So, our front page story is up on the front page now. It was a good event and a very interesting tour on Monday to attend… and today, when we were all reassessing life, it was good for me to be working on the photos from this rather wonderful building, and I think I can say that working on the story also pulled Stefan out of the gloom for a while too. Buildings like this can take your mind off the stupid and depraved goings on in the rest of the world, for a least a little while.

The front page story includes 16 photos from the donor event and tour. There's lot's more to see though, so here are a pile that did not make the cut for the front page:

While our story has lots of shots of Dean Richard Sommer who led the tour and emceed the event, U of T President Meric Gertler was one of an number of others who spoke or were recognized.
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The crowd at the donor event included quite a who's who list. Amongst them was John H. Daniels, Chairman of The Daniels Corporation (centre, below), who with his wife Myrna gave $19 million for the building, and another $5 million for student and research endowments. Sharing the shot with Mr. Daniels are Jim Aird, CFO at The Daniels Corporation on the left, and Mitchell Cohen, President of The Daniels Corporation on the right.
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So, let's start looking around the building. Going up!
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I think we're looking at a faculty office on the second floor here. Restored outside wall, new interior walls and windows.
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There's a shot in the story looking through the window, at right below, down Spadina Avenue. Here's part of the larger room it's in. Student lounge area if I remember correctly.
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Back on the main floor, the Zeidler Library will take up much of the west wing, and some of the newer spaces. Below are periodical racks.
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Future study space in the Zeidler Library:
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Library stacks will be in a new space on the floor below. Its sloped ceiling is underneath the theatre seating of the Principal Hall.
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Besides the stacks for the Zeidler Library, most of the students' studio place is on this level, and here the tour got a look at a number of rooms that will be kitted out for that:
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The two-storey space seen above and below have accordion does which open onto a sunken garden/patio area which faces Spadina Road to the north.
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Back on the main floor looking down over the lower floor studios:
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Next it's time to head upstairs for the big show.

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Just before we head upstairs though, let's take a look at the Principal Hall, immediately south of the room in the last shot of the previous post:
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As the article notes, up to 400 people will be able to attend lectures or other events here, in different configurations. While the shot above emphasizes the space, the one below gives you a better look a the grad studio mini-auditorium. It can be closed off from the Principal Hall, but will normally stream natural light into it from the skylights above.
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The back side of that mini-auditorium can be seen in the second floor undergrad workspace. This is just a small portion of it…
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…it takes up the whole of the north side of the second floor.
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One more floor up, and we enter into the grad workspace.
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Those are all flat sheets of gyprock plasterboard being used to create the ceiling!
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Here's how the mini-auditorium currently looks from the workspace.
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Two doors and the floor in the Principal Hall can be seen through the opening below.
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The ceiling is quite amazing.
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Really looking forward to seeing it all finished next fall, but enjoying seeing the structure now!
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So, we will end by going back into the old building to see a couple more spaces. This is the third floor space facing south on Spadina…
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While this third floor loft (grad level) workspace overlooks and undergrad space that faces east toward Russell Street and the main campus:
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I think competition for space in the school is going to go way up with a huge increase in applications foreseeable.

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Some more recent ones.

Hoarding down:
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A drop-off and pick-up area has been constructed on the west side.

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There's still quite a bit more to do on the north side, including a small "second phase" semi-buried building IIRC. (Anyone remember the specifics on that?)

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There's still quite a bit more to do on the north side, including a small "second phase" semi-buried building IIRC. (Anyone remember the specifics on that?)
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I think the design can accommodate multiple small semi-buried additions around the periphery - the Global Cities Institute is supposed to be one of them:

http://boundless.utoronto.ca/initiatives/global-cities-institute/

Don't quote me on it, but I think the addition will be on the eastern end of the south pavillion.

AoD
 
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I think the design can accommodate multiple small semi-buried additions around the periphery - the Global Cities Institute is supposed to be one of them:

http://boundless.utoronto.ca/initiatives/global-cities-institute/

Don't quote me on it, but I think the addition will be on the eastern end of the south pavillion.

AoD

Huh, I hadn't heard of that. And it will probably not be incorporated/collaborate around the School of Cities project, which I heard rumoured will be part of 90QP.
 
Huh, I hadn't heard of that. And it will probably not be incorporated/collaborate around the School of Cities project, which I heard rumoured will be part of 90QP.

I will take your word for it - but it's clearly in their own promo materials (from the site):

Located within the outwardly focused landscape pavilions at One Spadina, the Global Cities Institute will be a pre-eminent research hub for scholarship on global cities, offering stakeholders from around the world the design, metrics and visualization tools needed to develop solutions to the largest challenges facing cities and city regions.

AoD
 
There will be a soft opening of the building in about two weeks for the graduate studio reviews. These are generally open to the public, but not all of the building may be accessible as there is still a lot of interior work to be done. The 'money shot' view down Spadina from the upper floors is fantastic though.
 

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