School of Advanced Technology - Algonquin College

In addition to labs dedicated to computer science, electronics, telecommunications, geographic information systems, and photonics (the science and technology of light), the new building includes 18 lecture rooms accommodating between 24 and 120 students, a multimedia amphitheatre, open-access computer labs, and offices for teaching and support staff. The scale of the building, its podium, the interplay of punched openings and large glazed areas in common spaces, and the angled façades at entrances, among other features, reflect the character of nearby academic pavilions.

The School of Advanced Technology at Algonquin College was envisioned as a “digital” structure next to an “analog” one. To begin with, photographs of the adjacent building—also designed by GRC ten years prior—were digitized. Using this computer-generated model, new materials, colours, and rhythms were introduced, drawing on the architectural lines of neighbouring red-brick buildings. The result is an atypical building: a dense mass that opens to light and views from all corridors and shared spaces—sunlight even reaches the elevator. Corridors widen at key points to create informal gathering spots as well as areas for studying or dining.

The project was developed within a highly interactive and transparent design-build framework. The team was selected while the program was still being finalized, allowing the architects to engage in meaningful dialogue with users and operators before proposing the guiding concepts for the new school.