Opened this fall, the building is part of a multi-year campus redevelopment program.
Walking through the halls of the new academic building at Sault College, a palette of greens and oranges greets students as they shuffle between classes. In a lower common room, students congregate in cozy study areas while a waterfall trickles softly in the background. Everywhere there is open space filled with natural light, thanks to the glass walls of the 75,000-square-foot building.
Along with meeting timelines and budgetary restrictions, and providing a 'wow' factor for visitors, the architects tasked with building the new structure were given one other guideline by college president Ron Common: it must reflect the Northern surroundings in which it's situated.
“Whatever you guys come up with, it has to speak to people that you're in a Northern college and you're not in Toronto,” he told them. “It has to at least reflect Northern material.”
Inspiration for the colour scheme was taken from the college's woodsy surroundings, while the terrazzo floor was informed by the granite outcrops dotting the North. Copper—an important element amongst the First Nations community—was incorporated into the waterfall, and touches of wood and steel are used throughout.
The building not only pleases aesthetically, but it fills a long-time need for space.
“Before this was built, I'd walk down the halls, and the students were sitting with their backs against the lockers working with their laptops because they didn't have space like this,” Common said, reflecting on the new structure. “I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.”
The $25-million academic building, which encompasses 18 classrooms, a large theatre and common space for students, is the most recent item to be knocked off the college's to-do list. A $100-million plan to revamp the campus got underway when Common took the reigns of the school in 2007.
“When I arrived as president I felt that the campus was in a pretty strong need of revival in order to be competitive, and I wanted to create a space that the students deserved,” Common said. “Most of the existing buildings on this campus were from the 1970s, and so obviously we are growing and we needed new academic space in order to continue to grow, and we needed more flexible space than what we had.”
Completed projects include the $22-million Algoma Public Health building, which was finished in August; the revamping of the nurse practitioner clinic, which is set to open this month; and a $2.3-million aviation centre, which was completed at the end of September and will allow the college to expand the aviation program, take in additional students and purchase additional airplanes.
Next up is a 45,000-square-foot health and wellness centre. Tenders opened last month and construction—at the site of the current student life centre—is set to begin this fall with a projected opening date of early 2013. Funding for the project is comprised of $4 million from the province, $3 million from student fees and $1 million from the city, with the rest to be contributed by the college.
The college is already $2.1 million into a $6-million fundraising campaign to continue revamping the campus, which will include refacing existing buildings to give them a fresh, contemporary look.
Common said partnerships with industry and local organizations—which provide financial benefits and training opportunities—are key to the school's success, and he aims to build on those collaborations.
The school must be doing something right. Enrolment has gone up every year over the last four years and currently sits at 4,200 full- and part-time students. Graduates of Sault College ranked the school the highest in the province for student satisfaction with one exception: its facilities.
As the redevelopment project continues, Common believes the college can change that.
