The Varsity Centre for High Performance Sport, conceived as a research-intensive centre for sport excellence, will bring together top researchers, graduate students, sport scientists, athletic therapists, coaches, and athletes to create the first innovative facility of its kind in Ontario. It integrates research, education and practice, and will also provide informal social gathering spaces for students.This mixed-use complex will house research and teaching labs, a fitness, strength and conditioning centre, a state-of-the-art sport medicine clinic, and a 2,000 seat field house venue for varsity basketball and volleyball. Considering the complexity of programming, the dense stack of large and extra-large spaces characterizes the project – the Sports Bowl, the Strength and Conditioning Terrace, and the Sky Court, each is legible as a powerful interior space, registering identity, becoming topographic, terraced and open…welcoming the campus community.The larger challenge of this project is not only to construct a great High Performance Sport Centre and vibrant student spaces but also to contribute to the coherent development of the campus as a whole. The new building fosters a rich set of relationships within, and between, the different programs it houses and its immediate and larger context, acting as a kind of glue than binds program to site, taking advantage of local opportunity. The project builds on an existing net of small-scale pedestrian passages on campus, to create student laneways. It supports student and campus life while producing unique and memorable new ‘places’ on the U of T St. George campus.The project was a finalist at 2010 World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, in the category, Future Academic Buildings.Patkau Architects and MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects, in joint venture, were selected as the winner of the international design competition. Design development and programming is underway, with anticipated project completion by 2015.