Toronto Ryerson Student Learning Centre | 50.59m | 8s | Ryerson University | Zeidler

NBGtect said:
One could predict it would be packed, right? Plus the students love the upper floors anyway. You think that with a prime location on Yonge, coupled with students spending long hours here, that there would be a greater desire to have decent retail spaces. Wouldn't that reduce the need for funding by having extra income? Correct me if I'm wrong, AoD.

The food court at 10 Dundas is filled with students and often used as a meeting place for studying, and that's several floors up! I really must be missing something here. Please explain how this is sufficient when it could have been extra-special and extra useful with extra income with just a few extra floors (taking out my proposed residence above)...

I think Ryerson missed something here in their calculations.
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The food court at 10 Dundas has plenty of students because the theatres are used as lecture halls during the daytime, and that Digital Media Zone is right there in the office section of the building. Given the retail vacancies at said complex, I am not at all convinced that it is a particularly successful model for a public institution to take on, emulate and run that risk of building that much retail in the hopes of "extra income" that might not materialize. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think the students are the ones clamouring for multiple levels of retail space at SLC, and if the student aren't clamouring for that, and the economic case is wanting, why should the university have that as a priority when it has nothing to do with core mission?

As to their calculations, well, so far their calculations worked well enough to land a Snohetta building, and the Maple Leaf Gardens, etc. I'd say they are doing just fine.

AoD
 
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There's something pleasant about an institutional building be all about its purpose.

I don't think I can respect this block if the entire bottom level is all retail. Call me crazy, but I feel it adds a lot of legitimacy to Ryerson's status as a school that its entirely educational building is full of....students.
 
Ryan_T said:
There's something pleasant about an institutional building be all about its purpose.

I don't think I can respect this block if the entire bottom level is all retail. Call me crazy, but I feel it adds a lot of legitimacy to Ryerson's status as a school that its entirely educational building is full of....students.
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I'm sometimes a devil's advocate and I actually fully agree with you. You just have a nicer way of speaking rather than others who are beyond dogmatic and put people's backs up when they have itchy trigger fingers and insta-defensive comments.

I went to a prestigious school that wasn't located right on Yonge St haha. But this does seem perfectly fine as a SLC for the types who go here and they don't need retail by any means lol.
 
March 19

A fair bit of defects need to be fix.

Lot more up on site
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Nice long line up for Starbucks
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That staircase is really popular !
 
WislaHD said:
Just wait until the summer!
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Just to clarify I wasn't being sarcastic ; ) The several times I've been on it its been heavily used, even in not so great premature; So yes, the summer will be even better.
 
taal said:
Just to clarify I wasn't being sarcastic ; ) The several times I've been on it its been heavily used, even in not so great premature; So yes, the summer will be even better.
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I've been in the building a few times when the fire alarm has been pulled. The outdoor staircase can sit at least a hundred people. I wasn't kidding either, I see big potential for use during the summer time.

If we were to take the 10 Dundas block and start from scratch, I would make the Gould street frontage opposite of the SLC be public space, perhaps with a fountain? I think it could compliment the SLC and campus well.

I suppose there is a chance to do something with that undeveloped lot present there already. What is supposed to come there anywhere?
 
modernizt said:
So, let me get this straight: because they didn't cram the building full of retail on its lower levels, that is taken to mean that the site is underbuilt?

Ohh boy. Thank God Ryerson/Snohetta made this building happen (with a strong architectural concept at its core) and not a committee of UT-urban-planners.
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You realize of course that it sits on one of the busiest retail streets in the city? Just north of the busiest pedestrian intersection in the country?
 
Went on a little tour the other day and my heart sank with how many things need to be fixed. I can't see this being maintained very well. I actually can't think of any Ryerson building that is well maintained. I'm not trying to be a UofT snob (although one of the top schools in the world with amazing character in it's historic grounds), but Ryerson students really don't have any nice buildings to make them feel like they are spending a fortune on their education. It just feels like a 'dirty' school.

I recall checking it out while I was in high school and thinking that this isn't the university experience at all. It's very much feels and acts like a college (considering that it's ranked below 700 in the world). I think that's the reason why it's so popular because it's not pretentious like UofT, but when you are spending sooooo much on school, you might as well go to a school with gorgeous grounds and a degree that's worth something or just go to college like GB or Seneca and spend far less and actually be able to get a job! I could never figure out the appeal here. But would be nice to have a nice building for them nonetheless.
 
NBGtect said:
Went on a little tour the other day and my heart sank with how many things need to be fixed. I can't see this being maintained very well. I actually can't think of any Ryerson building that is well maintained. I'm not trying to be a UofT snob (although one of the top schools in the world with amazing character in it's historic grounds), but Ryerson students really don't have any nice buildings to make them feel like they are spending a fortune on their education. It just feels like a 'dirty' school.

I recall checking it out while I was in high school and thinking that this isn't the university experience at all. It's very much feels and acts like a college (considering that it's ranked below 700 in the world). I think that's the reason why it's so popular because it's not pretentious like UofT, but when you are spending sooooo much on school, you might as well go to a school with gorgeous grounds and a degree that's worth something or just go to college like GB or Seneca and spend far less and actually be able to get a job! I could never figure out the appeal here. But would be nice to have a nice building for them nonetheless.
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Huh? Im Ryerson alumni and damn proud of a good chunk of the buildings on campus. The maintenance was fine while I was a student, and many buildings have been updated since I graduated (2010). It is popular because its right in the centre of Canada's largest city, and offers an experience beyond your typical campus lifestyle. Downtown becomes your campus. My little sister just went to 'discover Ryerson' last week to take a look at the campus and liked it much more than UofT, to the point that she has now made it her number 1 choice. Her first impression wasn't that of a 'dirty' school, but a very new and modern school, with a much more vibrant campus lifestyle.
 
Ya, I guess the buildings are well maintained. Never really thought about that before. And that's true about downtown being your campus and I think much differently about Ryerson's campus now being very new and modern. The SLC certainly adds to all the new and modern architecture :)
 
Hmm, I wouldn't say I am 'proud' of being a Ryerson student, but I'm pretty damn happy with the experience so far.

Still a lot of room for the university to grow, but I never got the impression that it wasn't a respectable institution. I would even go as far to say that in recent years it has become a more reputable university than YorkU.
 
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