Groundbreaking ceremony March 20 for next phase of architecture school

The groundbreaking ceremony for the next phase of construction of Sudbury's school of architecture will be held March 20, the schools founding director said Wednesday evening.

Terrance Galvin was speaking at the annual general meeting of Downtown Sudbury, which was held at the school's Elgin Street site. Galvin gave the crowd an overview of plans for Phase 2, a 55,000-square-foot expansion of the current site.

“We haven't sent that out yet, but that's the date we're working around,” Galvin said. “Hopefully sometime between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.”
The $23.9 million contract for Phase 2 of the school was awarded to Bondfield Construction of Concord, Ont. About 100 local tradespeople and labourers will be hired for the 18-month construction project.

Designed by LGA Architectural Partners, the School of Architecture will be a unique building with two wings each with distinct and unique designs. The north wing, which will front on Elm Street, will be a steel-framed structure containing mezzanines above the second floor.

The west wing will be a two-storey glued laminated timber (known as 'glulam') and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) wood structure, marking the first large-scale use of CLT in a public building in Ontario. The two new wings will house classrooms and studio space, a lecture theatre, lounges and office areas, while creating an inner courtyard and a public walkway.

More details on the March 20 groundbreaking will be revealed soon, Galvin said.

@darrenmacd