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Architecture students at Toronto Metropolitan University are in the spotlight in a newly commissioned project to celebrate the TMU Libraries 50th anniversary.
The project includes a set of four interactive pillars that are built separately by different teams of students, but designed to fit together and represent the different yet connected aspects of the downtown campus libraries.
One of the students taking on a leadership role is fourth-year architecture student and student lead for the project, Mikayla Burmania, who says her role is to oversee the project’s cohesion and to provide student support.
“With the four pillars we have and because it’s such a large team we kind of separated the students into four different groups so they would tackle each pillar,” said Burmania. “I try to be there for all of the separate subteams.”
“I think people think all we do is design, but in reality we’re not only designing but we are actually building these things and we are making sure that they are able to be built,” said Andrew De Lorenzi, a third-year architecture student who is starting the build for the first pillar this week. “It’s not just putting something on paper and calling it a day, we actually make sure these things come into fruition.”
He says that even though short deadlines can be tough, the experience makes up for it.
Students have completed design build projects before, such as The School of Urban and Regional Planning’s ‘Brake at Bond’ in September, which turned parking spots into mini parks.
According to Olivia Nunn, a second-year masters student and liaison between the library and architecture students, this project is a way to showcase architecture student’s skills to such a large population of the TMU campus.
“Our building is almost separated from the campus and maybe the rest of the student body doesn’t know what the architecture building is up to,” said Nunn.
“I think it would be nice for the rest of the school population to know that the architecture students aren’t just designing, we are also building things for the community [and] for the campus.”
Nunn said the project is divided so each pillar can convey a different message.
“The design intention started with each pillar being a different theme that would allow for a different type of engagement with students,” said Nunn, “and the design has iterated in that each of the pillars is actually the form of the library building split apart so that when they come together, it forms the library.”
“Each pillar will present ways in which the community can engage with, and reflect on the past, present and future of the library,” reads an emailed statement from the TMU Libraries to OTR.
According to Nunn, the first pillar will showcase the digital timeline the library has been working on, the second will include metaphors that have student input, the third will consider the future of the library and the fourth will underline artifacts from the library that students may not be familiar with.
From starting the project’s conception in early June, Nunn has relieved some of her agency on the project and instead taken on a supervisory role, allowing more than 30 architecture students to have creative judgement with the design build project.
According to the TMU Libraries website, from opening in 1974, the 70s marked a decade of resource growth for the libraries. The 80s explored the use of new networking systems, starting the pathway to allow the 90s to introduce electronic resources and the first library website.
The 2000s brought renovations and online chat services. The 2010s saw the introduction of more collaborative spaces and the early 2020s marked the opening of services like the Law Library, Material ConneXion collection, Media Production Studio and most recently Omni.
According to TMU Libraries, the school will soon open a second library branch to support the new School of Medicine in Brampton.
Once built, Nunn says the pillars will stand just over 5’9” and will be displayed on the library’s second floor near the walkway to the Student Learning Centre to encourage a high volume of student interaction.
Through the same emailed statement, the library told OTR they will announce the installation of the pillars as they arrive through the end of October and early November.
With architecture students putting time and resources into the project, Nunn said, “we’re hoping the pillars can be up for all of 2024 but…I think they can go beyond that and be used in the future, one from a sustainability perspective.. I don’t think there should be a strict cutoff with the 2024 year.”
Building for the first pillar will start this week, with designs for the three remaining pillars already underway.
Abbie North is a 4th-year journalism student at Toronto Metropolitan University who is a reporter for On The Record.
