In Sheridan’s journey towards becoming a University, the delivery of a premier learning experience is founded on the provision of a hallmark facility which expands on the hard-technical skills of a practical education with enhanced soft-skills learning. Such soft skills accrue outside of traditional learning environments, in inspiring spaces of collision where opportunistic exchanges and serendipitous communication lead to interdisciplinary collaboration.
At the heart of Sheridan’s transformation are creativity and collaboration, traditions already well founded at Sheridan and institutionalized in the Creative Campus Vision. At the core of the new facility, the Centre for Creativity infuses its pedagogy at all levels to cull creativity through collaboration outside of disciplinary silos and inspire innovation. The Creative Campus goes beyond solely providing the infrastructure for collaboration, and synchronizes symbiotic components to achieve added value and unprecedented richness of opportunity for creativity.
The Hazel McCallion Campus Phase 2 building (HMC2) is the second building designed for the Creative Campus. Housing Sheridan’s Sustainable Built Environment Department consisting of Architecture, Interior Design, Interior Decorating and Visual Merchandizing programs, the 220,000 SF building contributes to Sheridan’s ambitious urban design vision that aims to densify and energize Mississauga’s downtown core.
The design encourages students to explore, learn and be inspired. Filled with natural light, views to nature, warm materials and comfortable scale, the user immediately feels compelled to explore the variety of collaborative spaces — which function together to encourage innovation and promote learning.
Strategic internal planning encourages the highest degree of interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty, students, staff, and community and industry leaders in order to foster academic excellence, inclusively and diversity. Informal Gathering Spaces provide a variety of collaborative spaces throughout the building, all linked by the central Atrium that houses and distributes the creative energy throughout the facility. Informal Gathering Spaces are variously scaled to inspire and promote individual and group inventiveness in various formats and modes of collaboration.
Classrooms are designed with an approximate 2:3 length to width room proportion that supports various room configurations based on changing class sizes over time. Architecture and infrastructure enable furniture reconfiguration for maximum flexibility in instructional spaces: infrastructure for projector screens on multiple wall surfaces, and multiple power and data plug-in opportunities support quick reconfiguration of the furniture for diverse student grouping and orientation towards an instructor.
The Energy Intensity target for HMC2 is reflected in building’s high performance design. At 94 kwh/sm/year, HMC2 will be one of the most energy efficient post-secondary buildings in Canada with potential energy cost savings of $120,000 CAD per year. The building was designed through a rigorous energy modeling process featuring: simple compact massing; carefully planned glazing to achieve good interior natural light with only 30% façade openings; precisely detailed envelope to virtually eliminate thermal breaks and air leakage; full insulation coverage; chilled beam heating and cooling with demand controlled ventilation; and LED lighting.
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