hunger for flexibility, comfort and lots of natural light. The fact that food and drink are now allowed in many libraries is a small but telling example of how attitudes have changed.

In Ryerson's case, however, the building must also serve as a landmark; it will be the piece by which the school is known. In other words, it must, in that most overused term, be an icon. Given the wretched architecture of much of the Ryerson campus, this desire for excellence will be welcomed.

"Libraries are growing and changing," says Dykers. "Today they're about making collaborative spaces."

At the same time, the library must also be a place where students can sit by themselves and study quietly. And then there are the shops, cafés and restaurants that are now a part of every campus, especially one, like Ryerson, so fully integrated into the larger urban fabric.

If anything, the campus could do with a little more isolation from the intrusions of the surrounding city. Gould St., for example, remains open to vehicular traffic despite the fact it is the main thoroughfare for a student body of 28,000, all of them pedestrians.

According to Ryerson president Sheldon Levy, this will soon change. City and school are currently negotiating an arrangement that would close Gould to regular traffic on a trial basis. His hope is that the results will be too successful to be undone.

The closing of Gould will also make Yonge safer and more pedestrian-friendly. Once the learning centre is complete in three or four years, the campus will be a major car-free zone in a city of auto addicts.

The building itself will likely be tall – at least 10 storeys – and highly transparent. Dykers talks of "creating a sculptural identity" for Ryerson. Given its location, it will inevitably be seen as a kind of entrance into the campus, a threshold. Graduate House, with that extended cornice reaching out over Spadina Ave. and Harbord St., serves the same function at the University of Toronto.

"We're looking at a vertical structure," says Zeidler's Tarek El-Khatib. "It will be a public building, but one that's equally practical."

Levy likes to use the word "transformative" when referring to the centre. It's an adjective we bandy about often these days, but in this instance, it seems justified. Though the downward spiral of this critical downtown neighbourhood has been halted, the turnaround isn't done yet. The learning centre will mark the next big step in a continuing process, and given the rare quality of talent assembled, that transformation has already begun.
 
just googling around, here is another article, this time from theeyeopener.com, with a couple of interesting comments in it...

Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Written by Julianna Cummins

Ryerson University has picked the architecture team to design the Student Learning Centre (SLC), a building president Sheldon Levy said will help Ryerson shake it’s commuter-campus reputation.

The SLC, to be built on the former site of Sam the Record Man at the corner of Yonge and Gould Streets, will be designed by Zeidler Partnership Architects of Toronto and Snohetta of Oslo.

“It can be . . . a place where students can feel comfortable in using their technology, and would rather be there and study there than take the TTC and study at home,†Levy said.

In addition to serving as an academic hub with an emphasis on technology, the SLC will also focus on student space and will feature retail space on the ground level. Access to Dundas subway station may also be a possibility.

A key part in the decision to go with this team, said Levy, was their understanding how to make a library designed in 2010 adaptable to the needs of a library 20 years from now.

“They’ve shown the ability that their libraries were really creations of the forever,†said Levy.

He said the Bibilotecha Alexandria in Egypt was one of his favourite buildings designed by Snohetta, which features four art galleries, an Internet archive and eight academic research centres.

Tarek El-Khatib, a senior partner of Zeilder Partnership Architects, said he was attracted to the project for the chance to look at how to take a university’s library in different directions.

“It’s probably the most interesting project going on in Toronto right now,†El-Khatib said.

While there are no renderings yet, Levy said the partner’s history of innovative design will ensure a striking — and perhaps controversial — building for Ryerson’s face on Yonge.

“You can’t go around in life trying to find the one object that everyone will like, because it will end up like arrowroot cookies,†said Levy, explaining that he doesn’t want to cater to everyone.

Zeidler was also the architect for the Ted Rogers School of Management. Craig Dykers, the co-founder and principal architect of Snohetta, said the firm spent a few hours at the corner of Yonge and Gould streets before their interview for the project, asking those passing by about what they would like to see there.

“They want something fresh — they don’t want something that is sort of a standard block of a building. So there’s ver strong desire to make it a lively building,†Dykers said.
 
^ Great article, thanks.

I am excited for the push to present something "fresh" and "controversial" but fear that it might alienate or destroy the historical retail strip. Now, I'm not saying Yonge between Gerrard and Gould is something in need of saving. Rather, I'd like the building to enhance this strip and build it up. It woudl be ashame to build crash-architecture here without any consideration for the existing context.

The prospect of adding the PATH and subway connection to this building is a real treat.
 
I am a huge fan of Snohetta and IMO this is the most exiting project in the pipeline in all of Toronto... Hopefully the design will live up to expectations.The world may need more Canada (as Indigo would have you believe), but Canada needs more Scandinavia.
 
sam1.jpg

sam2.jpg

This project is not moving forward, does anyone know why onhold?
 
Who said it isn't moving forward? The design for the centre will be revealed in the fall.

AoD

It still seems rather strange they have not finished the demolition but let's hope we see something starting soon. Is there a proposed opening date?
 

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