Ontario College of Art & Design
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The table top is used to create a new sheltered public space, adjacent to the new student lounge in the existing building
Richard Johnson/Interior Images (website) Download Original
Flagship building for the Ontario College of Art & Design. Perched on inclined stilts sailing high above the street, the building has become an icon for the college and city
Nicknamed ‘the flying tabletop’, the building is the length of a 30-storey tower, tilted on its side. It glows at night, casts dramatic afternoon shadows and has a candy-coated, black and white pixelated surface.
The building is a combination of new-build and refurbishment, which creates a successful new space for students to learn. The existing building was inward-looking, uninspiring and without a clear organising element or focus. Alsop’s 16,000m2 refurbishment was built with standardised building components. It is a steel box clad with black and white aluminium top. The deep punched-out windows have large recesses for students to sit in and lean on.
The new sunken entrance features a glass curtain wall with hints of colour, which fills in an existing courtyard and relocates the main entrance. In the building’s four-storey entrance hall there are two express elevators to take students up to the table top where a cluster of classrooms and studios give students the chance to be inspired in the classroom by looking out the Toronto skyline.
Data
- Begun: Feb 2003
- Completed: 2004
- Floor area: 16,000m2
- Sector: Education
- Total cost: £25M
- Tender date: Dec 2002
- Procurement: CCDC II 1994
- Address: OCAD, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto, M5T 1W1, Canada
Professional Team 
- Architect: Alsop Architects
- Project architect: Will Alsop
- Client: Ontario College of Art & Design
- Services engineer: MCW Consultants
- Civil engineer: Cansult Engineers & Project Managers
- Landscape architect: YWLA
- Lighting: Stephen Pollard Lighting & Production Design
- Cost consultant: Hanscomb Ltd
- Construction manager: PHA Project Management Consultants
- Structural engineer: Carruthers & Wallace
- Main contractor: PCL constructors canadaPCL constructors canada
Suppliers
- Structural steel: Walters
- Intumescent Paint System: Carboline
- Corrugated aluminium siding system: Flynn Canada
- Glazing coloured film: Vanceva