With only a few weeks left in the countdown to its completion, the Instructional Centre (IC) may be one of the few large-scale Knowledge Infrastructure Projects (KIP) ready by the end-of-March deadline. Director of Facilities Management Jim Derenzis estimates that UTSC occupancy will be achieved by mid March. Following quickly, labs and classrooms will be fitted in time to accommodate students attending summer semester and office moves for Management, Computer & Mathematical Sciences, and Co-operative Learning will take place throughout April and May.
There will be lots to celebrate about the IC when the official building opening takes place in September. Designed by one of Canada’s top architects, Diamond + Schmitt Architects, state-of-the-art features abound, including innovative glass and curtain-wall cladding. A piazza-like entrance courtyard and a grand atrium within the front doors will give students exciting gathering spaces inside and out. A dramatic sculpture by artists Daniel Young and Christian Giroux will scale the four floors of the atrium. The atrium will also have high definition display equipment in place for gatherings, parties and events.
A late addition in the building project is a full plate of solar panels on the roof top, which Derenzis says will derive revenue from the OPA (Ontario Power Authority) as part of their Feed-In Tariff (FIT) program.
According to IT Director Zoran Piljevic, classrooms will be a cut above current University of Toronto standards as the most highly digitalized yet. Any room with a capacity of 60 seats or more will be equipped with two projectors and two screens. Cabling permits high definition transmission, ensuring top image quality in all projection. Interactive smart boards mean that professor annotations can be captured digitally and shared – never again will they be erased permanently from the blackboard at the end of class.
The IC will feature a brand new Linux lab. CMS students will get a head start with their careers working hands on with the Linux operating system. A new microprocessor lab will provide a specialized environment for students to experiment with electronic hardware.
For Management students, the finance lab has a large LCD stock ticker as the room backdrop and 60 desks equipped with double monitors and various finance databases, including Bloomberg, making this one of the largest labs of its kind at any Canadian university. Envisioned as a hub for finance activity and scholarship at UTSC, the lab will host trading simulations, training sessions, tutorials and research activities.
For members of the UTSC community anxious to see the opening of two new food venues, Derenzis cautions we’ll have to wait a bit longer. Contracts may soon be awarded, but operations likely won’t be running until the beginning of the fall semester.