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APEX PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE Waterfront Health Sciences Campus – George Brown College by Stefan Dubowski eorge Brown College's Waterfront Campus in Toronto was crafted to meet strict urban design and sustainability standards. It also supports an ambitious new 'interprofessional' approach to health-care education. George Brown has experienced unprecedented growth over the last few years. The school needed more space – and it wanted to rethink the way it educates students, especially in the health-sciences sector. Speci ically, the college is embracing an interprofessional education model, wherein students from the four schools within the Centre for Health Sciences (dental health, health and wellness, health-services management and nursing) learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes. The goal is to prepare students to work in integratedhealth environments, where doctors, nurses and other health professionals share more information to improve patient care. It calls for a new approach to education. "It's more than having two students from different programs sitting side by side learning about anatomy," says Lorie Shekter-Wolfson, the assistant vice-president, waterfront development dean, Community Services and Health Sciences at George Brown. "Interprofessional education requires an integrated curriculum and a physical space that enables collaboration." George Brown aimed to create just such a learning environment. Doing so would require substantial funding, a suitable location, an excellent construction and design team, and input from numerous stakeholders. The college garnered investment from the Ontario government and from the federal government's Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP). The school acquired property on the waterfront, where the City of Toronto is repurposing former industrial lands. Along with the land, however, came high expectations: Waterfront Toronto, the agency in charge of lakeshore redevelopment, obliges developers to meet strict criteria. Buildings must achieve LEED Gold certi ication; they must it within the overall urban design plan of the area; and they must be sympathetic to their prime location, offering a clear view of the lake and direct access to the waterfront recreational pathway. George Brown called on Kuwabara Payne McKenna G Waterfront Health Sciences Campus – George Brown College p.60-61Waterfront Health Sciences.indd 61 Blumberg (KPMB) Architects and Stantec Architecture Ltd., the irms that worked on Toronto's Bridgepoint Hospital redevelopment. EllisDon Corporation was hired as the construction manager for this fast-track project that would see the building go from conception to occupancy in just three years. George Brown invited faculty and staff from the dental, health and wellness, health-services management and nursing schools to provide their points of view. Representatives from other programs, including hospitality (nutrition), and from corporate areas such as IT, facilities, student services, educational resources and business services took part as well. This input helped develop a truly interprofessional education space. According to Shekter-Wolfson, the inclusive mindset informed the physical design of the building. In fact, "the process replicated the design," she says. "It was integration, integration, integration." Consultations with stakeholders revealed that the building should incorporate classrooms that accommodate group work, practice areas that encourage interdisciplinary exchange, and common areas that facilitate student interaction. Stuart Elgie, principal of Stantec, says the design team got the message loud and clear. "From our perspective, what that meant was making the informal spaces outside the classrooms equally important." The architects introduced tiered seating to accommodate group projects and discussions. They created 'learning landscapes' in common areas with stepped seating so students can get together, compare notes and collaborate. As for meeting Waterfront Toronto's design criteria, the building's envelope features low-iron glass that lets light in and reduces the barrier to the outside. The building sports a custom frit, which deters birds from lying into the glass, and mimics the re lective shimmering of the lake's surface. "The industrial heritage and maritime history of the site in luenced material choices," says Mitchell Hall, principal, KPMB. The deep corrugated metal recalls Polson Iron Works, a shipbuilding facility that operated on the site. Ipe wood elements bring to mind the docks that lined the shore. The construction is as innovative as the educational concept it's designed to support. It incorporates a tanked concrete foundation that withstands the high hydrostatic pressure associated with projects located close to large bodies of water. Lower levels consist of concrete, while certain upper-level components consist of steel, which reduces the overall weight of the project and enabled the builders to use less concrete on the lower loors for structural strength. The building came together relatively quickly (the groundbreaking occurred in 2009 and is now open for the new school year), especially considering the complexities involved. After all, this isn't just a bunch of classrooms. It's an expression of a new educational method, situated in a signi icant brownield redevelopment project. The speedy build resulted from the fast-track process that saw EllisDon, KPMB, Stantec and the college honing the design as construction was underway. "Typically, you show up when the design is done," notes Trong Huynh, EllisDon's project manager. "Here, we collaborated with the school and the architects on the design." The Waterfront Health Sciences Campus ushers in a new educational era for George Brown and exempli ies the collaborative activities of students, faculty and staff. This modern-yet-organic structure features a simulation centre with high-tech mannequins, offering students the chance to practice what they've learned. The Wellness Applied research and Visionary Education (WAVE) area has 90 dental operatories where the public can access dental care, and where students from various faculties can interconnect while serving the city. "The campus certainly stands as a success from my point of view, not only as a shining light of interprofessional education, but also as a physical manifestation of the pedagogical concept," Shekter-Wolfson says. ■ LOCATION 51 Dockside Drive Toronto, Ontario OWNER/DEVELOPER George Brown College ARCHITECTS Stantec Architecture | Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, Architects in Joint Venture CONSTRUCTION MANAGER EllisDon Corporation STRUCTURAL/MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL/CIVIL/URBAN LAND DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT Stantec Consulting Inc. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg Landscape Architects TOTAL AREA 365,000 square feet TOTAL PROJECT COST $175 million OCTOBER 2012 /61 9/11/12 12:05 PM