Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building
Encyclopedia
The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is a pharmacy school
and an academic division of the University of Toronto
. The faculty is located on the northwestern corner of College Street
and University Avenue
, placing it across from the Ontario Legislative Building and at the entrance to Queen's Park
station. It is also situated 1-2 blocks away from four internationally renowned hospitals — the Hospital for Sick Children
, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto General Hospital
and Mount Sinai Hospital
. It is part of Toronto's Discovery District
.
The Faculty of Pharmacy Building is an award-winning structure and a state-of-the-art facility in terms of both its educational facilities and its architectural design. It is particularly notable for its two orb-shaped classrooms, referred to as the "pods", which are suspended lecture halls. The pods are lit at night with coloured stage lights visible from afar, giving the building a "Star Trek
feel". Likened to giant glowing pills
, the pods are reason #113 to love Toronto, and have been deemed "something of a local landmark."
The Pharmacy Building has received international coverage and awards, in part because of its design team, including world-famous Sir Norman Foster and Claude Engle
, as well as its high-profile sponsor Leslie Dan
. It was also featured on the cover of, as well as profiled in, the book Detail In Process.
In 1877, the Faculty moved into the University of Toronto campus, and new levels of pharmaceutical education was offered as a PhD degree at the University of Toronto was being arranged. As the demands for more pharmacists increased, the demands of professional education in this particular field increased as well. As a result, in 1992, the faculty introduced the PharmD-Doctor of Pharmacy- in hopes to accommodate for the growing need for graduates in the field. Within the past decade, enrolment in the undergraduate and graduate programs and doubled and tripled in size respectively. The Faculty had no choice but to expand their facilities, thus moving to their current location at 144 College Street in 2006.
The Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Toronto's Arms and Badge were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority
on May 17, 2001. The Latin motto is “Trutina Penso Doctrinae” which means “I weigh by the balance of learning.”
As the only faculty of pharmacy in Ontario until 2007, the Faculty needed to expand beyond 120 students per year, but could not do so in its limited space. The largest room in the former Pharmacy Building (the Norman F. Hughes building, now the Anthropology Building, located at Huron St. and Russell St.) held only 30 students, and each year (at the time of the proposal) had 120 students. Thus, none of the pharmacy classes could be held within its own building, a serious problem for any professional faculty. As well, the various pharmacy research labs
were interspersed throughout the campus.
Construction of a new building enabled the pharmacy programme
to gradually increase its student intake to 240 new students per year in September 2006, doubling its previous capacity; between 2000 and 2008, the total enrolment in the pharmacy program (all 4 years) increased from 499 to 1,011 students. Other programs administrated by the Faculty, including the graduate
-level advanced Pharm.D. program (not to be confused with an entry-level
Pharm.D.), the Bachelor of Science
specialisation
in pharmaceutical chemistry, the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
programmes in pharmaceutical sciences
and the International Pharmacy Graduates bridging programme also experienced significant growth. On April 19, 2011, the Faculty announced a $1 million donation from Walmart Canada to create the Walmart Canada International Pharmacy Education Centre. This Centre will feature enhanced facilities including a one hundred seat classroom, and will allow increased enrollment into the programme.
The $75-million (CAD) building was funded by numerous alumni and organisations, along with the Government of Ontario
's SuperBuild fund. The building was renamed the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy in 2001 in honour of the generous donation made by Leslie Dan, an alumnus of the school and a noted pharmacist
, philanthropist
, entrepreneur
and Member of the Order of Canada
, as well as founder of the generic drug
manufacturer Novopharm and the Canadian Medical Aid Programme. Dan donated $8 million earmarked specifically for the building in 2000, at which point the building was named for him; this was followed up with a $7 million donation to his alma mater in 2002, resulting in the Faculty of Pharmacy being renamed.
In addition, the faculty also has graduate research programs that lead to Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy (MSc and PhD) degrees in pharmacy.
At the University of Toronto, pharmacy students are already being trained for diagnosis and prescribing rights through problem-based
, experiential
and student-directed
approaches to common ailments, case-based
and critical
reasoning skills and other coursework in pathophysiology
, clinical biochemistry and pharmaceutical care
. These represent important advances in pharmacy education and the pharmacists' new critical role in Canada's health care system
, and the use of the new building for Pharmacy is a symbol of the University of Toronto's dedication to health care and pharmaceutical research.
In Ontario, legislation to allow pharmacists to authorise refills without consulting the prescribing physician, administer the injection
or inhalation
of certain drug
s, alter dosage form
s, be able to prescribe certain medication
s and perform subdermal procedures is currently in the enactment process, having passed its second reading.
was held, ending in 2002 with the partnership of Moffat Kinoshita Architects, a Toronto-based architecture firm, and the world-renowned Foster and Partners
, headed by Sir Norman Foster, Pritzker Prize
winner and Tony Blair
's personal architectural adviser. The project was Foster's first foray
into Canada, and served as a stepping-stone into numerous endeavours across the country.
