OCAD U Student bridges gap between young & old

Thursday, May 5, 2016 - 1:30pm

Environmental Design graduating student Vihn Le made the Metro News with his thesis project -- a plan to transform an under-enrolled elementary school into an intergenerational community centre.

 

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/05/03/ocad-student-bridging-generation-gap.html

 

 

Open Houses, Working Groups to provide input to Rosalie Sharp Pavilion Revitalization Project

Rosalie Sharp Pavilion
Tuesday, January 27, 2015 - 5:00am

The Rosalie Sharp Pavilion Revitalization Project at 115 McCaul Street will begin a formal community engagement process next week by holding open houses and ongoing working groups.

Open Houses scheduled for February 3 and February 5 and held at Onsite Gallery (230 Richmond Street West) invite all members of the OCAD U community to provide input towards interior and exterior design considerations as well as the sustainability plan for the project. A follow up event will be announced, likely for March, when the architect will present on the feedback from these sessions and how it has contributed to the design evolution of the project.

Additionally, two working groups are being created. An Interior Programming User Group will be led by Faculty of Design Dean Gayle Nicoll and Faculty of Art Acting Dean Peter Sramek and include student representation, as well as members from all faculties. The group will provide input and advice on ensuring that the space is actively programmed within the preliminary vision of creating multi-disciplinary, flexible, and rotational space for experiential learning, studio work and public engagement.  The group will also contribute to articulation of the interior finishes in a way that reflects the programming and design intent.

A Media Wall Development Group will also be created to consider the possible nature and programming of media walls as part of the project. It is likely that both working groups will actively continue beyond the project completion date of autumn 2016.

The revitalization of the Pavilion is one of many steps being taken to meet current and future space needs at OCAD University. While the project will not solve all of OCAD U’s space pressures, it will create exciting new spaces for student, staff and faculty and will address specific student needs for experiential learning and studio space.

Open House: Rosalie Sharp Pavilion Revitalization Project at 115 McCaul

Rosalie Sharp Pavilion
Thursday, February 5, 2015 - 7:00pm to 11:00pm

Join members of OCAD University’s leadership team and the project architects for an open house discussing the Rosalie Sharp Pavilion Revitalization Project at 115 McCaul Street. Your input will be used towards interior and exterior design considerations as well as the sustainability plan for the project.

A 45 minute presentation will take place at 5 p.m.

Venue & Address: 
Onsite Gallery 230 Richmond Street West, first floor Toronto ON  
Email: 
<p>communications@ocadu.ca</p>

Open House: Rosalie Sharp Pavilion Revitalization Project at 115 McCaul

Rosalie Sharp Pavilion
Tuesday, February 3, 2015 - 3:00pm to 6:00pm

Join members of OCAD University’s leadership team and the project architects for an open house discussing the Rosalie Sharp Pavilion Revitalization Project at 115 McCaul Street. Your input will be used towards interior and exterior design considerations as well as the sustainability plan for the project.

A 45 minute presentation will take place at 12 noon.

For those who cannot attend at this time, the Open House will also be held on Thursday, February 5 from 2 to 6 p.m., with the presentation taking place at 5 p.m., also in Onsite Gallery at 230 Richmond Street West, first floor.

Venue & Address: 
Onsite Gallery 230 Richmond Street West, first floor Toronto, ON &nbsp;
Email: 
<p>communications@ocadu.ca</p>

OCAD student designs transform desolate public space at 52 Division

Monday, March 15, 2010 - 4:00am

(Toronto — March 15, 2010) In an exhibition opening at Toronto City Hall next week, Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) students present their visions to revitalize one of the city’s major pedestrian thoroughfares, the plaza in front of Toronto Police Service 52 Division, on Dundas Street between St. Patrick and Simcoe Streets.

Reassembly Required is the result of OCAD’s annual Design Competition, where students were given approximately 97 hours — from the Thursday afternoon until the Monday evening (January 21 to 25, 2010) — to research, conceptualize and construct their solutions to a given challenge.

“Many students tell us that this experience was one of the highlights of their time at OCAD,” explains this year’s competition organizer Stuart Reid, Professor in the Faculty of Design. “The exhibition proves emerging OCAD designers have the tools to transform lacklustre urban space into accessible, functional and engaging space.”

In this year’s competition, Faculty of Design organizers carefully chose the site, a wide-open, cemented “plaza” in front of the 52 Division TPS building. With just the sidewalk, the street and the police station to use as boundaries, the challenge was immense: how might student design teams turn this forgotten city plaza into a functional, creative space that facilitates social experience?

The teams, each consisting of four to six students from both art and design faculties, were not left without inspiration. Will Alsop, British architect of OCAD’s famed Sharp Centre for Design, returned to the university for the competition’s pre-launch public lecture. Toronto City Councillor Adam Vaughan spoke to students as well, providing local perspective and context. Faculty of Design professors and guest volunteer critics provided mentoring and advice over the course of the weekend.

OCAD students flourish, even when under immense time constraints. The resulting concepts are extraordinarily thoughtful, making use of materials like laminated glass to respond to differing lighting conditions, and techniques like recessing the walkway to help combat the strong wind tunnel created in the area. Other designs incorporate roof panels that change orientation with weather conditions. The designs offer Toronto residents a glimpse into the imaginative minds of the designers of tomorrow. Immersed as they are in the city’s downtown core, OCAD students are uniquely positioned to apply their creative problem-solving skills to its infrastructure.

Reassembly Required: Selections from OCAD’s 2010 Annual Design Competition will run in the first floor Rotunda at Toronto City Hall from March 15 to 19. An opening reception will be held Tuesday, March 16 at 6 p.m. (remarks at 6:30) with comments from Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20 — Trinity–Spadina) and OCAD President Sara Diamond. All are welcome to attend.

Reassembly Required:
Selections from OCAD’s 2010 Annual Design Competition

March 15 to 19, 2010

Opening: Tuesday, March 16, 6 p.m. (remarks at 6:30)
Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20 — Trinity–Spadina)
OCAD President Sara Diamond

All are welcome to attend.

Toronto City Hall
Rotunda, First Floor
100 Queen Street West
Exhibition hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., daily.
Information: 416-977-6000 | www.ocad.ca

About the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD)
The Ontario College of Art & Design (www.ocad.ca) is Canada’s “university of the imagination.” OCAD is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. The university is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinarity, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.
 

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For more information and images please contact:

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer, OCAD
416.977.6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)