At Western University in London, Ont., a recently-opened curved building - the Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation - has transformed an underused space into a campus gateway.Supplied/Western University/Lisa Logan
Twisting a building to comfortably fit into a limited space, replacing parking lots with housing and turning busy boulevards into pedestrian zones are just some ways that Canadian universities are getting creative with their use of real estate.
Over the last several years, campuses have had to figure out how to maximize their space to accommodate growing programs and enrolments, which are on the rise across Canada.
Statistics Canada reported that in the 2023-24 academic year, enrolments at universities and colleges jumped to 2.3 million students, a 5.8-per-cent rise from the previous year.
With more students attending, many Canadian universities are prioritizing making campuses more urban, sustainable and collaboration-friendly.
Boomerang building on campus
At Western University in London, Ont., a curved building has transformed a tight, underused space — a grass-covered corner connected to a parking lot — into a campus gateway.
The newly-opened Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation features collaboration spaces and a public lobby that has become a campus hub with a café and event space.
“We wanted it to be central to the heart of the campus, just across the road from the Ivey Business School and between the Weldon Library and the Josephine Spencer Niblett Law Building,” Michael McLean, Western’s architect and director of facilities planning and design, says.
The building’s boomerang shape — composed of two wings converging at a two-storey atrium — creates multiple entrances to the building. It brings together the growing programs of Western’s Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, run through the Ivey Business School, that were previously scattered across the campus.
The new structure also preserved a stand of mature trees, which has become a parkette.
“Shoehorning the building on the wedge-shaped site was a challenge, but that made it more interesting,” David D’Andrea, senior project architect at Perkins&Will, the firm leading the development’s design, says. “The original design was a square building with a private internal courtyard, but we wanted to make it a more inviting public space and entrance to the campus.”
The new Western University building has multiple entrances and maximizes natural light. It brings together the school’s growing programs of its Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, which were previously scattered across campus.Supplied/Tom Arban
Prioritizing net-zero energy and sustainability
The building’s exterior is a contemporary nod to the stone Collegiate-Gothic style of neighbouring campus buildings. Panels of honeycombed aluminum that are faced with limestone veneer offer high insulation, which means less energy is needed to heat and cool the building and the structure’s overall carbon emissions are reduced.
The building aims to achieve Net-Zero Energy and LEED Gold certifications and has the lowest-carbon footprint on campus. It has also received a New Construction Award from the Canada Green Building Council.
“We’ve had excellent response to the new centre,” Mr. McLean says. “It’s a fine example of how innovative design can create a building that’s a connector for the entire campus community.”
Western is currently revising its campus master plan from 2015, expanding its open space strategy to make campus more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly, with more outdoor pathways and gathering areas, he says.
Since 2020-2021, Western’s enrolment has grown significantly, with a nearly 5,800-student increase.
The university’s strategic plan aims for continued growth across all study levels, and it expects to reach approximately 42,000 full-time equivalent students in fiscal year 2026.
Western’s goals include prioritizing sustainability, redeveloping parts of the campus to meet a projected enrolment of 50,000 by 2030 and creating more collaborative spaces. That is why the university is finding new and innovative ways to repurpose its underused land.
McMaster University’s new campus plan intensifies campus use, with more student housing and pedestrian zones. One of its goals is the removal of buses from the campus centre and the development of pedestrian malls and hubs.Supplied/BDP Quadrangle
McMaster’s organized growth plan
Meanwhile, McMaster University’s new 10-year campus plan intensifies campus use, with more student housing and pedestrian zones. It also incorporates the western terminus of the coming Hamilton LRT.
Among the plan’s goals is to remove buses from the campus’s centre and to create pedestrian malls and hubs to encourage innovation and collaboration.
“Especially in a constrained fiscal environment for universities today, it’s important for us to utilize real estate efficiently,” says Saher Fazilat, McMaster’s vice-president of operations and finance. “There is increased emphasis on sustainability as well as making sure there is organized growth, with precincts of buildings that work together rather than standing alone.”
A top priority is student housing.
“We have about 4,400 students living on campus, and we have just built 600 spaces close to downtown with the 30-storey 10 Bay Graduate Residence,” Ms. Fazilat says. “We’re also in the process of building, with a private partner, the Lincoln Alexander Hall residence that faces Main Street, with about 1,400 more beds.”
By next year, she says the campus will have about 6,500 beds total and be able to guarantee space for all first-year students.
The school’s plan redirects growth to areas with the greatest potential to serve students, staff and the broader Hamilton community, explains Yves Bonnardeaux, senior architect and associate, at BDP Quadrangle, the project’s lead architect.
New or revitalized multi-use facilities are located in denser precincts around the campus edge to encourage collaboration and sustainability, both indoors and outdoors, he adds.
One example of a space intended to encourage collaboration and innovation is the nine-storey McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery of McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business, due to open this spring. It will house the Innis Library and BMO Connection Zone in its main-floor lobby to encourage connections between students, faculty and community partners.
The plan also prioritizes installing parking structures for more than 1,500 cars before the school turns existing surface lots into green space.
“In a competitive climate, campuses must continue to look for new ways to foster entrepreneurship, create community and offer sustainability without compromise if they want to attract the top talent of tomorrow,” Mr. D’Andrea says.