-imported glass curtain wall
façade
and black granite window frames)."intricately engineered to be extraordinary. It is described as a "box atop a box". Externally, it appears as a large, seven-storey cube supported by a smaller five-storey box and twelve 19-metre tall concrete columns. These structures are unique in that they were built from the bottom up using self-compacting concrete, which had never before been done in Canada. The building is surrounded by the Luxembourg
-imported glass curtain wall
façade
and black granite window frames.
The building's unique design serves multiple purposes. The surrounding structures are mainly low-rise historical campus and government buildings, but with the bustling modernized city on the south side, including the glass Ontario Power Building
. Thus, the desired design had to fit in well with all these aspects, while still managing to "turn heads". Of course, the building also had to accommodate the entire Faculty of Pharmacy (Canada's largest pharmacy
faculty) within limited space. The result was the 5-storey + 7-storey design, where the platform aligns exactly with the cornice
s of the Fitzgerald and Tanz buildings. The picture to the right demonstrates how the glass architecture and height blends in with the southern buildings, while the atrium is the same height as the adjacent campus building. The open atrium also allows the older varsity buildings to shine through, aiding in the visual integration with the surrounding structures. The Pharmacy Building has been called the "anchor" of the intersection that was once an architectural contradiction. The glass architecture is also a tribute to the lot's former residents, the University of Toronto greenhouses (now relocated to Allan Gardens
).
Before its completion, the building was featured in an architecture exhibition, "Gliding Through Space", an exhibition of Lord Norman Foster's
works, a fusion of his passion for flying
and aeronautics
with his engineering
and architecture
expertise. The show, hosted by the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design
and the Eric Arthur Gallery
, gave the Pharmacy Building top billing, featuring 61 pages of working drawings, samples of the glass used and photographic sequences of the pods being constructed and attached. The exhibits allowed visitors to gain an intimate understanding of the purpose and rationale behind the building's key features, including the pods.
Looking at the relationship between the Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building and its greater urban context, it is evident that this building plays a key role in the overall composition of its immediate landscape. Its stately concrete columns along with the elegant, fritted curtain wall glass, creates a strong relation between the Ontario Hydro Building to the south and the MaRS Centre diagonally opposite. The materials used throughout these three buildings are very similar and they complement each other very well in the greater scheme of things. This building serves an important role at this junction, as its ties together other buildings found on and outside of the campus, forming a harmonious composition in its downtown urban context; while gracefully establishes its presence and importance on the school campus, standing as a tall elegant, state-of-the-art facility for the Pharmacy Faculty of the University of Toronto.
This planar geometry and rectilinear nature are also echoed and scaled down in nearly every individual member of the structure’s interior and exterior façade. Metal paneling, glazing, exterior ornamentation are all representative of the buildings overall dimension. Furthermore, it is evident from any elevation, that rectilinear overlap has been transferred from plan to section. This relentless linearity is broken only by the two abstract pod shapes and the cylindrical columns, in what appears to be an intentional play by the architect to create interest and tension.
open atrium
, complete with two suspended "pods". At night, these massive, orb-shaped, opaque
structures are illumimnated with coloured stage lights.
The lighting effects are the work of Claude Engle
, world-renowned engineer
and theatrical lighting consultant
, notable for his lighting schemes
in the The Louvre and the Reichstag. The colours slowly cycle through the colour spectrum, and come alive as sun sets. Every 15 minutes, the pods change to different colours: red, green, blue, purple, and orange. Also, a reflection from the inside with different lights illuminating the pods causes mirror images over panes of glass, creating 6 more pods. The lighting is computer
-controlled and uses simple PAR can spotlights and gels.
The windows for these floors are two-metre tall glass panels that allow an essentially uninterrupted view into the building. The enormous panels had to be imported from Belgium
because only one supplier in the world would create panes of those proportions. One design challenge was how to incorporate this open design without overheating the atrium. Each glass panel was therefore frit
ted, rendering them not only aesthetically pleasing, but also able to attenuate the amount of solar heat
entering the building through the windows.
The "pods" are two lecture hall
s suspended in mid-air. They are both "steel baskets" or "cages" constructed with a special structural steel
known as "architecturally exposed structural steel". For each pod, six steel arches were welded together, mounted with ball-and-socket rods and reinforced with steel bridges connecting each to a building floor, eliminating the need for shoring. They are both suspended with steel hangers
(10 in total) held in place with a ring truss
system. The truss system is integrated into the physical sixth floor, which was made of structural steel to provide the necessary support and is also supported by the steel framing integrated into the windows. Finally, a 19.2 metre, 50 tonne transfer truss was integrated between the 6th and 7th floors to provide maximal support.
The pods are coated with smoothed plaster
and coated with opaque silver reflective paint to amplify the lighting effects. Each pod also has a flat surface on which a lounge is situated. To enter the classrooms or a lounge, a catwalk must be crossed. These four bridges serve not only as an entrance and support, but also house all the electrical wires and other mechanical services that are necessary in each room.
