Click on images at left for larger color views. [Google Earth link] College buildings give architects a rare opportunity to design for a client with a clear direction. Where an office building for Company A might not be much different than one for Company B -- especially given the speculative nature of office buildings -- an architecture school will be much different than, in this case, a business school. The former will most likely strive to be different, celebrating the crit and studio spaces, though the latter will prefer an air of dignity balanced by a contemporary attitude. The Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, Ontario is such a building, with one foot in the post-graduation, dignified world of business, the other in the fresh and now. Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects with Robbie/Young + Wright Architects, the 260,000 sf (25,000 sm) building also sits at the entrance to campus, giving it an additional function that it achieves admirably through its intelligent massing, a gracefully curved elevation, an inviting corner entry, and a courtyard oriented to a wooded area bordering the site. In addition to its large size, the school takes pride in its construction and materiality pointing out how it "features 40,000 tonnes of poured concrete; 2.2 acres (one hectare) of energy-efficient glass; two million pounds (900,000 kilograms) of sandblasted limestone from quarries in Ontario’s Algonquin Region, hand-cut and set into the curved walls; and enough heavy-gauge copper flashing to gild the CN Tower from top to bottom." The interiors continue that thoughtful care of the exterior, utilizing a palette of concrete, glass, and wood in circulation and functional spaces. Or, as summed up by the school itself: "One enters the building with a sense that things are done a little differently here. And there is, at all times, a feeling that one is about to discover something new." The Schulich School of Business was a recipient of a 2006 Governor General’s Medals in Architecture from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.   Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Ontario by Hariri Pontarini Architects 2007.04.23     Click on images below for larger views.