A new higher education building inspires wonder and learning

Completed in 2023, the new School of Continuing Studies’ twisted form and distinctive triangular windows establishes an icon that defines the southern edge of campus. The rotated floors create a generous pedestrian plaza at ground level and a series of lofty, bright learning spaces throughout the interior.

(Photo: Doublespace Photography)

The school’s landscape elements integrate seamlessly with those of the neighboring Seneca College building, creating a unified sense of place that signals the entrance to campus.

(Photo: Lisa Logan Photography)

As night falls and the lights turn on inside, the triangular windows are shown in relief and the mass of the building appears to float above the transparent glass walls of the ground floor.

(Photo: Doublespace Photography)

The triangular windows register the building’s formal playfulness and communicate its identity throughout the interior. From the upper floors, the view carries all the way to downtown Toronto.

(Photo: Tom Arban Photography)

Immediately inside is the service area, where registration and the administrative offices are located. After hours, the area can be closed off by a sliding panel that features the triangle motif established by the windows.

(Photo: Tom Arban Photography)

The ground floor spaces are open and dedicated to student engagement and events, creating lively environments that animate the building through transparent glass walls.

(Photo: Tom Arban Photography)

Double- and triple-height spaces linked by communicating stairs connect the interior’s suite of flexible learning environments. This lofty vertical circulation strategy creates a welcoming sense of community that travels all the way up the daylight-suffused interior.

(Photo: Tom Arban Photography)

This exploded axonometric shows how the designers arranged interior blocks for program areas while the perimeter is left open for study lounges. Low-carbon concrete cores efficiently brace the torqued steel structure.