The larger pod is a 60-seat lecture hall accessible from the 2nd floor. It is 3.5 metres from ground level. Atop this pod, accessible from the 3rd floor, is the private student reading lounge.
The smaller pod, accessible from the 4th floor, is a 24-seat classroom. The small faculty lounge is found atop this pod, accessible from the 5th floor.
The purpose of the pods is not merely aesthetic. While the atrium was specifically designed so openly to allow the older varsity buildings to show through, this resulted in a considerable cut in usable space. By creating these floating classrooms, the original effect is still maintained while still allowing this space to be functional.
s, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows
and professor
s, along with numerous research labs
, the Professional Practice Lab, and the Pharmaceutics Lab. The sixth through eighth floors are mainly used for student laboratories, tutorial and meeting rooms, as well as the faculty and research staff studying the social, economical
, epidemiological
and practical aspects of pharmacy and pharmaceutics, along with clinical research
. The remaining floors are reserved for the pharmaceutical science "wet labs" (though many primary faculty members are located in the new Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the MaRS Centre).
The Pharmacy Building also has 3 basement floors extending nearly 60 feet (18.3 m) underground. The upper two floors are home to the building's two main lecture halls, the Apotex
Lecture Hall and the Ontario Pharmacists' Association (OPA) Lecture Hall. These rooms were designed specifically for the use of pharmacy students, and each seat in the 300-seat rooms — enough to seat the size of the entering class of 240 students each year — is sponsored by a donor through the Name-A-Desk campaign.
While students were awestruck by the new building, this was not necessarily a positive reaction. It is evident that significant amounts of money were dedicated to the project. However, pharmacy at the University of Toronto is a deregulated program, meaning that the administration can set tuition fees free of the government restrictions placed on most undergraduate programs. The tuition for pharmacy is typically more than double the tuition of arts and science programmes
, and Canada Student Loans usually have a limit of approximately the same amount as the pharmacy tuition and administration fees alone, leaving no coverage for living expenses. In September 2006, when the Pharmacy Building opened, the tuition and ancillary fees for domestic students had just increased from $10,653.48 to $11,117.98, over 4%. This left students wondering why they were experiencing significant tuition increases when the Faculty had money for fancy lighting systems, pods, Belgian glass windows and famous architects. Only 5 years later, in 2011, tuition fees were almost $15,000.
The pods may sometimes feel claustrophobic, and their floating appearance deters acrophobes
. There is also an echo
in the pods, which can interfere with audibility.
Pharmacy school
The basic requirement for pharmacists to be considered for registration is an undergraduate or postgraduate Pharmacy degree from a recognized university. In most countries this involves a four- or five-year course to attain a Master of Pharmacy...
and an academic division of the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. The faculty is located on the northwestern corner of College Street
College Street (Toronto)
College Street is a principal arterial thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, connecting former streetcar suburbs in the west with the city centre. The street is home to an ethnically diverse population in the western residential reaches, and institutions like the Ontario Legislature and the University...
and University Avenue
University Avenue (Toronto)
University Avenue is a major north-south road in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At its north end, University Avenue is the site of the Ontario Legislative Building. The eight-lane wide street is the location for several hospitals, numerous office buildings, Osgoode Hall and the Four Seasons...
, placing it across from the Ontario Legislative Building and at the entrance to Queen's Park
Queen's Park (TTC)
Queen's Park is a station on the Yonge–University–Spadina line of the subway system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located at 671 University Avenue at College Street, the station opened in 1963....
station. It is also situated 1-2 blocks away from four internationally renowned hospitals — the Hospital for Sick Children
Hospital for Sick Children
The Hospital for Sick Children – is a major paediatric centre for the Greater Toronto Area, serving patients up to age 18. Located on University Avenue in Downtown Toronto, SickKids is part of the city’s Discovery District, a critical mass of scientists and entrepreneurs who are focused on...
, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto General Hospital
Toronto General Hospital
The Toronto General Hospital , is a part of the University Health Network, and a major teaching hospital in downtown Toronto, Ontario. It is located in the Discovery District, directly north of the Hospital for Sick Children, across Gerrard Street West, and east of Princess Margaret Hospital and...
and Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto)
Mount Sinai Hospital is a hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although it is physically linked by bridges and tunnels to two University Health Network hospitals , Mount Sinai is an independently operated facility...
. It is part of Toronto's Discovery District
Discovery District
The Discovery District is an area of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that features a high concentration of hospitals and research institutions, particularly those related to biotechnology...
.
The Faculty of Pharmacy Building is an award-winning structure and a state-of-the-art facility in terms of both its educational facilities and its architectural design. It is particularly notable for its two orb-shaped classrooms, referred to as the "pods", which are suspended lecture halls. The pods are lit at night with coloured stage lights visible from afar, giving the building a "Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
feel". Likened to giant glowing pills
Pill (pharmacy)
A pill is a small, round, solid pharmaceutical oral dosage form that was in use before the advent of tablets and capsules. Pills were made by mixing the active ingredients with an excipient such as glucose syrup in a mortar and pestle to form a paste, then rolling the mass into a long cylindrical...
