Working in collaboration with Vancouver’s Public Architecture, Toronto-based KPMB Architects have added a major new institution to British Colubmia’s Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Unveiled yesterday, the new Wilson School of Design introduces 140 full-time seats to the growing university, making for a total of almost 700 design spaces at the Richmond institution.
Wilson School of Design. Photo via Kwantlen University
The design team for the Wilson School was selected in 2013, and construction kicked off in 2016, with the $36 million project supported by a $12 million contribution from the British Columbia government, as well as an $8 million private donation from Chip and and Shannon Wilson, for whom the new school is named.
Photo via Kwantlen University. As the founder of ubiquitous ‘athleisure’ brand Lululemon, Chip Wilson celebrated the new school as a positive recognition of British Columbia’s innovative apparel design industry.  ?The province is home to world-class technical apparel companies, and we now have a state-of-the-art facility and training programs to supply the technical demand,? said Wilson in a release.
Photo via Kwantlen University.
According to KPMB, much of the design draws reflects the difficult site conditions, “including a very high water table, infirm soils, and seismic considerations,” which “necessitated a structural approach that is at once very light but very stiff. In essence, the structure ha...