Brit design good medicine
 

Apr. 27, 2006. 01:00 AM Toronto Star
CHRISTOPHER HUME


Though delayed, Norman Foster has arrived in Toronto. England's most celebrated architect, formally Lord Foster of Thames Bank, a Pritzker Prize winner and Tony Blair's personal architectural adviser, he has worked around the globe, and, finally, has made it to this city.

The University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building, which will be finished late next month, is not only his first project in this city, but this country.

Sitting on the northwest corner of College St. and University Ave., this handsome 12-storey lantern building consists of a box atop a box.

The lower of the two is a transparent cube fronted by a row of imposing concrete columns. The upper box, the larger, is clad in patterned glass.

It's what makes the building a landmark, which, given its important location, is entirely appropriate.

As pharmacy dean, Wayne Hindmarsh, points out, "It needed to be really good looking because it's the entrance to the campus."

To that end, the U of T held an international design competition, a clear sign it was looking for something exceptional.

Interesting, too, that Foster pursued the project; with a construction budget of $65 million, it isn't the kind of commission that's going to make international headlines. On the other hand, it provides a way into the Canadian market, which despite its grinding conservatism, is worth the effort.

Since landing this job in 2002, Foster has lined up projects in Calgary (an office tower for Encana) and Vancouver (a condo), all of which augurs well for the future of architecture in Canada.

For all its modesty, already the pharmacy building has attracted much attention in these parts. In addition to the highly decorative exteriors, it features a pair of extraordinary interior "pods" clearly visible from the street. These ovoid forms, suspended on thin steel rods, appear to float in the large open space of an atrium that reaches to the top of the building.

The bigger will be a classroom that can hold 60 students. The top, which is flat, will be a reading room that offers spectacular views of the city. The smaller accommodates 25, with a faculty lounge on top.

Though there's a certain awkwardness in the way these egg-like structures fit into the strict geometry of the building, they're wonderfully appealing. Everyone will want to go in just to see what they're like. Some might feel claustrophobic inside, but then there's a slight echo that could counteract those feelings.

Even without the pods, the building would be remarkable. The materials may be ordinary and there's no disguising its utilitarian side, but it is as a series of spaces that Foster's design stands out. The most obvious aspect of this is the central courtyard that soars from the basement two levels below grade right to the skylight on the roof. There's nothing new about the courtyard, of course, but here it has been adapted to a mid-rise tower. Functioning as the organizing principle of the building, it is the void around which offices, classrooms and laboratories are arranged. The courtyard changes shape as it rises, but it serves to connect the disparate elements of the structure and bring light into its innermost recesses.

It also brings a sense of delight and pleasure to a facility that until recently would have been viewed as little more than a kind of academic warehouse, a pharmacy factory.

"We grabbed the project with two hands," says project architect Stephen Best. "It's one of the best sites in the whole of Canada. It was an incredible opportunity." And as Best explains, though Foster remained in London throughout the construction period, he was part of the design process from the start.

"He goes though all projects," Best says. "He was very involved. He came to Toronto at the beginning to see the site."

For the U of T, which spent its years in the architectural wilderness, the new building — and others, most notably the Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (Behnisch & Behnisch, with Architects Alliance) just down the road — represents some kind of redemption.

And Hindmarsh points out, its proximity to the hospital district on University Ave. and the MARS (Medical and Related Sciences) complex directly east will ensure the Dan Building becomes an intellectual centre. The official opening is set for Sept. 6, but already the building has done wonders for the health of architecture in Toronto.