, the pods are reason #113 to love Toronto, and have been deemed "something of a local landmark."
The Pharmacy Building has received international coverage and awards, in part because of its design team, including world-famous Sir Norman Foster and Claude Engle
Claude Engle
Claude R. Engle III is an American electrical engineer and internationally-known lighting consultant, who has designed lighting schemes for many notable structures including the Reichstag and the Louvre.-Life:...
, as well as its high-profile sponsor Leslie Dan
Leslie Dan
Leslie Lewis Dan, , is a Canadian businessman. The founder of a successful generic drug company and a noted philanthropist, he has been awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.-Early life:...
. It was also featured on the cover of, as well as profiled in, the book Detail In Process.
History
The Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto began in 1853, when the Ontario College of Pharmacy (now Pharmacists) who first operated at the school had merged into the school curriculum. By 1868, the pharmacy program consisted of only a few evenings of voluntary classes, with no practically prerequisite classes. However, the long, tradition apprenticeship of this professional field had pressed a strong emphasis onto the students. Today, the program has evolved into “a compulsory, four-year second-entry scientific and professional university course with a supervised period of professional practice.” The organization of this program has become significantly more structured. This change in focus strayed away from the predominant emphasis of the practice of training through an apprenticeship to today’s emphasis of a theoretical study and application of those skills in real-life situations. Students are better equipped with the skills which are required to meet the present needs of the profession. The University of Toronto was the only school in all of Ontario which offered a pharmacy education, up until 1963 this faculty was held at 44-46 Gerrard Street East.In 1877, the Faculty moved into the University of Toronto campus, and new levels of pharmaceutical education was offered as a PhD degree at the University of Toronto was being arranged. As the demands for more pharmacists increased, the demands of professional education in this particular field increased as well. As a result, in 1992, the faculty introduced the PharmD-Doctor of Pharmacy- in hopes to accommodate for the growing need for graduates in the field. Within the past decade, enrolment in the undergraduate and graduate programs and doubled and tripled in size respectively. The Faculty had no choice but to expand their facilities, thus moving to their current location at 144 College Street in 2006.
The Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Toronto's Arms and Badge were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority
Canadian Heraldic Authority
The Canadian Heraldic Authority is part of the Canadian honours system under the Queen of Canada, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General. The Authority is responsible for the creation and granting of new coats of arms , flags and badges for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and...
on May 17, 2001. The Latin motto is “Trutina Penso Doctrinae” which means “I weigh by the balance of learning.”
As the only faculty of pharmacy in Ontario until 2007, the Faculty needed to expand beyond 120 students per year, but could not do so in its limited space. The largest room in the former Pharmacy Building (the Norman F. Hughes building, now the Anthropology Building, located at Huron St. and Russell St.) held only 30 students, and each year (at the time of the proposal) had 120 students. Thus, none of the pharmacy classes could be held within its own building, a serious problem for any professional faculty. As well, the various pharmacy research labs
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
were interspersed throughout the campus.
Construction of a new building enabled the pharmacy programme
Bachelor of Pharmacy
A Bachelor of Pharmacy is an undergraduate academic degree in the field of pharmacy. The degree is the basic prerequisite for registration to practice as a pharmacist in many countries. In some countries, it has been superseded by the Master of Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees...
to gradually increase its student intake to 240 new students per year in September 2006, doubling its previous capacity; between 2000 and 2008, the total enrolment in the pharmacy program (all 4 years) increased from 499 to 1,011 students. Other programs administrated by the Faculty, including the graduate
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
-level advanced Pharm.D. program (not to be confused with an entry-level
First professional degree
A professional degree prepares the holder for a particular profession by emphasizing competency skills along with theory and analysis. These professions are typically licensed or otherwise regulated by a governmental or government-approved body...
Pharm.D.), the Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
specialisation
Academic specialization
In academia, specialization may be a course of study or major at an academic institution or may refer to the field that a specialist practices in....
in pharmaceutical chemistry, the M.Sc. and Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
programmes in pharmaceutical sciences
Pharmaceutical sciences
The pharmaceutical sciences are a group of interdisciplinary areas of study involved with the design, action, delivery, disposition, and use of drugs...
and the International Pharmacy Graduates bridging programme also experienced significant growth. On April 19, 2011, the Faculty announced a $1 million donation from Walmart Canada to create the Walmart Canada International Pharmacy Education Centre. This Centre will feature enhanced facilities including a one hundred seat classroom, and will allow increased enrollment into the programme.
The $75-million (CAD) building was funded by numerous alumni and organisations, along with the Government of Ontario
Government of Ontario
The Government of Ontario refers to the provincial government of the province of Ontario, Canada. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....
