U of T: Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building (Foster and Partners)

[AlvinofDiaspar]

From U of T News:

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy hosts open house
Community invited to preview new pharmacy building
May 29/06
by Maria Saros Leung

While the official opening may be months away, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is offering a sneak peek at its new home on Saturday, June 3.

The U of T community and the general public are invited to tour the new building located at 144 College St. The event will run from noon to 3:30 p.m., with tours beginning every 15 minutes.

Visitors will get a closer look at some of the new Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building’s key features – the five-storey glass atrium, the teaching labs and lecture halls, and the two suspended pods. The open house is being held in conjunction with Spring Reunion 2006, U of T’s campus-wide alumni event, which runs from Thursday, June 1, to Sunday, June 4.

The building is the first Canadian commission for renowned British architecture firm Foster and Partners, designers of the Reichstag renovation in Berlin and the Great Court of the British Museum.

The new building is also featured in “Gliding Through Space†an exhibition of Norman Foster’s work being held at the Faculty of Architecture Landscape, and Design’s Eric Arthur Gallery. Visit www.ald.utoronto.ca for more information on the exhibit.

Visit www.alumni.utoronto.ca/events/reunion/reunion.htm for more information on Spring Reunion 2006.
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I am definitely going to this one.

AoD

 

[Archivistower]

Do we have time to put together "pod costumes" to wear to the event? That would be hilarious!

 

[building babel]

At the very least, we should start preparing now for the 2007 Doors Open Forum Meet.

www.retropolis.net/architects.html

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

For those who are curious, here is a photo of the interior from the news page:

www.news.utoronto.ca/img/2006/pharmacy_interior.jpg

AoD

EDIT: And a stunning, albeit small night shot of the pods:

www.utoronto.ca/pharmacy/graphics/May-17-Ext.1.jpg

 

[simply Dan]

Do we have time to put together "pod costumes" to wear to the event?

Where do we get the styrofoam?

 

[thenay]

thanks for the info AoD

 

[ganjavih]

It's Pharmacy, we should go dressed as pills. I wanna be morphine.

 

[MrOttawa]

^ Can I be Codine?

 

[Suicidal Gingerbread Man]

It's Pharmacy, we should go dressed as pills. I wanna be morphine.

Actually, you should go dressed as an elderly prescription tourist from the United States.

 

[building babel]

I'll go dressed as a placebo.

 

[wyliepoon]

What is this, the Art Medical Ball?

I think I'll be there.

 

[Archivistower]

I went, but I didn't dress as anything except me. Here's some photos of the pods, some labs, and a few of the views from the corner, 12th storey office.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Here are some shots of other locales within the building:

Entrance vestibule.

Foster designed cafe space.

12th floor, looking west.

Then east.

Elevator forecourt.

Looking down onto lounge space.

Skylight above the atrium.

Generic east hallway.

View towards east from 7th floor.

Same lounge space as viewed from 12th floor in previous pics.

Top of both pods.

4th floor Dean's office.

Office spaces below.

Looking up.

Electronic access control gate to the 3rd floor/student pod lounge.

Curved bench around the edge of pod.

Staircase to the basement area, taken from 3rd floor.

Small pod looms ahead.

Staircase between 2nd and 3rd floor.

Entrance to the pod.

Staircase leading to 2nd floor.

B1 Lecture hall.

Closeup of light fixtures.

Comments: Overall, the building is quite nice, though the materials tend to be ordinary, and drywalls are everywhere. The material covering the pod also have a very plasticky, Toyota Corolla interior moulding feel.

AoD

 

[wyliepoon]

Here are my photos of the building... sorry if my photos are repeats of Alvin's or Archivistower's photos...

View from first floor atrium

Looking up at a pod and atrium

Inside the entrance

Pod with support struts

View from under the pod in the entrance atrium

From the top floor

Looking down from the top of the atrium

Giant mortar and pestle

Looking down at the top of the small pod- a faculty lounge that offers little privacy (or safety) from students

Walkway to top of large pod (above entrance atrium)

View from large pod

View of "small" pod- still pretty ginormous!

Study space on third floor

Automatic entry gates... TTC should get some of these for subway station turnstiles!

View of large pod

Entrance to large pod

Interior of large pod- actually a very small classroom space insulated from sound

Large lecture hall (~300 seats)

Lockers in the B1 level

Looking up from the basement

Plan of the student lounge in the B2 level- designed for foosball and pool!

Small lecture hall

My thoughts:

I think the Pharmacy Building is a very pleasant surprise on the inside, which contrasts with the more plain, "hate-it-or-like-it" exterior. The atrium space, the stairs and the walkways kind of remind me of another Foster building that I've been in- the HSBC Main Building in Hong Kong, which has a much bigger atrium (and of course, an astronomical budget).

The tour guides at the open house (who are also Pharmacy students, and will be moving into this building soon) emphasize the "open concept" of the building very much. It's very open, alright, but the location of the faculty lounge at the top of one of the pods, in the middle of the atrium is probably an overkill of the open concept. I don't know how comfortable professors would be having their lunch breaks there!

Some of the visitors who have connections to the Pharmacy school have expressed comments about how the building is still too small for the department, with so much of the inside having been carved up for the atriums. I don't know how the building will function in real life once the school settles into the building, but as a piece of architecture the inside of the building is definitely one of the great interior spaces in this city.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

wylie:

I see that you've went over to the Foster exhibit at AL&D and poured over the plans for the building! He specified pretty much everything...including the design of the pedestal stands for the lecture halls.

I have had the urge to snatch that 500lbs piece of document...more than once.

AoD