faculty of law expansion and precinct plan€¦ · natural forces once enacted upon the ravine. the...

FACULTY OF LAW EXPANSION AND PRECINCT PLANUniversity of TorontoToronto, Ontario

SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES

in collaboration with

JANET ROSENBERG + ASSOCIATESLandscape Architects + Urban Designers

HALLSALL ASSOCIATESStructural and Sustainability

ANDRE SCHEINmANHeritage Consultant

The site of the Faculty of Law in the urban context of Toronto is one incredibly rich and full of potential. With Bloor Street just to the North and the Queen’s Park Axis to the East and the Philosopher’s Walk to the West, the site is both prominent in the city and the location of a convergence of diverse cultural and educational elements.

Particularly on the site itself, several forces, historic and topographical are at play.

The new precinct plan we are proposing for the Faculty of Law creates a system of built form and landscape that integrates harmoniously within the urban fabric of this vital cultural zone of the city. The system offers clarity of form to the Faculty, giving a meaningful, contemporary architectural language to the precinct, one that respects and enhances our appreciation of the older architecture of the Flavelle House and Flaconer Hall. Allowing the existing contextual forces to shape its form, the new building both houses the valuable institutional functions of the Faculty and its library but also gives eloquent and visionary shape to the precinct as a whole. In one sense, it acts as a sensitive and subtle pole, anchoring the south end of the block that starts from Bloor and ends with Hoskin Avenue. At the same time, its form along with that of the actual Philosopher’s Walk point the direction to the rest of the campus and downtown.

faculty of law expansion university of toronto SAUCIER + PERROTTE

INTRODUCTION

While the Philosopher’s Walk has evolved over time from natural ravine to promenade, the new Law Faculty addition acts as an elemental form upon which the “forces” inherent in the site act.

Echoing the natural environs into which it is delicately set, the addition has been conceived as a built form of the Philosopher’s Walk, an interpretive element deformed in a manner congruous to the programmatic needs of the Faculty of Law.

Notions of porosity and permeability pervade the scheme. Evident immediately are the intrinsically interwoven cross-site forces that which mold the architecture, folding and carving out spaces and paths into and around building.


CONCEPTUAL APPROACH

We perceive Taddle Creek as an architectural shoreline weaving through the topos. Still evoking the long buried ravine, the creek bed flows through the city carving out a new shore as it moves. The Philosopher’s Walk, which gives substantial definition to this portion of the creek, acts as an oasis to this cultural area, where one may turn for respite, but also has the potential to act as a more prominent entrances to the Faculty of Law Complex and as a gateway to the University of Toronto campus to the south.

As a refreshing urban element, Taddle Creek’s several layers of symbolism for the city set the tone for the project and precinct. The idea of the possible fluidity of the creek, too, suggests the fluidity implicit in the formal language of the building.


CONCEPTUAL APPROACH

MAGNIFICENT READING ROOM

LIBRARY SPACES AND STACKS

INFORMATIONCOMMONS

GRADUATE STUDENT PRECINCT

STUDENT JOURNALS AND ORGANIZATIONS

EXTERIORCOURTYARD

GRAND MOOT COURT AND CLASSROOM SPACES

ADMINISTRATION SPACES AND SUPPORT

FACULTY AND RESEARCHOFFICES

MIXED USE BUILDING

FACULTY OF MUSIC

RECITALHALL

PRIVATE PRACTICE ROOMS

ACADEMIC OFFICES AND ADMINISTRATION

FACULTY OF LAW

FALCONERHALL

FLAVELLEHOUSE

TRACE OF 1961 LIBRARY

QUEEN’SPARK

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT SPACES

In considering the Faculty’s program as a band extending along the Philosopher’s Walk, the existing contextual figures—the historic Flavelle House, Falconer Hall, the exterior courtyard plaza, the trace of the 1961 Library expansion, and Queen’s Park—are readily perceived as acting upon and shaping this linear element.

As the element begins to fold and deform as a result of these forces, its character in the urban context emerges as one that exists in harmony with the existing built environment, creating spaces for education and interaction, but also meaningfully shaping the spaces that previously existed as underutilized and interstitial in order to bring out their full potential.

