Queen's University, John Deutsch University Centre Revitalization
Kingston, Ontario
In Collaboration with HDR
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Student Hub, Student Lounge, Study Space, Wellness Centre, Meeting Rooms, Counseling Service Spaces, Faculty Offices, Food Services, Student Residence Renovation (90-Bed Residence, Student Lounges, Communal Kitchens, Study Spaces, Laundry Rooms), Outdoor Gathering Circle. Entry Plaza, Accessible Entries into Historic Buildings
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Mass Timber Contractor: Timmerman Timberworks
Structural: Blackwell
Mechanical / Electrical: Smith + Andersen
Civil: Josselyn
Landscape: NAK Design Strategies -
2021 World Architecture Festival (WAF) Award: Education (Future Project Shortlist)
2021 Architizer A+ Award: Unbuilt Institutional (Popular Choice Winner)
2020 Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Award: Top Prize (Unbuilt Education)
2019 Canadian Architect: Award of Excellence
Situated on the most prominent intersection on campus, the JDUC renewal transforms an existing social hub and residence into a fully accessible, vibrant, and sustainable home for student life on campus. The new entrance wing not only adds space for students to gather and relax, learn and socialize, but also revamps the site’s exterior ground plane, repositioning it as a new front door to campus and clarifying the public circulation routes that link the JDUC to its site and adjacent buildings.
The 93,500-sf interior — half new, half renovation — comprises student and faculty offices, club meeting rooms and boardrooms, an integrated wellness space, food and concession vendors, study and social lounges, renewed residence spaces, and the featured amphitheatre-like stair that connects the second and third levels.
Situated at the border between the university campus and surrounding residential neighborhoods – the hallmark limestone masonry of the Queens campus is reinterpreted in a residential masonry scale, mediating between town and gown through a material selection that represents the transitional nature of the site itself.
The addition includes a series of stepped and ramped tiers forming an armature that, beginning on the ground level, pulls visitors up and into the building.
At the various levels are spaces that combine circulation route with studying, socializing, and assembly.
Our engagement process included consultation with campus Indigenous groups, to incorporate meaningful Indigeneity into the design. The realized elements include the integration of the Seven Thresholds into the central agora-like student lounge space, each with one of the Anishinaabe Seven Grandfather Teachings etched in the floor.
An extensive renovation to the existing student residences brings the four-storey facility up to code, with its lounge and study spaces designed to encourage communal living and student wellbeing.
