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In Feburary of this year, Ryerson Graduate Bryan Bonnici took on us a hard-hat tour of the Ryerson Student Learning Centre. Bryan was able to visit the building again this June, and this is his report.
I recently found an SD card containing pictures of a tour of Ryerson's SLC that I was invited on in early June. Looking back at them, it's amazing the progress that's been made in the span of two months! The crane was still in, cladding hadn't made it above the 7th floor, and the interior fit out was only just beginning on the lower floors. The building now is almost completely sealed, has its green roof in, and is starting to see decorative elements (such as the blue triangular patterns) installed.
Here is a selection of pictures from the tour:
In June, crews were just beginning fit out of all the elevators, so our ride was on the outside. We started at the eighth floor and worked our way down.
The eighth floor was aptly named Sky. A line of offices will divide this space diagonally into two open spaces, one by the elevators, and another at the apex of the tilted slab.
This is the Beach. The windows need a good wash, but despite all the construction dirt, this is how bright it is with completely natural lighting. After crane removal, crews will install a more gradual flooring on top of the concrete base. Along the exterior of the floorplate, hot water tubing is embedded into the concrete to keep it warm and to prevent degradation from thermal cycling.
Plenty of portholes adorn the windows, giving occupants clear views down Yonge
Interior fit out gets more progressive as we travel down the tower. The fifth floor is named the Sun; the walls in this picture form the corners of a computer lab that the elevators will open up facing towards. The additional studding seen in the background are for classrooms and study spaces. None of the rooms on this floor connect to an exterior wall; they are a roughly pentagon-shaped cluster surrounded by open study space.
This is the view out the tip of the chamfer between the south and west face. It will eventually be covered with the blue triangular pattern.
The same goes for the corner in Level 4, the Garden. Here, standing on the spot of future offices, the 5 degree slope of the south wall is very evident. The chamfered corner will remain open gathering space with natural light provided by south and west windows. The elevators will open up to open space that overlooks a green roof installed on the two-story bridge to the Library building.
Workers install a staircase between the second (Bridge) and third (Bluff) levels.
The Bluff, which includes the upper side of the wedge, will be occupied by Ryerson's Digital Media Zone.
This level has a public ledge that overlooks the impressive Atrium and a faculty bridge to the Library. Below, stairs swallow up the cafe. I want to emphasize, this picture is natural light.
Welder installs staircase.
Framework being installed for the ceiling pattern on the airy atrium (Valley level).
The retail level. This was sitting roughed in, waiting for tenants. At the time of the tour, it was not yet decided whether the space would be contiguous or divided into several retailers. Based on recent steelwork installed at street level in the past few days, it looks like they've decided to split the space.
Bryan Bonnici is a Ryerson Electrical Engineering graduate. You can find Bryan's blog here, and you can find his Flickr page here.
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