University of Western Ontario

London, Ontario

Lamb Jorden & Cook Architects Moriyama & Teshima Architects

The John Labatt Visual Arts Center is the new home of the University's School of Art as well as its nationally acclaimed slide collection.

It is a 3-story, 6,685 m2 (72,OOO sf) structure clad in rusticated and smooth-faced dolomitic limestone. The design goal was for the facility to weave into the fabric of the campus despite its remote location, while establishing a unique presence through its bold artistic expression and treatment of form.

Some of the state-of-the-art facilities include various studios for drawing, painting, sculpture and photography, a slide library, a multimedia computing lab, seminar and lecture rooms, a gallery, a sculpture courtyard and a tower for the public display of suspended artwork.

Of prime importance in siting the new facility was to provide a sense of connection with main campus, the grade level of which is approximately 9 m (30 ft) higher. To achieve this, a clear sightline was drawn from the center of campus through to the present site. The main spine of the building sits along this axis which coincides with the main entrance. The copper receptor canopy provides height for visual reference in compensation of the grade differential through the campus cross-section, whereas the tower serves as a visual beacon. The curved receptor wall mimics the curvature of neighboring Middlesex College, only in reverse as a metaphoric expression of connecting pieces extending the campus puzzle.