The eye-catching exterior of the Ryerson Student Learning Centre in Toronto, by Snøhetta (Executive Architect) with Zeidler Partnership Architects. | L?extérieur accrocheur du Ryerson Student Learning Centre à Toronto, de Snøhetta (architecte concepteur) et Zeidler Partnership Architects.
Kristen Smith

First Prize in English, MAQ Young Architectural Critic Competition

Premier prix anglophone, Concours Jeune Critique MAQ en architecture
A youthful energy permeates the sidewalk running between Yonge-Dundas Square and Gould Street, one block to the north. At the corner, the glossy, faceted volume of Ryerson University?s new Student Learning Centre grabs and holds the attention of students and casual observers alike.
Throughout history, libraries have been sensitively designed, often in a conservative style; the results are rarely so bright and brash. To call the seven-storey, $112-million structure a landmark library may be an oxymoron of sorts?but clearly it was never on Ryerson?s agenda to satisfy the traditional bookworm. With copious amounts of colour, light, attitude and drama, the architectural team of Snøhetta and Zeidler Partnership has breathed life into an adolescent offspring of the contemporary library era. Books?the defining feature of most libraries?are totally absent from the building. But most visitors don?t even notice. The design indulges short attention spans; one is in turn mesmerized by the wildly fritted white and blue façade panels, nursing a hea...