A state-of-the-art Culinary Arts Centre has opened at Centennial College in Toronto. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the eight storey, 353,500-square-foot facility also houses Centennial Place, a residence with 740 beds plus a conference and banquet centre on the top floor.
The project is a collaboration between Ontario’s first community college and private developer Knightstone Capital Management to create a hybrid building that transforms post-secondary student housing and academic space to energize an urban campus context.
“This unique combination of residence and academic program, plus a conference centre, restaurant and café operated by the school is designed to serve different communities in a seamless fashion and to provide a professional learning and work environment for students of the culinary arts, some of whom may live in the same building,” said Donald Schmitt, principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects.
The School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts is a campus gateway with high visibility for its academic activity to both students and the community. The ground floor has open views onto the culinary arts program with five kitchen labs, eight additional classrooms, a teaching restaurant and café.
The student accommodation is configured around a courtyard garden. Each of the two- and four-bed suites has abundant daylight and views. Every resident has a private bedroom and each suite has one or two bathrooms and a full kitchen. Corner lounges on each floor provide a range of amenity program space, including a study room, games room, yoga studio and screening room.
High efficiency glazing and highly insulated walls and roofs in addition to a green roof and water-saving features put the facility on track for LEED Silver certification. “Our new building had to fulfill multiple roles, not the least of which is to provide a warm and welcoming home for our students from afar,” says Ann Buller, president of Centennial College. “At the same time, our priority is to bring students and community together to learn about the global influence of food in our Culinary Arts Centre and this new building meets our ambitious goals fabulously.”