You Are Here - Ryerson Master Plan Mini-Report

R YOUARE HEREYOU ARE HERE

Planning Ryerson’s Future

Building up to build a better campus for you

Streets that are about more than getting you from A to B

Design that works for you

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yerson is rapidly evolving as a major urban university within one of the fastest growing downtown cores on the continent. This project celebrates how it will become even more dynamic in the future. The phrase YOU ARE HERE places the

importance of the Ryerson community at the forefront of how we shape the university’s atmosphere, its reputation and its contribution to the city as a whole. Together, we make Ryerson the vibrant place that it is.

As a city builder and vital member of the surrounding community, Ryerson’s ambitious growth and aspirations must be guided by a plan that is visionary yet practical; robust yet flexible. This work is about more than buildings – it is about a that vision builds on existing strengths with the goal of improving quality of life for staff, students, neighbours and community partners. With this in mind, it is in the interests of the university to cultivate relationships through the places it creates and continually improves upon.

The Ryerson Master Plan understands that good places help people produce good work. Good places help people connect and collaborate. Good places enable movement across the city and allow for inspiration and enjoyment along the way. Good places continue to meet the needs of their users in the long-term. Good places make the university community more than the sum of its parts.

YOU ARE HERE lays out a vision that works towards achieving and sustaining a place that makes people what they are now and what they will be in the future. It is organized under three principles accompanied by a set of strategies (see next page).

YOU ARE HEREPlanning Ryerson’s future

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir the blood and probably will not be realized. Make big plans. Aim high in hope and work.” —Daniel Burnham, Chicago Chief Planner, 1909

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Building up to a build better campus for you



Due to its location within a dense urban environment, new campus facilities must be expanded vertically in order to accommodate future demand. This section explores opportunities to build a better campus by growing the heart, building efficiently, and working together with external partners.

This section sets out goals and principles to ensure that high quality green architecture and design standards are integrated in all new projects. Strong flexible design of spaces and places will allow Ryerson to cater to the needs of its diverse users, while maintaining its status as a leader in innovation, design, and education.

This section explores opportunities to create pedestrian-oriented streets that distinguish Ryerson University within its immediate setting and beyond. The focus is on fostering a vibrant and lively atmosphere to combine the informal daily life of the campus and the educational experience.

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5 Building up to a better campus for you

13 Streets that are about more than getting you from A to B

21 Design that works for you

CONTENTS

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Building upto build abetter campus for you

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Moving forward, Ryerson University will need to build smart. In order to physically accommodate future students and academic projects, the campus will need to expand. The Ryerson campus is woven into a busy, urban neighbourhood and while this location offers the university many advantages, it also changes the way we can and should use space. Compared to many other campuses, Ryerson is restricted in its opportunity to grow outwards or to develop open space. As a result, to grow, Ryerson will need to build up.

GOALS• Strengthening sense of place

through Building a better campus by GROWING THE HEART

• Strategically Building a better campus by BUILDING UP

• Building a better campus by WORKING TOGETHER will continue to develop meaningful partnerships.

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Building a better campus by GROWING THE HEARTPart of growing will require investing in the core, or “heart”, of the campus. Ryerson will continue to develop the area around Gould and Victoria Streets as the campus’ “heart,” so that the university’s outward expansion does not diminish its sense of place. Because Ryerson’s edge is not physically marked and bounded, the university must find other ways to distinguish itself and become more visible within the city. In meeting the university’s pressing need for space, Ryerson will work to create a more robust, vital central area in the heart of the campus by making efficient use of small and valuable spaces.

Although campus buildings may be dispersed, the challenges of ‘growing the heart’ are far outweighed by the possibilities. A dynamic and energized ground level in the heart makes the campus a lively and safe place to interact and while improving the ‘feel’ of the campus as somewhere to gather.

HOUSINGWhile on the edge of older established neighbourhoods to the east and within an emerging downtown condominium market, Ryerson currently provides housing for only 840 students on or near the campus. We plan to add additional undergraduate and graduate housing within a 20-minute walk from campus. This housing may be found close to local seams including Dundas, Gerrard, Church, Jarvis and Mutual Streets.

