Toronto Ryerson Image Centre | ?m | 5s | Ryerson University | Diamond Schmitt

rdaner said:
Any updated information on this project?
Click to expand...

Yup... its been on hold since it was first announced. The city owns Lake Devo and the redesign would have the Image Arts Building front onto Lake Devo along with a coffee shop. The last thing I heard was that Ryerson was negotiating with the city.

There has been no word on it since.
 
Attention News Editors/See CNW Photo Network and Archive:

Bold new Ryerson Photography Gallery and Research Centre unveiled
School of Image Arts expansion begins Gould Street transformation

Photo-11578.jpg


TORONTO, March 5 /CNW/ - Ryerson University President Sheldon Levy today
unveiled the design concept for the new Ryerson Photography Gallery and
Research Centre. This bold new venture, designed by internationally-acclaimed,
Toronto-based Diamond and Schmitt Architects, places the University amongst
the top international centres for photography and related disciplines. It also
heralds the transformation of Gould Street with a dramatic glass building open
and accessible to the community and the public, right in the heart of the
Ryerson campus.
The 1,860 square metre Ryerson Photography Gallery and Research Centre is
part of an expansion and redesign of the existing School of Image Arts
building at 122 Bond Street. The focal point of the renovated ground floor is
the new public gallery, which will house and display the University's
world-renowned Black Star Historical Black & White Photography Collection, as
well as the many collections in the School's Mira Godard Study Centre. An
additional new 1,200 square metres of study, teaching and academic space will
be built by maximizing the available footprint of the building, creating
light-filled study and communal gathering places for students, and expanded
space for faculty and staff.
"This striking new facility will provide an outstanding learning
environment for our students, and is a significant step forward in Ryerson's
growth as a centre for scholarship, graduate studies, and research and
creative activity," said Levy. "The Ryerson Photography Gallery and Research
Centre will become a national centre for photography, attracting visitors from
the city, the country and all over the world. And we're proud that the open,
accessible design is a step forward in transforming Gould Street into a
people-centred, pedestrian gathering place. This truly is 'the University as
city builder', which we declared as a goal in 2006."
The School of Image Arts building will be re-clad in glass. A new
extended colonnade will signal the Gallery entrance overlooking Lake Devo, one
of the most popular public spaces on campus. The ground floor will include a
café to attract students and passersby, and a new transparent entrance to the
facility.
"We have designed a Photography Gallery and Research Centre for Ryerson
University which will undoubtedly be a shining star in the city's cultural
firmament," said Donald Schmitt, principal-in-charge, Diamond and Schmitt
Architects.
Ryerson's Black Star Historical Black & White Photography Collection is
considered the most significant cultural contribution ever made to a Canadian
university. The gift was accompanied by a $7 million financial contribution,
which will be put towards construction of the Ryerson Photography Gallery and
Research Centre. In addition, Ryerson will launch a fundraising campaign to
seek a naming donor for the facility, and to solicit support for other
elements of the project such as exhibits and programs.
"The Ryerson Photography Gallery and Research Centre will provide
exceptional opportunities for collaboration with academic and artistic
communities around the world," said Dr. Daniel Doz, Dean, Faculty of
Communication & Design. "The new facility also allows us to expand program
development and scholarship in related fields such as photojournalism,
documentary imaging, social and political history, and cultural
investigation."
Said Don Snyder, Chair, School of Image Arts: "The design for the
expanded Image Arts building represents a milestone for our School. We will
have new student space, a gallery of international significance, and an
enhanced presence on the campus and in the city. The benefits for our teaching
programs will be enormous: this is a bold step forward that reinforces
Ryerson's place as Canada's leader in education and research for photography
and related disciplines, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels."
The Ryerson Photography Gallery and Research Centre will be the first
University building under construction since the launch of Ryerson's Master
Plan, a flexible framework for growth and revitalization of the campus, and a
catalyst for renewal of the surrounding downtown neighbourhood. The building
design reflects the major themes of the Master Plan: intensification, making
efficient use of small and valuable urban properties; 'people first,' with a
focus on creating a pedestrian-friendly campus including open green spaces and
informal meeting places; and design excellence, a commitment to new and
inspirational academic and student spaces.
Ryerson is currently searching for a Director of the Gallery and Research
Centre, who will lead the academic, administrative, exhibit and outreach
functions for the facility. The Director will be a cultural ambassador for
Ryerson University, responsible for creating an international profile for the
Gallery and Research Centre, and assuming a visible and active role in the
cultural life of Ryerson and the city.

Ryerson University is Canada's leader in career-focused education,
offering more than 95 PhD, master's, and undergraduate programs in the Faculty
of Arts; the Faculty of Communication & Design; the Faculty of Community
Services; the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science; and the Ted
Rogers School of Management. Ryerson University has graduate and undergraduate
enrolment of 25,000 students. With more than 64,000 registrations annually,
The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is Canada's leading
provider of university-based adult education.

