City
Ryerson Student Centre set to transform Yonge & Gould
While it won't necessarily make up for the loss of the former Empress Hotel, the northeast corner of Yonge and Gould will be a lot prettier by 2015, when construction is slated to be finished on Ryerson's new Student Learning Centre. Although the project has been in the works for years, new renderings reveal what should be a stunning addition to downtown Yonge Street and the university's campus.
The seven-storey structure — which will mercifully hide the concrete block that house Ryerson's 1970s-era library behind it — is full of glass and open spaces, and really looks nothing like what one might expect of a library, right down to the fact that it has no books. Designed by the Norwegian firm Snohetta in conjunction with Toronto's Zeidler Partnership, the idea was to create something more akin to a salon, where intellectual and social activity will co-mingle.
There will be 2000 study spaces, a public square on the second level, two floors of retail, and a variety of open lounge-like study spaces. Although it clearly breaks with the three-storey storefronts that line the stretch of Yonge to the immediate north, one suspects that, if anything, the arrival of the Student Centre will help to improve the possibility of further revitalizing this most important corridor.
Read more from the Star here, and check out the renderings below.
Images via Zeidler/Snohetta architects
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I asked Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam if she had been told anything about the future plans for the sign as part of her consultations with Ryerson, and she said that she didn't know specifics, but that we're likely to see smaller parts of the signage reappear before anything is done with the big one.
The official presentation of the Student Centre plans is taking place right now, so it's always possible that some mention is made of the sign, but I agree - I was expecting it to figure in these renderings.
it's just a big hangout. Hopefully they have some quiet study rooms where students can actually study -- spaces that are insulated from all the noise from the public spaces.
B: Who cares? Should they be discouraged from creating exciting building projects?
Biggest concern would be security systems to keep everyone else out. Letting in non-students and downtown loafers would ruin it real fast.
It's certainly striking. Speaking of striking, i see a thousand
dead birds a year in this design.
Would love it if Heritage Toronto, or Ryerson themselves would speak to this and follow up with their promises.
Time to dig, again....
It would be great if you could make this correction, because it's confusing to students and members of the Ryerson community.
... apparently because they can't think for themselves. Also, whoever thought having a building called the Ryerson Student Centre on the same campus as the Ryerson Student Living Centre, must've got their education at Ryerson Polytechnical High School or whatever it was called (over 1,000 CityTV employees served!)
"Hey everyone look at me..i studied broadcasting then did nothing with my diploma other than call into radio stations and try to win a prize"
Renderings crack me up...notice on the 2nd one there is a person in a wheelcahir who magically descended that massive block of stairs no problem. Also don't notice any handrails - must be to retain cohesiveness of the "skatepark" design.
Learned all that at Rye High...
We all know the truth.
GO RAMS!
Not sure why a poly-technical school needs such an elaborate "library".
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your comment is hilariously stoopid!
Is the swirling ceiling light circle thing a winky shoutout to Sam the Record Man?
BECAUSE IT IS NOT ENOUGH OF A SHOUT OUT.
Must be a RyeSchool grad.
Don't go knocking Ryerson people. I'm having a hell of a time there. I wouldn't go anywhere else. I'm not exactly a fan of the design...actually I'm not at all in love with it. BUT don't need to fret, if they say it's going to be done in 2015, what they really mean is 2020.
As for the proposed building? Its better than what's there now.
and friends don't let friends go to ryerson.
http://treat24.com
That's really going to overwhelm
that intersection.
Even the new building at Yonge and
Dundas has a three-storey streetwall
on the Yonge Street side.
Can't the building have an upper\
level setback and be a little kinder
to the neighbourhood?
It's certainly striking. Speaking of striking, i see a thousand
dead birds a year in this design.
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Uh, no.
Birds have problems when the windows are clear and lit at night.
This design has art/accents/whatever you wanna call them ON the windows.
Lit at night, birds will see the wall of glass as a wall, as opposed to nothing.
Birds will have no problem with this building.
Seven storeys at Yonge and Gould.
That's really going to overwhelm
that intersection.
Even the new building at Yonge and
Dundas has a three-storey streetwall
on the Yonge Street side.
Can't the building have an upper\
level setback and be a little kinder
to the neighbourhood?
--------
Ridiculous.
It's the center of downtown in Canada's largest city and you think a building is too tall?