's SuperBuild fund. The building was renamed the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy in 2001 in honour of the generous donation made by Leslie Dan, an alumnus of the school and a noted pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
, philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and Member of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, as well as founder of the generic drug
Generic drug
A generic drug is a drug defined as "a drug product that is comparable to brand/reference listed drug product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use." It has also been defined as a term referring to any drug marketed under its...
manufacturer Novopharm and the Canadian Medical Aid Programme. Dan donated $8 million earmarked specifically for the building in 2000, at which point the building was named for him; this was followed up with a $7 million donation to his alma mater in 2002, resulting in the Faculty of Pharmacy being renamed.
Academics and curricula
The Faculty of Pharmacy administers three specialized degree programs in pharmacy:- Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy (BScPhm)
- Specialist in Pharmaceutical Chemistry (PharmChem)
- Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)
In addition, the faculty also has graduate research programs that lead to Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy (MSc and PhD) degrees in pharmacy.
At the University of Toronto, pharmacy students are already being trained for diagnosis and prescribing rights through problem-based
Problem-based learning
Problem-based learning is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject in the context of complex, multifaceted, and realistic problems...
, experiential
Experiential learning
Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Simply put, Experiential Learning is learning from experience. The experience can be staged or left open. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." David A...
and student-directed
Student-directed teaching
Student-Directed Teaching is a teaching technology that aims to give the student greater control, ownership, and accountability over his or her own education...
approaches to common ailments, case-based
Case-based reasoning
Case-based reasoning , broadly construed, is the process of solving new problems based on the solutions of similar past problems. An auto mechanic who fixes an engine by recalling another car that exhibited similar symptoms is using case-based reasoning...
and critical
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
reasoning skills and other coursework in pathophysiology
Pathophysiology
Pathophysiology is the study of the changes of normal mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions, either caused by a disease, or resulting from an abnormal syndrome...
, clinical biochemistry and pharmaceutical care
Pharmaceutical care
Pharmaceutical care is the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve a patient's quality of life...
. These represent important advances in pharmacy education and the pharmacists' new critical role in Canada's health care system
Health care in Canada
Health care in Canada is delivered through a publicly-funded health care system, which is mostly free at the point of use and has most services provided by private entities. It is guided by the provisions of the Canada Health Act. The government assures the quality of care through federal standards...
, and the use of the new building for Pharmacy is a symbol of the University of Toronto's dedication to health care and pharmaceutical research.
In Ontario, legislation to allow pharmacists to authorise refills without consulting the prescribing physician, administer the injection
Injection (medicine)
An injection is an infusion method of putting fluid into the body, usually with a hollow needle and a syringe which is pierced through the skin to a sufficient depth for the material to be forced into the body...
or inhalation
Inhalation
Inhalation is the movement of air from the external environment, through the air ways, and into the alveoli....
of certain drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
s, alter dosage form
Dosage form
-Introduction:Dosage forms are a mixture of active drug components and nondrug components. Depending on the method of administration they come in several types. These are liquid dosage form, solid dosage form and semisolid dosage forms. A Liquid dosage form is the liquid form of a dose of a...
s, be able to prescribe certain medication
Medication
A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
s and perform subdermal procedures is currently in the enactment process, having passed its second reading.
Building and environs
Because the Faculty of Pharmacy Building represents an entrance to the University of Toronto campus, the university sought an exceptional design that would "turn heads". An international design competitionArchitectural design competition
An architectural design competition is a special type of competition in which an organization or government body that plans to build a new building asks for architects to submit a proposed design for a building. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals...
was held, ending in 2002 with the partnership of Moffat Kinoshita Architects, a Toronto-based architecture firm, and the world-renowned Foster and Partners
Foster and Partners
Foster + Partners is an architectural firm based in London. The practice is led by its founder and Chairman, Norman Foster, and has constructed many high-profile glass-and-steel buildings....
, headed by Sir Norman Foster, Pritzker Prize
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built...
winner and Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's personal architectural adviser. The project was Foster's first foray
Foray
A foray was a traditional method of law enforcement in Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In view of the weakness of the executive in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was used by members of the szlachta to defend their rights....
into Canada, and served as a stepping-stone into numerous endeavours across the country.
Overall design
The entire building is constructed with simple, "ordinary" materials (Despite the LuxembourgLuxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
-imported glass curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
and black granite window frames)."intricately engineered to be extraordinary. It is described as a "box atop a box". Externally, it appears as a large, seven-storey cube supported by a smaller five-storey box and twelve 19-metre tall concrete columns. These structures are unique in that they were built from the bottom up using self-compacting concrete, which had never before been done in Canada. The building is surrounded by the Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
-imported glass curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
and black granite window frames.
The building's unique design serves multiple purposes. The surrounding structures are mainly low-rise historical campus and government buildings, but with the bustling modernized city on the south side, including the glass Ontario Power Building
Ontario Power Building
The Ontario Power Building is located in Toronto. It was built in 1975 for Ontario Hydro. Located at the intersection of University Avenue and College Street, the International Style building stands at 80.0 m and 19 floors with 113,898 square metres of space....
