Ryerson University, Canada’s leader in innovative, career-focused education, and the Design Exchange – the foremost agency promoting the importance of design to everyday life in Canada – are pleased to announce an international competition for the design of an exemplary, state-of-the-art university residence building. Submissions are sought from students enrolled in schools of architecture and the allied disciplines.

The competition site is located on the campus of Ryerson University in the heart of downtown Toronto. The residence building is intended to provide housing and related facilities for a representative cross section of the University’s population, including students, faculty, administrative staff, and visiting scholars. The site and competition brief call for creative thinking in terms of the conception of affordable, high-rise accommodation for university campuses situated in dense and somewhat edgy inner-city conditions. Among other considerations, participants are asked to reflect on and respond to the following questions: As the idea of the university has changed over time, has the idea of the university residence building changed along with it? Can the design of a university residence building enhance overall the student learning experience? Can it help to build community more broadly? And can the design of a university residence building act as a catalyst for positive change and renewal of the urban environment?

Participants are encouraged to undertake the competition in multidisciplinary teams and are required to seek faculty and professional advice. Participants may not, however, undertake the competition as part of a professional mandate or an academic design studio.

The competition commences in mid September, 2009, with an all-electronic submission due in late December, 2009. Adjudication takes place in early 2010. The competition jury comprises James Timberlake of KieranTimberlake (Philadelphia), Anne Cormier of Atelier Big City (Montreal), Ken Greenberg of Greenberg Consultants (Toronto), Samantha Sannella of the Design Exchange (Toronto), and Kendra Schank Smith of Ryerson University’s program in architecture (Toronto).

Selected projects will be eligible to receive monetary awards and shown in an exhibition to be mounted at the Design Exchange.

Design Exchange