Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/423872
S t. Andrew's College, a private board- ing and day school in Aurora, Ontar- io, is experiencing exciting changes at its 15800 Yonge Street location, the most recent of which involves Phase II of its campus master plan (CMP II). Looking to create a contemporary addition to the existing school while tailoring facilities to suit advanced pro- graming and student-focused activities, Joseph Bogdan and Angelo Caranci of Bogdan Newman Caranci Inc. and Les Andrew of Andrew Incorporated Archi- tecture set to work on designing CMP II in accordance with priorities set out 12 years earlier as part of the school's major building campaign. CMP II pro- vides a permanent home for some of the newer programs at the school. The $22-million project involves 85 per cent new construction and 15 per cent renovation, says Courtenay Shrimpton, assistant headmaster, head of the upper school and director of stra- tegic development, St. Andrew's College. The new addition is 41,000 square feet with a 3,000 square foot new mechani- cal penthouse. Renovations involve 15,000 square feet in the dining hall. One of the priorities of the project was to address the need for full school assembly space. "It's been at least 25 years since we've had an auditorium that could house the entire school at the same time," says Shrimpton. "We have an intimate theatre for just over 200 audience members and an auditorium space for 450 people, and with a retract- ing wall it will allow for large gatherings of the entire school community of 700." Meshing the disparate needs and requirements of large numbers for school assemblies and musical concerts in the same location was one of the big- gest challenges for the architects. "The unique solution was to develop a large stage area to house the theatre that can be visually and acoustically separated from the main auditorium," says Andrew. "This was achieved through some technical w izardr y whereby a double-height section of the stage lifts hydraulically from the lower level to complete the stage floor and also form a gallery-seating platform. At the same time, the proscenium opening is closed to the main auditorium with a vertically sliding wall." In mid-stream of the project, it was decided to move the middle school's music program to the new facility. "As this was not in the plan initially, we had to retrofit classrooms and knock down some walls," says Shrimpton. "Another challenge for us was that with the school being incredibly technology rich, the logistics of putting in all the technol- ogy and making sure that it was exactly what the teachers wanted has been a challenge and required a lot of com- munication between the builder, our IT department and teachers." In the meantime, the school's music centre was relocated to the campus chapel during the project. "We had to remove half the pews and reno- vate some space within the chapel," says Shrimpton. A new arena was constructed at the same time that work was under- way on CMP II. "The arena was techni- cally not part of CMP II as it was added as a separate project with a different contractor," says Shrimpton. "The scale of construction on campus has been quite significant and having the two construction companies doing work on site created some logistics challenges. Ensuring construction did not impact the students academic world was our number one priority and I think we've managed that quite well." Exterior materials for the project include extension of existing brick and stone for the facade, while contem- porary materials have been used to modernize the facility with the use of curtain walls with fritted glass, alumi- num panels and glass fins. The interior makes use of rift cut oak for flooring and wall panelling in major spaces, por- celain tiles for high-traffic areas as well as glass and wood railings. Landscaping was designed to tie all campus areas together through the use of consistent materials such as natural stone, unit paving and plant material, says Stephanie Fraser, asso- ciate, Cosburn Giberson Landscape Architects ( CGLA). "With St. Andrew's College being such a large campus, it was fun to design the small intimate spaces, which could be utilized as out- door classrooms and an informal per- formance venue," says Fraser. Landscape challenges involved pre- serving some large trees on site and marrying the old with the new. "Armour- stone retaining walls and accent stones are used throughout the campus," says Fraser. "For this project we incorpo- rated the armourstone to elevate the loading deck area to reflect the large armourstone retaining wall of the adja- cent synthetic track and field facility. For the courtyard and amphitheatre we utilized sawn limestone blocks for seat- ing to keep with the natural stone theme but also make it more modern." Unilock's II Campo paving stones have been utilized throughout the cam- pus. "The variety of stone sizes and the interesting texture make the pavers a very versatile material," says Fraser. The new building is designed to incorporate numerous sust ainable desig n init iat ives. "These include energy-efficient mechanical and electri- cal systems, recycling of stormwater for irrigation, a selection of local materials and the incorporation of reflective roof membranes," says Bogdan. The mechanical system is, for the most part, fairly conventional for a project of this type, says John S. Lowden, president, The Mitchell Partnership Inc. "It features separate air handling sys- tems for the theatres," says Lowden. "The balance of the school is served by distributed heat pumps with a central air handling unit providing ventilation air. Most of the year, heating and cool- ing requirements can be met via the heat pumps. During warm weather, the heat from air conditioning is rejected to a central dry cooler on the roof and dur- ing extreme cold weather, the heating is supplemented from the school's central steam boiler plant." From a construction perspective the design was quite detailed and very intri- cate, says Jeff Pearson, general manager, The Dalton Company Ltd. "This project has been very enjoyable for myself and our team," says Pearson. "To see the heritage of St. Andrew's College around us as we work has been fantastic. It has been a very amicable project." CMP II is on track for doors to open to students and faculty in March 2015, despite a difficult winter that threat- ened the schedule. "We are very happy with the progress," says Shrimpton. "The project got far behind because of the very cold weather and they've been able to get back on schedule, and we are very pleased with that." n St. Andrew's College – CMP II by Angela Altass courtesy Bogdan newman caranci inc. Location 15800 Yonge Street, Aurora, Ontario owner St. Andrew's College Project Manager Turner & Townsend cm2r architect Bogdan Newman Caranci Inc. educationaL consuLtant Andrew Incorporated Architecture construction Manager The Dalton Company Ltd. structuraL consuLtant Quinn Dressel Associates MechanicaL consuLtant The Mitchell Partnership Inc. eLectricaL consuLtant Crossey Engineering Ltd. LandscaPe architect Cosburn Giberson Landscape Architects (CGLA) totaL area New Construction: 41,000 square feet with a 3,000-square-foot mechanical penthouse. Renovation: 15,000 square feet. totaL cost $22 million 80/ december 2014 St. Andrew's college – cmP II Flynn Canada.indd