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RU Campus RU Academic Precinct

RU Housing PrecinctRU Buildings

Buildings

50 200 m

1000

NHeart of the Campus

RU Realm

City Realm

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Building a better campus by BUILDING UPRyerson is located in the heart of downtown Toronto, where the dense urban fabric provides a limited availability of developable land. In order to optimize the scarce land available to the University, Ryerson will need to make the best use of their existing footprint. Building higher, smarter and in a more integrated way will create a number of opportunities, not just for Ryerson, but for its community as well -- just as dense neighbourhoods bring residents, jobs, and amenities together, building “the vertical campus” will bring classrooms, offices, open space, living space, and services closer together.

‘Building up’ is where people and building design come together. In order to plan for future learning spaces and housing needed as enrollment grows, Ryerson must identify properties that fall within areas appropriate for development. This presents a significant opportunity to grow vertically and meet the requirements of an expanding campus - such as the need for over 2000 residence spaces.

Building up to build a better campus for you

“Ryerson has only 60% of the space it should have for a university its size. But there is no land stretching out in any direction.”

-Sheldon Levy, President of Ryerson

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Ryerson4 m2 of landper student

University of Toronto14 m2 of land per student

York University41 m2 of landper student

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WHAT IS THE VERTICAL CAMPUS? The practice of vertically stacking physical functions and spaces. This means building upwards and bringing together multiiple academic and community activities within larger overall buildings. The vertical campus will bring classrooms, offices, open space, living space, and services closer together, building smarter on the space that Ryerson has.

1Million sq. ft

of unused density exists on Ryerson properties.

1. Vertical towers containing offices, residence space, and public apartments.

2. Green roof providing out-door amenity to space to the Ryerson community.

3. Animated podium hous-ing flexible learning spaces, including classrooms, labo-ratories, library facilities, and study rooms.

4. Animated ground floor, containing retail, restaurants, cafes, galleries, theatres, and other cultural amenities.


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Ryerson’s busy, urban neighbourhood is a dynamic place that offers natural opportunities for collaboration and exploration. It also presents many challenges that must be met if the campus is to grow in an efficient and successful way.

As the university seeks to further develop and nurture a collaborative relationship with its urban neighbours, partnerships will become ever more important. Ryerson’s proximity to interesting, influential people and organizations in downtown Toronto provides its faculty, staff and students with exciting opportunities. Ryerson will continue to work with partners from the public and private sector to develop land as it grows and changes.

“I think that when you look at what’s going to be hap-pening in higher education in the next 20 or 30 years and the pressure to do public- private partnerships you’re going to see more and more private entities working with universities.”

-Provost Doris Helms of Clemson University

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PARTNERSHIPS IN BUILDINGIn order to develop high-quality spaces, the university has partnered with corporations and government. Recent projects include the AMC Lecture Theatres, Mattamy Centre, and the Ted Rogers School of Management. Each of these projects provided the university with additional space while simultaneously benefitting local businesses and residents.

Building a better campus by WORKING TOGETHER

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157%increase in openrecreation hours available for student use with opening of Mattamy Athletic Centre in 2012


MATTAMYATHLETIC

CENTRE

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Ryerson has no gates. Rather than being contained and cut off from the city, Ryerson is a part of the urban neighbourhood that it calls home. However, its location also presents challenges in how we define exactly where the city and Ryerson overlap. By creating “gateways without gates”, Ryerson can create a recognizable campus within the city. By creating streets that are distinct and active the Ryerson campus will be an exciting and inviting destination within the urban fabric not just for students, but community members as well.

GOALS• Emphasize Ryerson’s unique

identity with STREETS THAT ARE DISTINCT

• Celebrate the pedestrian experience through STREETS THAT ARE ACTIVE

• Improve ease and safety of getting around by creating STREETS THAT MOVE YOU

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Streets that are DISTINCT

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DIVERSITYRyerson is one of the most diverse campuses in the country, with students originating from more than 140 countries. Our streets need to reflect the distinct makeup of the student body with an equally distinct look. Creative landscaping, lighting and public art will help to create a pedestrian experience that highlights the unique identity of the campus.

As Ryerson’s edge is not physically marked and bounded, the university must find other ways to distinguish itself and become more visible within the city.

Creating streets that are unique to the Ryerson identity will help differentiate campus streets from those in the downtown core. This will announce the presence and character of the university to all who pass through it. Building gateways without gates means establishing the entrances to Ryerson in a way that does not limit access in any way. This can be accomplished though iconic buildings, such as the Student Learning Centre, or other distinct approaches to street lighting and furniture.

