Sharp Centre for Design
Alsop Architects
Toronto, Canada
Photo: Richard Johnson/Interior Images
The elevated "table top" extension to the Ontario College of Art and Design, with its striking black and white pixilated skin and 12 multi-colored legs, stands 26 meters above the mixed Victorian and modern streetscape.
Raising the building above the ground created a new outdoor public space, Butterfield Park, and also improved pedestrian circulation in the area.
An element in the urban scene that holds its own with tough urbanity, while allowing new public space to open up beneath it./Alsop Architects
Photo: Richard Johnson/Interior Images
Photo: Richard Johnson/Interior Images
The structure contains two stories of studio and teaching spaces that connects to the existing facility by a core of elevator and stairs.
The circulation core is the central focus of the new Entrance Hall that unites the two halves of the existing College buildings at all levels.
Photo: Richard Johnson/Interior Images
Photo: Richard Johnson/Interior Images
This central space is comprised of a new four-storey Entrance Hall, entered through a full height glass facade, and a three-story Great Hall on Level 2, where students and artists can exhibit their work. This space is a gathering for events, with a gallery, auditorium, café and conference centre immediately adjacent.
Photo: Richard Johnson/Interior Images
Photo: Richard Johnson/Interior Images
The building was recently awarded the "Award of Excellence" from the Toronto Architecture and Urban Design Awards, the City's highest design award handed out every two years.
Will Alsop's academic building is an altogether original and welcome enrichment of Toronto's urban fabric; artistically bold and imaginative, and respectful of residents and users in its culturally intense neighbourhood./Competition jury
Drawing courtesy Alsop Architects5th Level Plan
Drawing courtesy Alsop ArchitectsRoof Level Plan
Drawing courtesy Alsop ArchitectsEast Elevation
Drawing courtesy Alsop ArchitectsLongitudinal Section
Drawing courtesy Alsop ArchitectsSouth Elevation
Drawing courtesy Alsop ArchitectsCross Section
Facts about Sharp Centre for Design
Total area:
6,215 m2
Architects:
Joint Venture Architects:
Robbie/Young + Wright
Landscape Architect:
Yuk Woo Lee & Associates Ltd.
Structural Engineer:
Carruthers & Wallace Ltd.
Mechanical Engineer:
MCW Consultants (with Battle McCarthy at "Schematic Design" Stage)
Last updated: November 23, 2012
