Centennial College, Downsview Campus Centre for Aerospace and Aviation
Toronto, Ontario
In Collaboration with Stantec and ERA Architects
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Engine Labs, Electrical Labs, Avionics Labs, Sheet Metal Labs, CNC Rooms, Composites Labs and Clean Room, Classrooms, Study Rooms, Multipurpose and Meeting Rooms, Aircraft Compound, Hangar Run-Up Station, Aircraft Apron / Yard, Outdoor Heritage Interpretive Exhibit, Campus Courtyard
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2023 Society for College & University Planning (SCUP) Excellence Award: Building Additions, Renovation or Adaptive Reuse
2022 Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award: Excellence in Conservation
2022 Graphic Design USA (GDUSA): Design Award
2022 Ontario Association of Architects (OAA): Design Excellence Award
2022 Azure Magazine: AZ People’s Choice Award (Experiential Graphic Design)
2021 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Canada: Award of Merit
2021 Toronto Urban Design Awards: Award of Excellence (Large Places and/or Neighbourhood Designs)
2021 National Trust for Canada: Ecclesiastical Insurance Cornerstone Award (Transformative Projects)
2021 Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) Heritage Award: Paul Oberman Award for Adaptive Reuse (Large-Scale / Team / Corporate)
2021 Heritage Toronto: Built Heritage Award (Adaptive Reuse)
2020 Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD) Global Design Award: Merit Award
This adaptive reuse transforms and expands a building that was once at the centre of Canadian aviation design and manufacturing into an innovative learning institution for Centennial College’s Aviation and Engineering Technology & Applied Science Programs. A bold and extensive environmental graphics program highlights the special features throughout the site, animating the renewed structure and interweaving its history into the daily life of the school.
The tradition of aerial signing on aircraft hangar roofs has been reprised on the building, making ‘Centennial College’ visible from the air and in Google Maps.
A graphic wall runs alongside the primary entrance ramp, its two faces chronicling the building’s history.
In the main lobby, which is also a student lounge, a 9-metre diameter stylized floor graphic draws on the traditional wind rose meteorological graphic tool. It here indicates the wind speed and directional distribution pattern specific to the site while serving as a large ‘area rug’.
The lobby has a dimensional dot-matrix donor list comprised of circular tubes that mimic those found on an aircraft control board, the size of each tube here indicating the donation amount.
The interior graphics take cues from symbols, colours, and patterns commonly found in aviation manufacturing safety markings, runway graphics, and airport wayfinding.
The unique nature of the school and of its learning and fabrication spaces called for the creation of bespoke pictograms.
Super-sized graphic murals throughout the interior draw attention to the various vintages of the building’s architectural components and place present and past activities on the site side-by-side.
