Contract - March 2013 - (Page 37)

By John Czarnecki Photography by Tom Arban and Maris Mezulis Rotman School of Management Innovative design thinking is instilled in the business school at the University of Toronto gas fireplace, slate floors, and a simple, graphic palette of white and gray. With the constrained site, KPMB founding partner Bruce Kuwabara noted that one major design decision was to place a large, 500-seat auditorium space—a glass box event hall—one floor above ground rather than at grade or below ground. This way, a pedestrian lane connecting with the rest of the campus is below the hall, which is visible from the street. In that auditorium, seating can be moved to the back to expose more of the white oak floors and create a more open space for events. “The building reflects our global ambitions and our location connections,” says Martin. “We can see out, and the world can see in. This is true of the building as a whole, and of our new, beautiful event space in particular.” Inside, immediately adjacent to the older Rotman building, is a sweet spot that is vital to the integrative thinking made manifest: an atrium with a steel staircase painted hot pink to coincide with a color scheme from the 1998 branding for the school by design icon Bruce Mau. A hub for casual conversations and people in motion, the staircase and atrium bring people together who are otherwise in a classroom or study space. Classrooms are equipped with the latest technology, and the building was designed with multiple study rooms for group discussions. Students and faculty can enjoy a fifth floor roof terrace with sweeping views of the campus and city. And another outdoor terrace is next to the top floor institutes, a perk for the institute scholars, which include noted urbanist and author Richard Florida. When the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto expanded, it needed a new building that would be a model for the integrative thinking approach espoused by its dean, Roger Martin. Dean since 1998, Martin is credited with developing a number of important concepts—including integrative thinking—implemented in international business today. One of the field’s most important minds, he is also a widely published author, with books including The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking, and The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage. Toronto firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB) Architects won a competition to design the new building—from the site to the interiors—and embraced the innovative thinking of Martin and what Rotman means to the city and university. “We were inspired by Roger Martin’s well-articulated notion of integrative thinking and the inherent dichotomies of what he would call a wicked problem,” says Marianne McKenna, founding partner of KPMB. “We wanted to dramatically demonstrate that ‘design thinking’ is alive and well at Rotman, and create a building that is visibly open to its students, faculty, Engaging students while growing in stature “The brand of the Rotman School is ‘A New Way to Think,’” Martin says. the campus, and the city.” “KPMB’s design brings this strategy to life in important ways. The Rotman had been cramped in a building designed by Zeidler high-tech classrooms allow our faculty to push the boundaries of the Partnership Architects in the 1990s. Situated on St. George Street in learning experience, incorporating technology in ways that deepen the heart of the University of Toronto campus, the new building is just south of the Zeidler-designed Rotman building and is nestled between understanding and increase engagement for our students.” The expansion has also allowed the school to grow its MBA class two large Victorian homes that are both more than a century old. The from 270 to nearly 400 students, similar in size to the business school 150,000-square-foot, nine-story KPMB building was designed as a at Stanford University and the MIT Sloan School. And the school has vertical, transparent campus with classrooms, study and event spaces, transformed from being a minor player in management education to and the homes of the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, the being ranked by the Financial Times as the number one business Lloyd & Delphine Martin Prosperity Institute, as well as other research school in Canada, and a destination for international firms looking to departments and institutes on the top floors. hire. “Under Martin’s deanship, Rotman has risen in the rankings of business schools,” says Kuwabara. “We expressed the growing stature Connecting with global ambitions by making a building that is more extroverted, stretching vertically, Before one enters the building from St. George Street, they pass a void looking outwards, and more transparent.” c in the ground that allows natural light into classrooms located below grade. Once inside, they encounter a lobby and café study area with a contract

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - March 2013

Contract - March 2013
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Columnist: Gaining Projects in the Education Market
Exhibition: Cevisama
Product Focus: On the Move
Product Briefs: Education
University of Toronto Rotman School of Management
Bangkok University Imagine Lounge
Lorain County Community College iLoft
Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall, Sonoma State University
Forum Overview: Contract Design Forum Looks Toward the Future
Designers Select: Education Solutions
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - March 2013