. Thus, the desired design had to fit in well with all these aspects, while still managing to "turn heads". Of course, the building also had to accommodate the entire Faculty of Pharmacy (Canada's largest pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
faculty) within limited space. The result was the 5-storey + 7-storey design, where the platform aligns exactly with the cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
s of the Fitzgerald and Tanz buildings. The picture to the right demonstrates how the glass architecture and height blends in with the southern buildings, while the atrium is the same height as the adjacent campus building. The open atrium also allows the older varsity buildings to shine through, aiding in the visual integration with the surrounding structures. The Pharmacy Building has been called the "anchor" of the intersection that was once an architectural contradiction. The glass architecture is also a tribute to the lot's former residents, the University of Toronto greenhouses (now relocated to Allan Gardens
Allan Gardens
Allan Gardens is one of the oldest parks in Toronto, Canada. It has a conservatory , a playground and two fenced off-leash areas for dogs. It is operated by Toronto Parks who also run Centennial Park Conservatory...
).
Before its completion, the building was featured in an architecture exhibition, "Gliding Through Space", an exhibition of Lord Norman Foster's
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
works, a fusion of his passion for flying
Flight
Flight is the process by which an object moves either through an atmosphere or beyond it by generating lift or propulsive thrust, or aerostatically using buoyancy, or by simple ballistic movement....
and aeronautics
Aeronautics
Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...
with his engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
expertise. The show, hosted by the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design
University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design
The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, or simply the al&d, is the school of architecture, landscape architecture and urban design at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It offers a program in architecture accredited by the Canadian Architectural...
and the Eric Arthur Gallery
Eric Arthur
Eric Ross Arthur, was a Canadian architect, writer and educator.Born in Dunedin, New Zealand and educated in England, he served in World War I with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade...
, gave the Pharmacy Building top billing, featuring 61 pages of working drawings, samples of the glass used and photographic sequences of the pods being constructed and attached. The exhibits allowed visitors to gain an intimate understanding of the purpose and rationale behind the building's key features, including the pods.
Site context
Standing gracefully with its glass façade on the university campus, this building stands out from its adjacent traditional, brick, historical buildings. The building itself is pushed back from the street slightly, separated by a grassy area and paved sidewalk. Marking the boundaries of its site, a paved area (equivalent to the base area of the larger box) is also marked directly around the base of the building.Looking at the relationship between the Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building and its greater urban context, it is evident that this building plays a key role in the overall composition of its immediate landscape. Its stately concrete columns along with the elegant, fritted curtain wall glass, creates a strong relation between the Ontario Hydro Building to the south and the MaRS Centre diagonally opposite. The materials used throughout these three buildings are very similar and they complement each other very well in the greater scheme of things. This building serves an important role at this junction, as its ties together other buildings found on and outside of the campus, forming a harmonious composition in its downtown urban context; while gracefully establishes its presence and importance on the school campus, standing as a tall elegant, state-of-the-art facility for the Pharmacy Faculty of the University of Toronto.
Geometry
The overall forms of this structure can be simply described as a larger box sitting on top a smaller box with a central void (the atrium) connecting the two forms together. Looking at the profile of this building from afar, it seems like the large seven-story block is held up solely by the series of columns. The lower block is completely transparent, thus the definition of that space is lost when the building is viewed from a distance. The facades of this building are very planar, and its overall form is very geometrical and rectilinear. Stretching along the vertical axis, this building is bi-laterally symmetrical. Made almost entirely of glass, the building facades are very planar yet sophisticated. The only contrast to its smooth, sleek, glass façade is the soft, round, colossal columns which the larger box sits atop of and the large organic orbs which float inside the atrium.This planar geometry and rectilinear nature are also echoed and scaled down in nearly every individual member of the structure’s interior and exterior façade. Metal paneling, glazing, exterior ornamentation are all representative of the buildings overall dimension. Furthermore, it is evident from any elevation, that rectilinear overlap has been transferred from plan to section. This relentless linearity is broken only by the two abstract pod shapes and the cylindrical columns, in what appears to be an intentional play by the architect to create interest and tension.
Materials
There are several types of different materials that are used throughout this building. The main materials used in the building envelope consist of concrete, glass, granite and steel. The curtain wall facade of this building uses large glass panels, framed with black granite framing. While the glass used for the lower box is completely transparent, the curtain wall for the upper seven floors uses fritted glass with a series of light gray circles, each approximately the size of a CD. This creates a protective screen that hinders view out from the building, but provides privacy to its users while reducing heat gain, and maintaining a certain level of sophistication is its aesthetics at the same time. Each of the twelve hypostyle columns are made of reinforced concrete. The columns supporting the tower are Agilia Concrete, which is more enhanced in design effect and construction process compared to traditional concretes: it can be placed 50% faster than the traditional concrete, and form complex shapes that would have been impossible in previous years. Each colossal column spans spanning one meter in diameter and 19 meters high; each one was constructed in a single pour in order to achieve the highest quality and a sense of grace and elegance. A striking urban colonnade is created through this series of columns; asserting its presence on campus while setting distinct boundaries between the street, public space of the campus and the privacy of the pharmacy faculty. Self-compacting concrete is used as the structural support system throughout the rest of the structure. The pods were constructed as “steel baskets” suspended by steel rods. The shells of these pods are constructed of structural steel and plaster and silver reflective paint are used for the finishes of these pods.Atrium
The Pharmacy Building's most prominent feature is its five-storeyStorey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
open atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
, complete with two suspended "pods". At night, these massive, orb-shaped, opaque
Opacity (optics)
Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shielding material, glass, etc...
structures are illumimnated with coloured stage lights.