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28M Pedestrians pass

through the Ryerson Campus annually

A B

C D

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Streets that are ACTIVEGround floor attractionsBecause Ryerson community members spend most of their time on campus as pedestrians, the campus needs to be a great place for people to walk, shop, connect with each other and form communities. Establishing student services, registration, cafes, and shops on the ground floor of campus buildings brings streetscapes to life. It will create an atmosphere that allows for greater interchange between students, staff, faculty, and the community. This can lead to greater collaboration and an overall enhancement of the collegial atmosphere.

Vibrancy Due to the location of the Ryerson campus in a dense urban setting, open space is at a premium. By ensuring the vibrancy of all open space that exists on campus, Ryerson can maximize the potential of the open space that it does have. This approach to open space will extend to not just green space, such as the Quad, but under-utilized space, such as the laneways that crisscross campus. Being able to integrate these spaces into the public realm will add to the vibrancy of public space on the campus.

“The integration of retail elements in an aca-demic space is something that’s unique to Ryerson... They also wanted to have a seamless integration with their neighbourhood, and the majority of the Yonge Street facade is retail”

-Vaidila Banelis, senior partner at Zeidler Partnership Architects


AROUND THE CLOCK ACTIVITY Ryerson offers a diverse set of programs, which balance activity at different times. Day, evening and night students help to maintain continual activity and eyes on the street. Ryerson does not close down at 5pm - instead, the mix of schedules helps create feeling of neighbourhood rather than institution.

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84%of Students expressed the need for greater diversity of food and student focussed retail services


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Streets that MOVE YOUConnectionsAn essential part of developing a vibrant, functioning campus is ensuring that Ryerson community members can efficiently move to and through the campus. When transportation networks are incomplete or difficult to use, productivity and urban vitality can be lost. Ryerson can minimize these losses by ensuring excellent connection to existing transportation infrastructure. This will involve ensuring the improvement of connections to streets, bicycle lanes, and transportation routes.

Toronto is a city that struggles with a significant amount of lost productivity due to congestion and high commuting times. As a campus with a high proportion of commuting students, staff, and faculty, this affects Ryerson in a very specific way. By developing strengthened connections to transit infrastructure, Ryerson can play a leading role in helping to reduce this issue facing the city. ModesAs Ryerson continues to grow, the number of people making Ryerson a daily destination will continue to increase. In order to most effectively accommodate this increase, there is a need to ensure that Ryerson is effortlessly accessible through a variety of transportation methods. Building facilities that make cycling more attractive, such as indoor bike storage, will allow for more people to make the choice to cycle to campus. Improving the connectivity of streets will also increase the appeal to walk and take transit. Transportation mode

share among students

> 75%

15%

< 10%


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Gould Street

Bond

Str

eet

Mut

ual S

tree

t

Gerrard Street

Current pathways across campus are mostly along established roadways

Increasing minor pathways will make the campus easier to navigate

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Design that works for you3

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When done well, good design can set the stage for deep, lasting connections between places and people. This can be as simple as adding street furniture near a busy cor-ner to allow people to stop and reflect, or as complex as leading the redevelopment of an iconic district that sparks investment in the neighbourhood. At any scale, Ryerson recognizes that its own success depends on the well-being of the city. The Master Plan highlights Ryerson’s role as a city builder that uses its academic stature and design talent to create places that matter.

Ryerson is in a position to set the standard as a university that uses sustainable practices and forward-thinking design to create beauti-ful buildings and spaces. In so doing, Ryerson will continue to challenge itself and its part-ners in downtown Toronto to a higher stan-dard of innovation in how our city grows.

GOALS• Higher environmental standards

and strategies that create SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS that work for you.

• Adapt to diverse needs through FLEXIBLE LEARNING SPACES that work for you.

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Culture:Black Star Gallery

Preservation:Mattamy Athletic Centre

Re-develoment:Yonge St., and Dundas Square.


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SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS that work for youThe newly minted Sustainability Matters initiative at Ryerson states that its outlook is to meet present needs of students and community without compromising its ability to do so in the future. This program is part of a broader set of approaches to sustainable operating practices, capital investment, and digital communication strategies that are based on the ambitions set out in Master Plan. A set of sustainability principles outlined in the RMP continues to guide Ryerson toward a greener campus.

Part of this commitment to sustainability means leading by example. Ryerson is a member of the Canada Green Building Council, indicating a responsibility to build on current energy efficiency efforts by integrating deep water cooling systems (Ted Rogers School of Management) and focusing on long-term operating cost savings through sustainable design. Innovative communication strategies (see sidebar) and student-led gardening projects (Rye Homegrown) connect ongoing work with people, allowing students and neighbours to become inspired and involved with ongoing sustainability efforts as they happen.

