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Changing the Way the College Community and Public Relate and Engage with the Campus

Durham College / Centre for Collaborative Education

  • Sector

    Higher Education

  • Location

    Oshawa, Ontario

  • Client

    Durham College

  • Size

    80,700 sf / 7,500 sm

  • Completion

    2018

Designed as a bridge between industry and students, the LEED® Gold-certified Centre for Collaborative Education (CfCE) at Durham College reflects the college’s commitment to collaborating with local business and community partners.

The five-storey, 80,000 sq. ft. Centre for Collaborative Education houses light-filled, flexible spaces designed to accommodate a wide variety of programs and student needs. The building promotes the College’s values of collaboration and progressive pedagogy with active learning classrooms and components. These include patient-care laboratories and a spa suite that further patient-centred, inter-professional healthcare. Accelerator spaces aimed towards creating experiential learning opportunities have a hive-like atmosphere, fostering collaborative learning and invention, engaging industry, and facilitating market innovations.

A key component of the project is the Global Classroom, a high-capacity video conferencing teaching and event space. Pivoting walls open onto the CfCE’s main multi-level atrium, the Global Commons, to support large community and learning/teaching events to “spill out”, creating a convivial atmosphere.

The CfCE benefits from an agile design. Strategic, optimized planning provides a highly rational and functional layout and an efficient net to gross ratio. Corridors were purposefully designed to accommodate informal study and social spaces. Moveable sound-attenuated walls allow for adaptability and flexibility in programming.

Architecture Counsel in joint venture with Montgomery Sisam Architects