/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: A photo accompanying this release is available on
the CNW Photo Network and archived at http://photos.newswire.ca.
Additional archived images are also available on the CNW Photo Archive
website at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited
members of the media/



For further information: MEDIA CONTACT: Heather Kearney, Public Affairs,
Ryerson University, Office: (416) 979-5000 ext. 4282, hkearney@ryerson.ca;
Janet Mowat, Public Affairs, Ryerson University, Office: (416) 979-5000 ext.
7002, jmowat@ryerson.ca
 
I'm glad the old image arts building will be covered up by this. It will look so great from Gould, especially from Lake Devo.
 
That is a very nice looking building. Good for Ryerson. It almost makes up for the Business School on Dundas and Bay (almost).
 
marcus_a_j said:
Nice building. But does every building have to say Ryerson in giant letters along the side of it?
Click to expand...
yup, because there is no other way of telling that you're on ryerson's campus. i guess those giant RU letters, banner on every light post, and students everywhere doesn't already inform that this is a university.
 
Portrait of a century

TheStar.com - Columnist - Portrait of a century

March 05, 2008
Christopher Hume
Urban Affairs Columnist

Ryerson University's days of invisibility are fast coming to an end.

When its new (and as-yet unnamed) photography gallery opens early in 2010, it will instantly become Canada's most important such venue, and one of the most significant in the world.

That's because the renovated building will be home to the 300,000-item Black Star Collection, a major archive given to Ryerson (with $7 million) by an anonymous donor several years ago.

The collection, amassed by the Black Star photo agency, dates back to World War I. In other words, it documents the emergence of photojournalism in the 20th century. This was a time when film reigned supreme; as a result, the gallery will exhibit vintage prints of some of the most celebrated images of the age.

Though the consequences are yet to unfold, the digital revolution will change all this. In the future, there will be no such photographic artefacts, no Black Star collections. The fact is that opportunities such as this will grow increasingly rare.

"It's a fascinating project," says architect Don Schmitt, whose firm, Diamond Schmitt, is designing the facility. "It has the potential to kick off the revitalization of Ryerson. It will add a new layer to the university. We're hoping to make it a jewel."

Jewel is a good word. In Schmitt's reworking, the nondescript yellow-brick Image Arts Building on Gould St., formerly the O'Keefe brewery, will be transformed into a glass box, transparent at grade, translucent above. A "glass veranda" will be added on the west façade, a see-through structure on the second floor overlooking Lake Devo, as it's called, and visible from Yonge St.

The gallery will comprise almost 10,000 square feet, all at ground level. It will be divided into a series of rooms, large and small, built to the highest international conservation standards. This was one of the conditions of the donation, but it also means Ryerson can host travelling exhibitions from around the globe.

"We think it has the potential to become a national centre of photography," says Ryerson president Sheldon Levy. "Our hope is not only to do justice to the academic part of photography but to add another gallery to the city. We want to make the city better and more culturally aware."

Levy has dedicated his three-year tenure to reinvigorating the environment of Ryerson University. In 2006, he hired a design team to put together a master plan for the downtown campus. Recognizing that the university has suffered from neglect and civic condescension, Levy has decided it's time for the institution to assume its rightful place in the Toronto firmament.

Indeed, Black Star will enable Ryerson to attract people who would normally never visit. Keep in mind that photography is more popular than ever among cognoscenti and lay people alike.

And as Levy argues, with the renovation, which calls for a café on the north side, the case for closing Gould St. will become more urgent. The master plan, to be released in the spring, calls for portions of Gould to be shut to traffic, but the better thing would be to turn it over to pedestrians from Yonge to Church St. so Ryerson could finally have a main drag of its own.

In the meantime, university officials are searching for a photographic curator, and construction is due to start this fall.

The beauty of the scheme is how it will help bring Ryerson to the city and the city to Ryerson. The two are not just connected; they are inseparable. How appropriate that it will be photography that enables us to put all this in focus.

Christopher Hume can be reached by email at chume@thestar.ca
 
smuncky said:
here's the render

20080305_pa_Gallery-.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats a very beautiful and refreshing building for toronto. Although it is only a render i can only speculate that the glass might be translucent c-channels.

And for all of those "box haters", i have to ask can you describe to me what makes a box dull without mentioning its a box. what makes a non-box any better? seriously a non-box does not mean it is a good design.

azzo
 
Exactly. Perhaps it fails some in the "spectacle" department because it is about continuity rather than discontinuity, about fitting into context rather than standing out against it. Too bad, so sad.
 
US, I think you are having a debate with yourself (as only you seem to feel there is this false choice between "spectacle" and whatever somebody critiques).
 
That's much more than I expected from this development, and quite handsome. Good for Ryerson, the Image Arts building is truly a deadening presence on the campus.

As for me, I have always been strangely fond of buildings that have big letters on 'em. I like Grad House, I like the CalTrans building in LA. The lettering doesn't bother me.
 
alklay: azzo questioned the preconceptions behind the the automatic "box = dull" conclusion that some draw. A fair question, and worth addressing surely?
 
Pointing out that any critique of 'boxes' (or any architectural style) means that one is calling for 'spectacle' is not a good answer to any fair question.
 
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