The lighting effects are the work of Claude Engle
Claude Engle
Claude R. Engle III is an American electrical engineer and internationally-known lighting consultant, who has designed lighting schemes for many notable structures including the Reichstag and the Louvre.-Life:...
, world-renowned engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and theatrical lighting consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
, notable for his lighting schemes
Architectural lighting design
Architectural lighting design is a field within architecture and architectural engineering that concerns itself primarily with the illumination of buildings. The objective of architectural lighting design is to obtain sufficient light for the purposes of the building, balancing factors of initial...
in the The Louvre and the Reichstag. The colours slowly cycle through the colour spectrum, and come alive as sun sets. Every 15 minutes, the pods change to different colours: red, green, blue, purple, and orange. Also, a reflection from the inside with different lights illuminating the pods causes mirror images over panes of glass, creating 6 more pods. The lighting is computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
-controlled and uses simple PAR can spotlights and gels.
The windows for these floors are two-metre tall glass panels that allow an essentially uninterrupted view into the building. The enormous panels had to be imported from Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
because only one supplier in the world would create panes of those proportions. One design challenge was how to incorporate this open design without overheating the atrium. Each glass panel was therefore frit
Frit
Frit is a ceramic composition that has been fused in a special fusing oven, quenched to form a glass, and granulated. Frits form an important part of the batches used in compounding enamels and ceramic glazes; the purpose of this pre-fusion is to render any soluble and/or toxic components insoluble...
ted, rendering them not only aesthetically pleasing, but also able to attenuate the amount of solar heat
Solar gain
Solar gain refers to the increase in temperature in a space, object or structure that results from solar radiation...
entering the building through the windows.
The "pods" are two lecture hall
Lecture hall
A lecture hall is a large room used for instruction, typically at a college or university. Unlike a traditional classroom with a capacity from one to four dozen, the capacity of lecture halls is typically measured in the hundreds...
s suspended in mid-air. They are both "steel baskets" or "cages" constructed with a special structural steel
Structural steel
Structural steel is steel construction material, a profile, formed with a specific shape or cross section and certain standards of chemical composition and mechanical properties...
known as "architecturally exposed structural steel". For each pod, six steel arches were welded together, mounted with ball-and-socket rods and reinforced with steel bridges connecting each to a building floor, eliminating the need for shoring. They are both suspended with steel hangers
Suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...
(10 in total) held in place with a ring truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
system. The truss system is integrated into the physical sixth floor, which was made of structural steel to provide the necessary support and is also supported by the steel framing integrated into the windows. Finally, a 19.2 metre, 50 tonne transfer truss was integrated between the 6th and 7th floors to provide maximal support.
The pods are coated with smoothed plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
and coated with opaque silver reflective paint to amplify the lighting effects. Each pod also has a flat surface on which a lounge is situated. To enter the classrooms or a lounge, a catwalk must be crossed. These four bridges serve not only as an entrance and support, but also house all the electrical wires and other mechanical services that are necessary in each room.
The larger pod is a 60-seat lecture hall accessible from the 2nd floor. It is 3.5 metres from ground level. Atop this pod, accessible from the 3rd floor, is the private student reading lounge.
The smaller pod, accessible from the 4th floor, is a 24-seat classroom. The small faculty lounge is found atop this pod, accessible from the 5th floor.
The purpose of the pods is not merely aesthetic. While the atrium was specifically designed so openly to allow the older varsity buildings to show through, this resulted in a considerable cut in usable space. By creating these floating classrooms, the original effect is still maintained while still allowing this space to be functional.
Floors
The first five above-ground floors of the 12-storey building are designed as an open-concept atrium, as described above. These floors are designated for study spaces and administrative offices. The remaining seven top floors, seen from the outside as a larger square atop the atrium with patterned glass windows, is home to the Faculty of Pharmacy's researcherResearcher
A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...
s, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows
Research fellow
The title of research fellow is used to denote a research position at a university or similar institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a principal investigator...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
s, along with numerous research labs
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
, the Professional Practice Lab, and the Pharmaceutics Lab. The sixth through eighth floors are mainly used for student laboratories, tutorial and meeting rooms, as well as the faculty and research staff studying the social, economical
Pharmacoeconomics
Pharmacoeconomics refers to the scientific discipline that compares the value of one pharmaceutical drug or drug therapy to another. It is a sub-discipline of health economics. A pharmacoeconomic study evaluates the cost and effects of a pharmaceutical product...
