The Emily Carr University of Art & Design deserves a campus that reflects the creativity contained within it. CTA fulfills this statement by creating a robust, flexible space designed to inspire creativity to the surrounding community in a stylish, yet functional manner. This space is home to many creative studios including visual arts, drawing, painting, film, sculpture, photography, and industrial design. Woven into these spaces are research offices, faculty and administrative offices, and First Nations Aboriginal gathering spaces. Along with this, are rooms that include collaborative teaching spaces, classrooms, medium and large lecture theatres, and technical shops for wood, metal clay, and film.

This new four-storey laboratory building supports a wide range of teaching and research activities, including wet and dry teaching labs, research labs / offices for Earth and Ocean Sciences and Chemistry, large lecture theatres, and an Animal Resource Centre. CTA developed the facility program concurrently with the schematic design, incorporating modular, generic planning concepts to support long-term flexibility for users and access to services. The building’s scale and architectural expression integrate into the existing University of Victoria campus context. It is physically connected to adjacent science facilities via a bridge, strengthening communication and collaboration within the science precinct. Teaching spaces were designed to maximize access to natural light, enhancing the learning environment. The project addressed the challenges of an accelerated design and construction schedule while delivering a highly flexible, cost-effective building capable of accommodating diverse scientific uses. Close integration of architecture and building services optimized planning efficiency, operational performance, and long-term operating costs.