New instructional centre to be a hub for students at U of T Scarborough

A new building planned for the University of Toronto Scarborough will create a major student hub on the north part of the campus.

Located at the corner of Military Trail and Pan Am Drive, the Instructional Centre 2, or IC-2 (Sam Ibrahim Building), will have nearly 18,500 square metres of academic space, including 21 technology-enhanced classrooms and lecture halls, labs, as well as study spaces, lounges and open seating areas for students.  

Among the innovative teaching spaces is a 500-seat theatre-in-the-round auditorium where no seat is more than seven rows away from the lecture stand. Many of the other classrooms will also be flexible in their arrangement, allowing students to easily gather around tables to collaborate on class projects. 

“This is an exciting project that will offer students more space to learn, study and connect with each other outside of the classroom,” says Desmond Pouyat, dean of student experience and wellbeing at U of T Scarborough.

The new, five-storey building will have a large, open atrium and a series of naturally lit lounges and meeting spaces (image courtesy ZAS Architects and CEBRA Architecture)

Student services will be housed on one entire floor, including the Health & Wellness Centre, Academic Advising & Career Centre, the Office of Student Experience & Wellbeing and AccessAbility Services. 

“Not only will IC-2 enhance learning opportunities through state-of-the-art classroom design, it will also create a one-stop shop for student support services on campus, which supports U of T Scarborough’s vision of inclusive excellence,” Pouyat says. 

The five-storey building, designed by ZAS Architects in collaboration with CEBRA Architecture, features modern glass façades to create open and inspiring spaces. The building will have a large, open atrium, a series of naturally lit lounges and meeting spaces, as well as a large green roof with two garden courtyards on the fourth floor. 

The ground floor will have numerous social spaces for students, including a café, student welcome areas, student lounges, informal collaboration spaces and natural landscape beds.

Many of the classrooms will be flexible in their arrangement, allowing students to easily gather around tables to collaborate on class projects (image courtesy ZAS Architects and CEBRA Architecture)

IC-2, which will also be the future home of the department of computer and mathematical sciences, will be an anchor building in the north part of campus.

“Our goal is to seamlessly connect the north and south parts of the campus, with our ultimate ambition of converting Military Trail into a pedestrian-only boulevard that runs through the heart of the campus,” says Andrew Arifuzzaman, U of T Scarborough’s chief administrative officer.

“The stunning design of the building will make a beautiful addition to the campus, but it also serves an important purpose by enhancing access to different modes of transportation for our students, as well as providing easy access for our community visitors.”

The environmentally friendly features of the building, located just north of the Environmental Sciences & Chemistry Building (ESCB), include a green roof and energy efficiency performance that is 40 per cent above building industry standards. It will also target LEED Gold certification.

Construction of IC-2 is scheduled to begin in early 2021, with an opening date in late 2023.