Meet your new classroom: a former pub.

The newly transformed Building K is as bright and colourful as the students it continues to serve. With the school’s increasing population, this building does it all. A dynamic colour palette and tons of natural lighting help activate student minds, while open areas with versatile seating options help them wind down between classes. Introducing Pod Classrooms. So much more than your typical learning environment, these spaces encourage student engagement with technologically-mediated resources. Flexible seating arrangements also inspire interactive student-teacher discussion and peer collaboration. An Active Learning Centre open to the public makes the building accessible to the community.

Needed: a one-stop destination for all student services.
Must provide a home for a student pub, campus radio station, a student newspaper studio and a multi-purpose hall.

Also should look awesome…..

Presenting the new Student Union building at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV). Juxtaposing key components of student life, it serves as a portal to diversity, vibrancy, inspiration, and transformation. Providing a space for students to meet, relax and socialize, the building’s main purpose is to provide space for the functions and operations of the Student Union.
Amidst the natural beauty of the setting, the 3-storey sailing weaves into the existing vehicular and pedestrian network fabric of the campus, incorporating contemporary and sustainable elements to reflect the conscious responsibility of our generation to the future, while responding to the history of the place.
The project achieved LEED Gold Certification from CaGBC. The 4,700sm Student Union Building will undoubtedly become the hub for young minds experiencing campus life.

The “ask” in this project was a thrilling one. Create the first purpose-built institution of art and design in the country.

It was an opportunity to captivate and motivate a new generation of thinkers and creators. It also provided a welcoming public venue for the local community. Apart from faculty offices, studios and classrooms, it also includes a dedicated centre for Aboriginal Cultural development, public galleries, a bookstore, and an extensive art, design and media library. The projects was delivered by the Applied Arts Partners in a Public-Private Partnership. The new campus was designed in collaboration with Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt Architects as a joint venture.

The location on this project called for the kid gloves treatment. The Learning Innovation Centre is a building that blends into a former military historic site. Royal Roads University programs are centred on active  team learning complemented with blended learning models that allow learners to continue their studies off campus and  return to campus for periodic residences. The four-storey, contemporary educational technology and learning facility provides flexible, inspiring, welcoming spaces. Planning allowed for the projected enrolment growth in the university’s expanding roster of academic programs.

Our client said:

The Learning Innovation Centre is modern and innovative, yet respectful of the historical and natural environment in which it sits….

Alan Cahoon, PhD, President and Vice-Chancellor

Could we turn what used to be a trade school into an inspiring home for the visual arts? The answer was a resounding, yes.

The project consisted of refurbishment and re-building of the existing trades teaching facility. We transformed it into teaching space for the visual arts program, student services offices, 9 new classrooms and over 45 offices for faculty. The existing building underwent a seismic upgrading, building code and systems upgrade and an exterior cladding retrofit.

The end result? Simply beautiful.

The assignment was a new wet/dry laboratory building to accommodate a wide range of teaching and research activities. It should fit the scale and architectural expression of the existing University of Victoria campus content. Our solution, a new 4 storey building incorporates modular generic concepts that facilitate  flexibility for users, planning and access to services. Right now, the initial uses include wet and dry labs for teaching and research labs and officers for the Earth and Ocean Sciences and Chemistry departments. Plus, large lecture theatres and an Animal Resource Centre. The building is physically connected Into adjacent science facilities with a bridge connection to aid communication within the science campus.

The client said:

“I’ve heard nothing but praise for the flood of natural light that the large banks of windows provided by your design allow. It is not common that new buildings on university campusesexceed the expectations of their occupants…. and it  does so dramatically.”

 Thomas F. Pederson, Dean of Science

In keeping with concerns about health, this building was designed to care about the health of the planet.

It is certified LEED Gold. The building houses medical teaching and research as a part of UBC’s undergraduate physician training program. In partnership with British Columbia Medical Training, the building comprises the University of Victoria’s portion of the distributed model. Key features include lecture theatres, laboratory and gross anatomy lab facilities, all for interactive distance education teaching, in which lectures are broadcast from the other UBC sites to students in this facility. The space also includes rooms for conventional teaching, small groups distance education seminars,  faculty offices, flexible research labs and animal care.