Project Summary
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Completion: 2018
Architect: CannonDesign
Contractor: EllisDon
Fabricator: RITZ Architectural
Product: ALPOLIC/fr
Sq.Ft: 150,000 Sq.ft
Budget: $45.7M
Designed by CannonDesign and opened in 2018, York University’s second student center is the result of thousands of students who were consulted for their ideas to make the building inclusive. the 150,000-square-foot building was built with the intent of providing students with space where they could relax, learn, and connect with one another.
“I don’t know of any other project that infused the breadth and depth of student engagement we undertook in the Centre’s design process. We asked, we listened and we understood our students in order to translate their hopes and needs into a building that can make valuable impacts on their experiences for generations,”
– Siva Vimalachandran, Executive Director of the Student Centre
A primarily transparent building façade acts as a design response to the student body’s desire for the Centre to be open and welcoming to all.
The two-story Alaskan yellow cedar fins accompanied by the ALPOLIC/fr aluminum panels provide a bold elevational feature and a textural element to the façade. The fins soften the large expanse of welcoming glass and introduce wood—a large part of the interior material palette—to the exterior. While the ALPOLIC/fr panels appear square in the photos, they are actually origami/trapezoid in nature, not perfectly flat. The 50,000 Sq.ft of aluminum panels and their complex geometry add a unique design feature to the project that places it among other incredible structures.
The ALPOLIC/fr aluminum panels reflect sunlight in various directions as a result of their unique origami/trapezoid shape, casting shadows and highlights on different areas of the exterior depending on the time of day.
Located at the north end of a campus green, the building’s central location makes it easily accessible to the 55,000 students who attend classes on campus. With over 90% of the building lit by natural lighting and several green spaces on the roof, the project will be seeking a LEED Silver Certification.
Related Projects
Other iconic projects that used origami/trapezoid-like ALPOLIC/fr panels, in which we are proud to be a part of, include The Calgary Library (top) and The Ryerson Student Learning Centre (bottom).