The existing site forces push as pull the band, giving it form and indicating paths to cross the site. Thus the ideas of porosity and permeability emerge as driving factors behind the project. Just as the creek has been shaped over time by forces, both natural and man-made, so the building’s form has been influenced by contemporary urban factors— natural, artificial and social— that exert pressures on the site.

The resulting site is pedestrian-oriented. The newly redefined exterior courtyard takes shape as an ideal setting for relaxing and holding events, while landscape elements such as the grass surrounding the building also become places for gathering. The building’s formal language is open toward these spaces, ensuring their continual use.

POSSIBLE

ROM FUTURE

EXPANSION

PHILOSOPHER’S WALK


SITE CONSIDERATIONS

A fountain has been incorporated into the exterior courtyard, and its water flows toward Philosopher’s Walk by means of a channel and waterfall.

The implementation of a new, interpretive creek element – into which the fountain’s water flows—gives one a palpable sense of being suspended above the waterbed that long defined the area. The idea of water running beneath fosters the poetic notion of a harmonious human relationship with the earth. While studying or doing research in the library and faculty spaces above, the meditative environment created by the relationship between building and the creek landscape below is one that enhances the learning experience.

The creek’s mineral form evokes the notion of erosion that the natural forces once enacted upon the ravine. The architectural form of the Faculty of Law addition draws inspiration from the similar idea of forces sculpting an element in the landscape.

Sustainability :

The project reflects the firm’s philosophy that all good design must have a social purpose, a purpose best achieved through “total design” – an approach integrating many skills to provide simple and elegant, not simplistic, solutions to the complex problems facing our world. Sustainability objectives for the project include access to views, daylight, green roof technology, natural ventilation, and reduced site disturbance.

The conservation of trees, reuse of existing structural elements in the building and the integration of water in the courtyard underscore the sustainabile mindset with which the project was conceived.


SITE CONSIDERATIONS

The building takes the program elements necessary to the Faculty of Law and organizes them in a manner that creates a unique experience as one proceeds through the building and perceives the carefully framed vantage points at the ends of each axis. The programmatic elements are grouped in an optimal and efficient manner that both is readily clear to understand, but also allows for optimum teaching, research and study opportunities, with zones of interaction and quiet reflection located throughout the building.

Entrances to the Law Complex are located at the current main entrance to the Flavelle House, from the exterior courtyard, and from the Philosopher’s Walk.

Approaching from the south, the journey begins at the entrance of the Philosopher’s Walk gates where one ascends the raised ground plane (the Queen’s Park entrance level) and arrives at the central space at the core of the new building, where the enclosed garden illuminates the space. With the grand moot court room on one side, visitors and frequent users of the building have direct access to this meeting facility, which can be also entered from the Philosopher’s Walk/Ground Level and the second floor.

Public functions such as the clinical office space, casebook store and food services are also located at the main Queen’s Park entrance level. From here one may descend to the classrooms at the Philosopher Walk level or proceed toward the historic Flavelle House, which houses the conference facilities, as well as the Dean’s and Faculty offices. The connection from the new building to the Flavelle House is beautifully seamless. A glazed skin weaves from the addition through the interior of the Flavelle House courtyard colonnade, guiding users from one space to the other. The Faculty’s ground floor conference spaces, in turn, open onto the newly redesigned courtyard.

The Information Commons, envisioned as a place of information gathering, digital communication and interaction, emerges along the exterior courtyard adjacent to Flavelle House and carries the users upward to the library spaces and stacks or directly to the student spaces. Continuing straight through the Information Commons, one arrives at the Reading Room as the culmination of the journey through the building at which point one is at the level of the tree canopy and has a prime view of the Philosopher’s Walk.

