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16 months after the University of Toronto announced their intention to construct a new academic and cultural complex at 90 Queen’s Park Crescent—the site of the long-shuttered McLaughlin Planetarium— we are learning that the team of Toronto-based architectsAlliance and New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro has been selected to design the new building that will rise on the site.
The university's new Centre for Civilizations and Cultures will replace the existing planetarium structure, which was part of the Royal Ontario Museum. The planetarium closed in 1995 and the site was sold to U of T in 2009. Located to the immediate south of the museum and adjacent to the U of T faculties of Law and Music, the new facility would serve as the new home of U of T's department of history, the department of Near and Middle Eastern civilizations, and a new 250-seat performance hall for the Faculty of Music.
The facility will also be home to the Institute of Islamic Studies and the research arm of the Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies. The facility was originally intended to house The Jewish Museum of Canada, though the organization has since withdrawn from the project owing to a shifting of their funding priorities. Improvements to the public realm are also being proposed, including a new plaza next to the Museum station entrance and improved pedestrian connections between Queen’s Park and Philosopher’s Walk.
“This site will act as a dramatic new gateway connecting the university and the city,” said Scott Mabury, U of T’s vice-president of university operations. “These two firms are responsible for some of the most exciting and inventive architectural projects in recent years. We are all looking forward to seeing their vision for the Centre for Civilizations and Cultures.”
While there are no images of the project to provide as the team has just begun work on the design, the two architectural firms involved are well known Modernists. architectAlliance, one of Toronto's leading firms, has had a more minimalist output to date with several of their works amongst Toronto's tallest new buildings. Ïce, a recently completed two-tower condominium complex on York Street at the Gardiner Expressway, has a particularly prominent position in the Downtown skyline and was recently named by UrbanToronto readers as their favourite new Toronto building of 2015. The Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, seen below, is an earlier aA building for the U of T, designed in collaboration with Behnisch Arkitekten.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro will be a familiar name to Toronto architecture buffs despite not having any works in the city yet, with their recently completed Broad Museum in Los Angeles having garnered considerable press as of late.
Plans for the site will continue to evolve as consultations with U of T, local communities, the City of Toronto, and nearby cultural institutions are held. In the meantime, you can share your opinion by leaving a comment in the space provided below, or by visiting the associated Forum thread to join in on the conversation.
