JOSEPH L. ROTMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO - Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2012

Architects: KPMB Architects
Design Team: Bruce Kuwabara, Marianne McKenna, Luigi LaRocca, Paulo Rocha, Dave Smythe, Myriam Tawadros, Bruno Weber, John Peterson, Janice Wong, Richard Wong, Victor Garzon, Lilly Liaukus, Bryn Marler, Rachel Stecker, Maryam Karimi, Carolyn Lee, Danielle Sucher, Laura Carwardine
Client: University of Toronto
Project Manager: Capital Project, University of Toronto
Contractor: Eastern Construction Company Ltd.,
Structural Engineers: Halcrow Yolles
Landscape Architects: Janet Rosenberg + Associates
Photographer: Tom Arban

Project Description

The winning design competition scheme for the Rotman Expansion was conceived to foster collaboration and creative problem solving and to create a vibrant global hub that grounds the identity of the School and gives it an international presence. The design of the new building is a direct expression of Rotman’s core mission to promote the power of creativity, innovation and integrative thinking in 21st-Century business education. Located in downtown Toronto, one of the world’s most diverse cities, the design will also establish the Rotman as a destination for business collaboration and exchange.

It will create a new campus for Rotman by connecting the existing building to designated floors in the new building. It will house the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, the Lloyd and Delphine Martin Prosperity Institute, as well as other research programs and Institutes for Excellence, classrooms, study space and event facilities. A major 400-seat event space forms the heart of the building, and creates a distinctive elevation on the street. Expressed as an elevated glass box, with floor-to-ceiling glazing, it will broadcast the diversity and vibrancy of the Rotman programs to the campus and the city.

The design responds to different scales and conditions presented by the surrounding context. In this case, it mitigates between a historic 19th-Century residence and the massive scale of the Robarts Library. It carefully maintains views and minimizes shadow impact on one of the city’s architectural treasures, Massey College, to the east.

Integrated Vertical Campus
The design solution is based on the idea of an integrated vertical campus and builds on related solutions for projects by KPMB such as the John Molson School of Business and Canada’s National Ballet School. The vertically oriented block of office and research space allows for connections between institutes and anticipates future expansion. The overall concept is thoughtfully configured to optimize opportunities for habitable outdoor spaces and terraces.

An atrium and interconnecting stair in the new building intensifies opportunities for exchange. A series of direct horizontal and vertical circulation systems between the original Rotman and the new building facilitate the flow of people.
The primary research institutes, the Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI) and the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking (DCIT), are located in prominent locations in the upper levels. Between the two large institutes are three floors of smaller institutes.
Fostering Collaboration and Community

Study rooms and open student study spaces are strategically displaced throughout the building to allow for proximity to teaching spaces and research and faculty offices. The highly visible study rooms are balanced with private acoustically isolated spaces to support different modes of research, study and teaching.