MAGNIFICENT READING ROOM LIBRARY SPACES

AND STACKS

INFORMATIONCOMMONS

GRADUATE STUDENT PRECINCT

STUDENT JOURNALS AND ORGANIZATIONS

GRAND MOOT COURT AND CLASSROOM SPACES

ADMINISTRATION SPACES AND SUPPORT

FACULTY AND RESEARCHOFFICES

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT SPACES

STUDENT SPACE AND RESEARCH WING

LIBRARY AND ADMINISTRATION WING

CAFE

ENCLOSED GARDEN

ROM POSSIBLE FUTURE EXPANSION (MIXED USE)

RECITALHALL(MUSIC)

PRIVATE PRACTICE ROOMS(MUSIC)

ACADEMIC OFFICES AND ADMINISTRATION(MUSIC)

FACULTY OF LAW

FACULTY OF MUSIC

Of vital note is that as the building turns about the enclosed garden and creates a dynamic path leading through the Faculty, it efficiently groups spaces according to their logical programmatic functions. As such, the Faculty’s spaces are grouped in wings facing The Philosopher’s Walk, the exterior courtyard, and Queen’s Park. Student spaces are organized together in the Queen’s Park (eastern) wing, while the majority of the library functions are located along the Philosopher’s Walk wing. Connecting these two wings is the Information Commons, whose wing culminates in the library’s Reading Room, as mentioned above, from which unfolds the dramatic vista of Taddle Creek and the city beyond.


CONCEPTUAL APPROACH

The more subtle aspects of the flow through the site and building have been carefully considered. The building geometry serves to provide stimulating learning and studying environments. For instance, behind the volume of the moot court on the second floor is the common student reading area, which benefits from the terraced slope of the court itself. Moreover, the form and orientations of the architecture ensure that there are no secondary student or office spaces. In fact , the form privileges staff and administrative offices giving them beautiful views of the surrounding landscape and cityscape, without compromising the same important sightlines for the student spaces.

The enclosed garden extending from the Philosopher’s Walk/Ground Level to the top floor admits light to all the interior spaces, even those away from the periphery of the building. Moreover, the classroom spaces on the Philosopher’s Walk Level either face the exterior green spaces or have natural admitted by skylights from above. Graduate and undergraduate students are all readily served by meeting rooms on their respective levels and the student organizations and journals all have ample space among the other student spaces.

LOCATION OF INTERPRETIVECREEK ELEMENT

QUEEN’SPARK

FLAVELLE HOUSE

FALCONER HALL

PHILOSOPHER’S WALK

Extending toward the music faculty, the building gives a definite and positive shape to the exterior courtyard. Where it meets the music building the form creates new spaces for practice rooms and private lessons, program elements for which the Music School is currently in desperate need. The architectural form turns and extends back toward Queens Park , touching down next to Falconer Hall, which the Music Faculty will adopt as its own. Falconer Hall itself can successfully house the academic offices and several administrative functions for the Faculty of Music. The projecting volume of the new building houses the new recital hall and serves to give the Music School a much needed prominent presence along Queen’s Park Avenue. Simultaneously, the projecting element positively shapes the Queen’s Park Avenue forecourt between the two faculties, enhancing the space where formal arrivals will often take place.

As the straight bar of the new building continues along the Philosopher’s Walk, it stretches toward the Music Faculty’s stage tower. Then, turning toward the current planetarium site, it ends poetically, suggesting an elegant form to what may in the future become part of the ROM expansion.


CONCEPTUAL APPROACH


AERIAL VIEW


AERIAL VIEW - PHASE 1 SCENARIO


VIEW FROm CORNER OF HOSKIN AVENUE AND QUEEN’S PARK AVENUE


PHILOSOPHER’S WALK - LOOKINg NORTH


EXTERIOR COURTYARD


VIEW TOWARD EXTERIOR COURTYARD AND READINg ROOmFROm PHILOSOPHER’S WALK - PHASE 1 SCENARIO

SITE PLAN


SITE PLAN - PHASE 1 SCENARIO


mASSINg mODEL


PLAN LEVEL 1 QUEEN’S PARK

1:750


PLAN LEVEL 31:750


EAST - WEST SECTION1:500


NORTH-SOUTH SECTION1:500


NORTH-SOUTH ELEVATION SEEN FROm PHILOSOPHER’S WALK


FACULTY OF LAW EXPANSION AND PRECINCT PLANUniversity of TorontoToronto, Ontario

SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES

in collaboration with

JANET ROSENBERG + ASSOCIATESLandscape Architects + Urban Designers

HALLSALL ASSOCIATESStructural and Sustainability

ANDRE SCHEINmANHeritage Consultant

faculty of law expansion and precinct plan€¦ · natural forces once enacted upon the ravine. the...

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