The concept fuses architecture, dance, movement and spectacle within a series of horizontal stacked platforms to create a vertical campus. The building is sited to face Jarvis Street and integrates three Victorian era heritage buildings. Three elevated transparent volumes- the six-storey North Tower, a horizontal five-storey 'bar' building and a four-storey pavilion building- are organized into an asymmetrical U-shaped configuration around the heritage Northfield House and connected to the heritage Margaret McCain Academic Building and the R.A Laidlaw Centre. The glazed curtain wall of the North Tower presents elevated views into the dance studios from the street and in turn allows dancers to use the city as both a backdrop and audience. Inside, the space between the heritage residence and the training centre is enclosed to create a three-storey Town Square. Here the major support programs — café, physiotherapy department and resource centre — converge. The café is encountered immediately upon entrance into the Town Square to manifest the school’s stated mandate to nourish the mind, body and soul.
Architects: KPMB Architects / Goldsmith Borgal & Company Limited Architects, architects in joint venture
Photos: Tom Arban, Maris Mezulis, Eduard Hueber
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