The library?s upper mezzanine revives a spatial arrangement found in the original 1850s library, which was destroyed by fire.
PROJECT University College Revitalization, Toronto, Ontario
ARCHITECTS Kohn Shnier and ERA Architects in Association
TEXT Pamela Young
PHOTOS Doublespace Photography
A good cover song generates renewed appreciation for the original while establishing the validity of the reinterpretation. The main building of University College, the University of Toronto?s founding college, was designed by Cumberland and Storm and completed in 1859. After an 1890 fire gutted most of the interior, the college was grandly rebuilt. More recently this magnificent repository of gargoyles, stained glass and ornamental stonework was a golden oldie ripe for a remix: in addition to falling far short of 21st-century accessibility standards, ?UC? needed a radical space usage rethink and extensive systems upgrades. Kohn Shnier Architects and heritage specialists ERA Architects aptly characterize their UC revitalization as ?strategic and surgical.? It encompasses comprehensive accessibility upgrades, the transformation of Canada?s first purpose-built chemistry lab into a conference centre?s main space, the renovation of the West Hall reading room and various classrooms and offices, a new café, and the return of UC?s library to its pre-fire home in the East Hall. 
When John Shnier and ERA?s Graeme Stewart conducted a July 2022 Toronto Society of Architects tour, they stressed tha...