The new Sustainability Matters website features an interactive map of on-campus initiatives broken down by type, linking people to existing and ongoing sustainability efforts (rusustainability.ca).


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R YOUARE HEREFLEXIBLE LEARNING SPACES

that work for youRyerson is working toward building adaptable and forward thinking facilities to match its academic reputation. Day and evening students require spaces that allow informal interaction that enhances the university experience as well as quiet places for individual study. Access to university services and digital tools as well places to eat and take small breaks is fundamental to a healthy learning environment.

Campus development that addresses the multiple requirements of space must continue to be creative. Given the scarcity of space and growing enrolment, new projects must be able to accommodate a range of activities that occur both physical and digitally. This can include but is not limited to non-traditional, adaptable room furniture, acoustic design that permits interaction without undue disruption, and places that accommodate solitary work as well as small to medium size gatherings.

“The idea is to turn Ryerson into Toronto’s equivalent of NYU—a prestigious campus in the middle of the city, a fizzing catalyst of urban change.”

-Marcus Gee, Toronto Life


SUCESSSES IN CITY BUILDING Ryerson is Canada’s first ever university to receive the Ashoka Changemaker Campus Award for social innovation, given to universities and colleges that are committed to solving real-world problems in new and creative ways.

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Design for the Student Learning Centre won the Canadian Architect Magazine Award for Excellence.

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Looking AheadThe YOU ARE HERE campaign explores a vision of how Ryerson can grow in a way that plays to its strengths while being able to adapt to our ever changing city. It is a vision of a campus that builds up instead of out. It is a vision that sees moving through the campus as activity to enjoy. It is a vision of building design that sets and resets the standard. Most of all it is a vision of city building that recognizes that growing a campus is not about bricks and mortar – it is about meaningfully connecting with community partners and neighbours to realize projects that will build a better future.

The three sections of this document demonstrate a commitment to creating the kind of place that inspires as much as it meets the day-to-day needs of a diversity of people. Ryerson’s priority is that this culture spreads not only within the boundaries of the campus, but also permeates into the surrounding community. Lastly these places are meant to have an enduring and meaningful contribution to the legacy of the university, pushing the boundaries of what Ryerson can do for its faculty, students, neighbours and the city at large.

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Image References:

• All wire-frame graphics and maps: You Are Here project team.

• All small graphic icons: The Noun Project. Designers Megan Hade, James Keuning, Roman J. Sokolov. source: Noun Project. Retrieved from: http://thenounproject.com/

• Page 3: Image Art Building. Source: Ryerson image bank. Retrieved from: http://www.

ryerson.ca/branding/photography/imagebank/

• Page 12, left: Dundas Square. Source: Ryerson image bank. Retrieved from: http://www.


• Page 12, right: Mattamy Athletic Centre. Source: Urban Toronto website. Retrieved

from: http://urbantoronto.ca/database/projects/ryersons-mattamy-athletics-centre-

loblaws-gardens

• Page 16, left: Ryerson University, Gould Street. Source: Ryerson image bank. Retrieved

from: http://www.ryerson.ca/branding/photography/imagebank/

• Page 16, right: Ryerson University, Church and Gould intersection. Source: Ryerson

image bank. Retrieved from: http://www.ryerson.ca/branding/photography/imagebank/

• Page 18, both photos by You Are Here project team.

• Page 20: Repainted campus roads. Source: Ryersonian website. Retrieved from: http://

www.ryersonian.ca/?p=3737

• Page 24: Rye Homegrown. Source: Rye Homegrown Blog.Retrieved from:

ryeshomegrown.wordpress.com

• Page 26: Ryerson Student Learning Centre, E-Architect Website.Retrieved from: http://

www.e-architect.co.uk/toronto/ryerson-student-learning-centre

• Page 26: Patio. Source: Ryerson image bank. Retrieved from: http://www.ryerson.ca/

branding/photography/imagebank/

• Page 28: Dance. Source: Ryerson image bank. Retrieved from: http://www.ryerson.ca/

branding/photography/imagebank/

• Page 29: Student Centre. Source: Ryerson image bank. Retrieved from: http://www.


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You Are Here was developed by:

Samira BehroozMaria BianchiAndrew CohrsGeordie GordonGraham HainesLisa Ward-MatherColin WolfeRayson Wong

Report available for download from: bit.do/youarehere

You Are Here - Ryerson Master Plan Mini-Report

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