Schulich School of Business - York University

Published in Award Magazine

The Schulich School of Business at York University officially opened October 24, 2003. Tahir Mohammed, the director; facilities development says, "Our goal was to create a world class facility and showcase a high quality of architecture, reflecting the high caliber of students and quality of the business program."

The new Schulich School of Business is a 3 storey, finger-style structure, built around 3 serene courtyards. Its exterior limestone walls have a copper trim and there is curved stone and windows along the exterior walls, as well as curtain wall on the north and south side. More than 950, 256 kg of exterior stone, as well as nearly a hectare of glass, 75,000 metres of piping, and 1,200km of wiring was used in the complex. The complex includes the 24, 096-square-metre Schulich School of Business and the 7,599-square-metre Executive Learning Centre with 60 residential rooms, a student services building and a parking structure. Inside Schulich are limestone, terrazzo and hardwood floors with a great deal of exposed concrete on the walls, imparting a feeling of strength and permanence. To provide visual contrast, there are gentle curving walls, slender vertical elements and glass.

The design was a result of a joint venture between Hariri Pontarini Architects and Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc. Jamie Wright and his extensive team worked on the project with Siamak Hariri, the lead design architect and his team. Hariri says, "Business school is about connections between professors and colleagues. We wanted to encourage community and interaction using design as a tool." They achieved this by developing warm spaces for interaction. Cloisters or passages overlooking the courtyard, allow students to walk to class and mingle with faculty or fellow students. The central hub of the building is an open three-story space called the C.I.B.C. Marketplace and is coded red for forced interaction.
"Jamie Wright's responsibility as overall partner responsible for management of the project meant always finding the balance between design intent and the reality of producing architectural contract documents and the coordination of numerous subconsultants," says Hariri "Schulich tested our abilities to be sensitive to design while comprehensively understanding the entire construction-project delivery process."

The facility also features a 300-seat auditorium. Its ceiling mimics the inside of a violin case; evoking a warm, snug feeling. Classrooms come in tier, horseshoe and seminar styles. They have a high-tech ambiance and wireless systems installed throughout the school, enabling students to go online virtually anywhere.

However, this state-of-the-art project posed several challenges. In order to meet the University's funding requirements, students had to be in classrooms by fall 2003. Hariri says, "York University wanted a gateway to their campus. The schedules and budget made it a pretty tough combination."

Vanbots Construction is the construction manager for Schulich. Project director Don Griffin says, "At the onset of the project, we brought on mechanical and electrical contractors as partners in the construction-management team. There wasn't enough time to tender and award."
The tight schedule created several challenges during the construction. Griffin says, "The biggest challenge from our point of view was that we were designing and building at the same time." He explains that this affected every part of construction from ceilings to flooring. "Hardwood and stone floors require depressions in the concrete, but because some of the design decisions hadn't been made, we had to create larger depressions that could be filled in later," he says. Mechanical and electrical services inside the wall had to be roughed out in the structural concrete long before tender documents were available for drywall and other finished trades. "We had to look at each situation and figure out the fit," says Griffin. Continuous dialogue between the site and design offices was essential for this coordination.

Sustainability was another important factor affecting the design and construction. In certain areas of the building complex, a green concrete was used. Griffin says, "Typically, concrete is made with a slag material. In this case, we substituted the slag with fly ash, a byproduct of coal-burning electrical generators."

Specific light sources were also selected. Lana Macinnas, the electrical consultant and senior associate at Mulvey & Banini International Inc. says, "In keeping with the vibrant market feel and comfortable work and study conditions, light sources such as compact metal halide and 2700 degree K incandescent compact fluorescents were used. This allowed us to achieve York's goals for energy efficiency."

"Sustainability is an over reaching goal for York University," adds Hariri. "Their aim is be world leaders in sustainable architecture." He explains that virtually all of the interior materials are seen as "correct" from a sustainable standpoint. This includes composite wood and carpet made from recyclable material. The windows were also designed to be energy efficient. Hariri says, "Only 40 % of the windows are exposed to keep the cost of heating down. But outside we used spandrel glass with solid panels behind to keep it looking light."

Energy-saving initiatives also created obstacles. Mechanical consultant, Bill Fines, is an associate with Smith & Anderson Consultants. He says, "The mechanical design challenge for the Schulich School of Business was to maintain high energy efficiency while respecting the architectural need for large glazed exposures and transparency of the building." He adds, "Intense interaction between all design disciplines was required to evolve the building design and to reduce the energy consumption to approximately 15% below the Model National Energy Code."

The actual design of the Schulich Building created other challenges. "It's a sophisticated design for an academic institution," says Chris Andrews, the structural engineer from Carruthers & Wallace Limited. "The courtyard configuration involved complex geometry, curved gridlines and multi levels." The sizes of the vertical structural elements were minimized, based on architectural and design considerations. The limitations of the size of slender vertical elements required the use of significantly higher strength concrete that would be typical. Andrews says, "We went through numerous conceptual design studies to develop the structural solutions that would meet the architectural requirements and the budget."

The roads developed outside of the Schulich building were also complex. Road configurations had to meet standards set by York University and the city. Site services engineer, Mark Hagersteijn, an associate at R.V. Anderson Consultants says, "A traffic analysis was required to ensure the future needs of the campus would be met." He explains that roads had to accommodate future building developments at York, a collector road between the woodlot and the Schulich building, as well as a potential subway.

Tahir Mohammed at York University concludes, "The challenges made us work together as a team to find innovative solutions. And our greatest reward is walking through the new school and seeing students enjoy it."