The crap surrounding Dundas Square is 7-8-9+ storeys high, for chrissakes.
Why put unnecessary limitations on the design process?
Is everything in Toronto designed by people from Toronto?
In June 2001, the school assumed its present name as Ryerson University and currently offers programs in chemical, civil, mechanical, industrial, electrical and computer engineering. The university is also one of only two Ontario universities to offer a program in aerospace engineering. Ryerson offers the only stand-alone biomedical engineering program in all of Canada. It also offers a faculty or arts, communication and design, architecture, and community services.
The point I was trying to get across is that Ryerson is a University. Most Universities primary objectives are to further our understanding of the world we live in through research, as well as to educate the next generation. I've never heard of a University where its mission is to pay millions to put up pretty buildings in order to help gentrify its surroundings.
In my opinion, and its only an opinion, it would've been a great opportunity for Ryerson Alumi to sort of say "Hey Ryerson did me good, look what I can do now". Like it or not, Ryerson has a bad rap for being everyones back up school, justified or not. This could have been a great opportunity for them to start reversing that stereo type. After all the purpose of the building is to be a place for students, who knows what a student needs more than former students.
That being said I know realistically this would never happen. Especially since government money is being used, there would have been a bidding process.
Just raising questions is all. Not to be confused with complaining or whining.
I attended a school abroad where a similar design was created for the bottom two floors of their library, where it also functioned as a large student study space. It was always busy and a good meeting place to study for group work. Very successful and modern.
The next few generations of Ryerson students are lucky to get all these new buildings.
As to the question of the SAM sign - I'm all for it going back up if it makes sense, and it frankly doesn't. Not with this design anyway. Yonge Street needs some real direction, because it's already brick-a-brack nonsense in this area, and it's not getting any better.
I'd love to see the sign back. It's not about nostalgia, or about how it could have been saved. It's about space memory. We're too quick to write over our history. Take a page from the states and build a monument or two.
Tourist will just laugh at this like they have laughed at the ROM.
Yeah, Ryerson is just CRAP!
Yonge is currently a toilet. Everyone is all screw-face. I'm glad Ryerson brass is taking the initiative to pour acid rain all over that neighbourhood and spend real $$$ to clean it up and at the same time, provide new amenities to students who are paying serious $ to go to school.
I wish they'd give a hot dose to all the low-lifes in the area. Or maybe send them north of the city.
Oh, and by the way, anyone who still thinks that the vibrant, ever-expanding new Ryerson isn't a real rival to York is totally out of touch: that strike-ridden mess out in the boonies is in real trouble.
How it meets young is garbage, that concrete ridge or whatever is a total barrier and shouldnt be so isolating.
Where the F! is the Sam the record man sign! I'm new to Toronto I've never gotten a chance to see it, they promised they would work it into this building!
And Lastly, I hope this doesn't end up like the Engineering building which was supposed to be a lot taller and nicer then the current but they couldn't raise the full amount (surprise surprise) and had to downscale it (surprise surprise) lets hope this doesn't happen with this project too.
All in all though it's nice, won't be a student to see it but ryerson needed this lets jsut hope they can secure the oppostibe property where the old hotel was and make something nice there too.
also: it's convenient that the beautiful building that Salad King was in burnt down because now, with this design in place, they have more space to make it work with the (in my opinion) awkward little intersection.
I do love the design though, and the progress it will inspire in that strip.
1) All the fuss on how the building meets Yonge is hogwash. The rendering makes it look like a solid wall but those are clearly just the sides of the window mullions you are seeing. This will be glass storefront all along Yonge, exactly what you would expect. They will play with grades a bit to try and sink the retail floor, but if the storefront is open and glassy it just might work. And what the building does for Yonge on the corner with the large staircase will be a shot in the arm for street vitality. This is not a building hostile to Yonge.
2) Regarding the insecurity complex about using "foreign" architects, please. This is not about the overall quality of local architects. You want the best for a specific use (in this case, ultramodern urban institutional building), you use the best, wherever they are from. I don't care if a firm comes from Quebec, Qatar or Kuala Lampur - if they show up in Architectural Record enough and have done great things for their clients, ok. Talk to any informed architectural observer and Snohetta is clearly on that list for the kind of building Ryerson is aiming for.
(And by the way, if I was in the US or Norway or Dubai and looking for a highrise condo architect, I would call a Toronto firm because that's what this city excels at in the architectural trade.)