University of King’s College unveils campus renewal design
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Andrea Chin, Communications Director
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Martin Davidson, Principal
Email: [email protected]
Halifax, NS — University of King’s College unveils the architectural concept designs for one of the most ambitious campus renewal projects in the university’s rich 236-year history.
Designed by Diamond Schmitt in association with Abbott Brown, the 140,000-square-foot Southeast Corner Project will be home to King’s School of Journalism, Writing & Publishing within the building’s first three floors, including Canada’s first centre of excellence in podcasting, an open newsroom, audio, video, and media labs, computer labs, offices, and auditorium. Below grade, the building features a new Athletic Centre with wellness facilities, and the upper floors provide accessible, and flexible on-campus housing for up to 100 students. The jewel in the design is a galleria that opens to the Quad and serves as a warm, welcoming gathering space.
“The Southeast Corner Project will be a unique structure that balances the insular and historic setting of the Oxford-inspired Andrew Cobb Quad with the needs of a more open and inclusive campus,” explained Principal Martin Davidson. “We’re excited to work with King’s and its wider community in realizing this transformational project.”
The concept design is the result of a highly collaborative process that includes a partnership with King’s Indigenous advisory forum (the Mawaknutma’tnej Circle), input from faculty, students, community members, and Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian partners.
“This remarkable act of inclusion and partnership ensures that a Mi’kmaw and Indigenous Student Centre inside the SEC becomes a place to celebrate the wisdom, storytelling, design traditions, material culture and history of the Mi’kmaw people,” said Ann Sylliboy, Director of Post Secondary Education.
“This will be a worthy home for our Journalism programs that continue to impress on both local and national scenes, with a lengthy list of hugely accomplished journalists working across Canada,” said President William Lahey. “At the same time, we are creating space for our growing MFA programs that have become huge creative and economic engines at King’s, as well as building a comfortable home for our students and faculty, where we can live, learn and grow together,” he emphasized.
Read the full release here.