The Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus at the University of Toronto
Multi-story winter gardens are dispersed throughout the building and dissolve internal boundaries, creating conditions for chance encounters and conversations that spark innovation.
The Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus is designed to advance the University of Toronto's strategic mission of linking academic research and entrepreneurial endeavors. Located at a critical juncture between the university's campus, the historic Legislature Grounds, and the city's growing Discovery District, this 13-story building establishes a new gateway to Queen's Park along University Avenue and frames the heart of the University of Toronto's campus. Serving as Architect of Record, Teeple Architects Inc. of Toronto will be working collaboratively with Weiss/Manfredi to realize this new project.
The 250,000-square-foot complex unites the University of Toronto Entrepreneurship (UTE) program, the University's Innovations and Partnerships Office (IPO), the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VIAI), and various startup companies and established corporate partners. Flexible loft-like offices, labs, classrooms, conference rooms, and event spaces at multiple scales are arranged along a vertical social circuit designed to facilitate evolving requirements and future growth. Multi-story, light-filled, internal, public winter gardens are dispersed throughout the building and dissolve boundaries, creating conditions for chance encounters and conversations that spark innovation.
A generous ground floor plaza, activated by rain gardens and cafe seating, creates a welcoming and animated frontage along College Street, while the exterior terraces of the winter gardens above offer expansive views of the Toronto skyline. Together, these public, outward-facing territories inscribe the building's tapered massing, articulating a permeable building edge and establishing contextual datums that connect to the surrounding built environment. Envisioned as a luminous beacon for discovery and exploration, the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus supports the University of Toronto's aspiration to create a dynamic incubator for intellectual exchange and world-class research.
Conceptualizing a center for academia, industry, innovation, and entrepreneurship
Early paper models
Concept sketch detailing the connective tissue of the interior space
Precast concrete panels add a mineral quality in alignment with neighboring stone context
The multipurpose room provides a generously-scaled space to host a variety of functions
The College Street Winter Garden, under construction
Building form connects building and landscape