Located at the edge of the University of Toronto at Mississauga Campus, the new
building assumes the role of an interface.
Organized along the principal façade, it is closely bordered by a park
on one side and a new courtyard garden on the other. Its main circulation creates a linear public
space that provides a connection between the Student Centre and the Library as it
links the landscape to the building's public and educational spaces. CCT becomes a place of transition, adjacency
and inhabitation all at once.The glazed vertical surface of this
connection acts as a thickened membrane that serves a technological filter
between the existing, natural material of the forest and the tamed, controlled
environment of the building and its garden.
At the level of the ground, the membrane is completely transparent; the
line between exterior and interior disappears. The plane of the earth forms a
continuous public room that slips into the building, flows through it toward
the courtyard, onto the landscaped roof of the garage and into the campus
beyond.
Like the bark of the London Plane trees
conserved on the site, the layers of landscape detach and lift, establishing a
new topography from which grow both the building and its garden landscape. Nestled
into this landscape are the building's 'mineral' public functions (Multi-Media
Studio Theatre, the E-Gallery and the Image Bar), each with its own identity but
tied together by the new terrain. Continuous, interwoven strands of this
topography lift and wind vertically through the structure, connecting spaces
between the shifting program elements, which puncture the façade membrane at the
upper levels. This in-between space, occupied by platforms, bridges, stairs and
ramps, fosters openness and interaction between the occupants, program and the
outside environment, each allowed to flow through the envelope by means of the
shifting solids. Fluid public space is
thereby created, highlighting the campus’ unique connection to its natural surroundings.
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