Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/178323
© TOM ARBAN / TOM ARBAN PHOTOGRAPHY Rotman School of Management Expansion – University of Toronto by Dan O'Reilly hen a $93.8-million addition to the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto opens in September, the focus will be on preparing students for the world of business and inance. Along with its educational purposes, this steel and curtainwall building offers a picturesque view of the 19th century buildings that make up the university campus in downtown Toronto. In fact, because of these Victorian structures, extra attention was required in order for the building to integrate with the existing school and its surroundings. Designed by KPMB Architects to LEED Silver status and built by construction manager Eastern Construction, the addition consists of a nine-storey tower and a two-storey events hall that wraps around an 1880s designated heritage house. The house was renovated and restored by a pre-quali ied contractor and will be the headquarters for the PhD program. Highlighted by a sunken courtyard and atrium, the nine-storey tower houses the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking and the Martin Prosperity Institute, seven tiered classrooms that each accommodate 70 students, study spaces and a Business Information Centre with a green room on the fourth and ifth loors. A mix of classroom and of ices make up the irst ive loors while the sixth to ninth loors, which are stepped back, are comprised of faculty of ices, research spaces and PhD units. The ninth loor has a double-height meeting room. Plantings of trees, grasses and shrubs in front of the addition, and particularly the heritage house, provides a contemporary feel to match the architect's design, says Robert Beaudin, project manager, Janet Rosenberg & Studio, the landscape architect. "It was important for us to support that vision." Jutting out from the tower and distinguished by its own green roof, the lower portion of the building features a café, and a 400-seat, 600-square-metre event hall with the latest audiovisual technology features. These state-of-the-art features were designed by Engineering Harmonics Inc., a multidisciplinary consultant specializing in the design of AV materials, digital signage, performance sound and broadcast systems. "The hall is a multipurpose space in the truest sense and has more AV technology than any university meeting © MARIS MEZULIS W space that we know of," says project director Gary Tibshirani. With a mandate for quick changeovers between six room con igurations the event box is served by 11 10,000lumen projectors and it was Engineering Harmonics' task to design a system where that many projectors could be accommodated in the ceiling space. Rotman School of Management Expansion – University of Toronto p.74-77Rotman.indd 75 7/13/12 10:35 AM