, epidemiological
Pharmacoepidemiology
Pharmacoepidemiology is the study of the use of and the effects of drugs in large numbers of people.To accomplish this study, pharmacoepidemiology borrows from both pharmacology and epidemiology. Thus, pharmacoepidemiology is the bridge between both pharmacology and epidemiology...
and practical aspects of pharmacy and pharmaceutics, along with clinical research
Clinical research
Clinical research is a branch of medical science that determines the safety and effectiveness of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use...
. The remaining floors are reserved for the pharmaceutical science "wet labs" (though many primary faculty members are located in the new Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the MaRS Centre).
The Pharmacy Building also has 3 basement floors extending nearly 60 feet (18.3 m) underground. The upper two floors are home to the building's two main lecture halls, the Apotex
Apotex
Apotex is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. Founded in 1974, the company is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with sales exceeding one billion dollars a year...
Lecture Hall and the Ontario Pharmacists' Association (OPA) Lecture Hall. These rooms were designed specifically for the use of pharmacy students, and each seat in the 300-seat rooms — enough to seat the size of the entering class of 240 students each year — is sponsored by a donor through the Name-A-Desk campaign.
Architectural intentions
The void which cuts through the entire height of the building, and this was intentionally done by the architect to visually connect the upper and lower spaces. This longitudinal void opens to a rooftop skylight, bringing in natural daylight into the atrium below. The typical dependence of artificial lighting for a building of this size would typically account for more than 13% of its electricity use. However, with the installation of this void, a great portion of that cost is reduced. This spatial device was intended as a sustainable element of the design, as seen in many of Foster’s projects, it is an effective solution to reducing electricity consumption which is vital to a structure of this scale. The most important aspect that this vertical void contributes to the building is that is creates a distinctive social space for its users. Norman Foster has be experimenting and studying with the reconfiguration of spaces and the natural lighting conditions to redefine institutions. This void creates a vast, open, daylight space for the students to gather and relax in between classes. Also, the 23 research laboratories and teaching laboratories are intentionally planned and organized in such a manner where they are fully integrated into other programs- service spaces for faculty members, students and administrators. These programs are connected by bridges which cross the void at the upper floors. As for the pods which are suspended in the middle of the atrium, these mysterious pods were intentionally designed to give the illusion of defying gravity due to their size and weight. One architectural detail that most be noted, the bottom of the glass-clad cube of the larger volume was specifically designed to line up with the cornices of its adjacent historic buildings. Furthermore, the bottom of the new building will be transparent so that the older buildings will be visible through the lobby, says David Nelson of Foster and Partners.Energy and Sustainability
According to the University website (http://sustain.fs.utoronto.ca/campus-footprint/) the building uses a prodigious amount of energy, 775 kWh/m2 in 2009. This is more than twice the energy use per floor area of normal commercial buildings and ranks it as one of the most energy intensive buildings on the U of T campus.Reception
- Award of Merit, 2009 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards, Structural Engineers Association of IllinoisStructural Engineers Association of IllinoisThe Structural Engineers Association of Illinois is a professional group of structural engineers in the state of Illinois founded in 1965. SEAOI is part of the world wide . Its purpose is to exchange information in structural engineering in Illinois. This association also seeks to reinforce...
(SEAOI) - Specialty Concrete Applications Award, 2007 Ontario Concrete Awards
- 2nd place, 2007 Pug Awards - The People's Choice Awards for Architecture, Toronto
- 2006 Ontario Region Steel Design Award (Engineering category), Canadian Institute of Steel Construction
While students were awestruck by the new building, this was not necessarily a positive reaction. It is evident that significant amounts of money were dedicated to the project. However, pharmacy at the University of Toronto is a deregulated program, meaning that the administration can set tuition fees free of the government restrictions placed on most undergraduate programs. The tuition for pharmacy is typically more than double the tuition of arts and science programmes
University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science
The Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto is one of Canada's largest and most prestigious arts and science teaching and research institutions. With almost 22,000 undergraduate and 3,000 graduate students, Arts and Science represents over half the student population on the...
, and Canada Student Loans usually have a limit of approximately the same amount as the pharmacy tuition and administration fees alone, leaving no coverage for living expenses. In September 2006, when the Pharmacy Building opened, the tuition and ancillary fees for domestic students had just increased from $10,653.48 to $11,117.98, over 4%. This left students wondering why they were experiencing significant tuition increases when the Faculty had money for fancy lighting systems, pods, Belgian glass windows and famous architects. Only 5 years later, in 2011, tuition fees were almost $15,000.
The pods may sometimes feel claustrophobic, and their floating appearance deters acrophobes
Acrophobia
Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment.Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, especially if there is little...
. There is also an echo
Echo (phenomenon)
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed room and an empty room. A true echo is a single...
in the pods, which can interfere with audibility.