The new Architecture Gallery, the latest upgrade to Toronto’s Ryerson University’s Department of Architectural Science, is a small architectural insertion with a dramatic presence.
In a space formerly occupied by a storage room, the gallery pushes into the lobby, introducing a gleaming white palette to contrast a heavy concrete and quarry tile interior.
It adds carefully crafted detailing and a contemporary aesthetic to the existing Brutalist geometry.Oversized, glass pivot doors draw visitors through a felt-wrapped threshold into the fresh white gallery space, creating a dramatic and kinetic threshold. Thin, white porcelain floor tiles extend beyond the threshold into the lobby, announcing the transformed space.
The gallery extends beyond its perceived boundaries, provocatively snagging space in the graduate student lab behind. Wrapped in red felt with stainless steel detailing, the backside of the gallery is as distinctive as the front. Its felt wall offers a warm, textural surface, an acoustic material and a pin-up space.
Functional and playful, this move reminds students that a modest interior intervention can create memorable architecture through creativity and fine craftsmanship. Inside the gallery, the back wall is faceted into flat sections to maximize the mountable display area. A flexible lighting and hanging system enables the space to be completely reinterpreted with each new show.
The exposed ceiling and columns of the gallery preserve the height of the original structure and strategically placed slot windows provide peeks into the gallery from an array of prominent public spaces. A feature wall beside the entrance is designed as an illuminated lantern that will integrate student work from Ryerson’s digital fabrication lab.
The thoughtfully crafted architecture gallery breathes clarity into the chaotic environment of Ryerson’s Architectural Science building. The small gesture creates a large impact by providing the school with an adaptive space for exhibition and events. .
Paul H. Cocker Architecture Gallery 
