Centennial HP Science and Technology Centre
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects

Academic village gives Centennial College a new identity

© Tom Arban, Photography

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

Centennial College, a community college, was founded in 1966 to offer career-oriented diploma training as an alternative to university education. The original college buildings were based on a hermetic building typology limited to classrooms and locker-lined corridors. To reflect a contemporary image of the community college, the new Centennial HP Science and Technology Centre departs from this model with a design based on the idea of an "academic village." Public gathering spaces, flexible teaching spaces, and a wireless computing network are balanced to ensure a fully integrated and effective learning environment. The new design also reflects the client’s priorities to update the college’s identity; to promote the public realm as an active learning environment; and to demonstrate environmentally responsible leadership.

Located at a busy intersection in suburban Toronto, the building is composed as two extended horizontal wings, each oriented parallel to its respective thoroughfare. The main entrance court is situated where these two wings meet and leads into the heart of the building: an indoor "town square." The focal point of this "town square" is a suspended pod, clad in Douglas fir, which contains a lecture hall. A wide, amphitheater-like stair mirrors the pod's angled underbelly and provides an open space suitable for both casual meetings and formal assemblies.

As the college's academic programs respond directly to industry demands, the client wanted a space as adaptable as possible to accommodate future changes in its curriculum. Accordingly, the building plan is based on a 20-by-40-foot structural grid of bays that run the full length of each wing. Academic space is organized along both sides of a central sky-lit atria zone; the atria define an infrastructure of light-filled circulation spaces that culminate in a series of open zones occupied by lounges and informal teaching space. Combined with operable windows on the perimeter, the atria achieve natural ventilation through the stack effect. A raised floor system provides further flexibility.

The materials palette is industrial and economically driven. Exterior facades are variegated to respond to their orientation and range from prefabricated corrugated steel siding on the north and east, to brick and aluminum on the west. Apart from wood cladding on the exterior of the lecture hall, the interior is mainly exposed concrete and painted drywall.

Formal name of Project:
Centennial HP Science and Technology Centre

Location:
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

Gross square footage:
250,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$39.4 Million

Owner:
Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology

Architect:
Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB)
322 King Street West, 3rd Floor
Toronto, Canada M5V 1J2
Phone: 416-977-5104
Fax: 416+598+9840
email: kpmb@kpmbarchitects.com
www.kpmb.com

Top row, left to right: Bruce Kuwabara (design partner), John Allen,
Ramon Janer, Shane O'Neill; Bottom row, left to right: Steven Casey,
Shirley Blumberg (partner-in-charge), Paulo Rocha (project architect),
Jimmy Sun. Photo © Maris Mezulis.