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Rotman School Expansion Receives Canada’ s Highest Honour for Architecture.

April 23, 2014

Toronto –  The expansion of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is the recipient of a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture, Canada’s highest honour for architecture. Opened in September 2012, the expansion was designed by award-winning Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) with Bruce Kuwabara as the design partner and Marianne McKenna as the partner in charge.

The expansion doubled the amount of teaching, research, study, presentation and special event space available to the Rotman School community. It also provides a new home to several of the Rotman School’s research and education centres including the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, Rotman DesignWorks, Martin Prosperity Institute, Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics and Board Effectiveness, Institute for International Business, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship, the Centre for Health Sector Strategy and the Creative Destruction Lab.  The expansion contains seven new seventy-seat classrooms, state-of-the-art Desautels Hall which is used for lectures and events, faculty and staff offices, a ground floor café with seating for 130, four outdoor spaces including terraces and green roofs, as well as over sixty new study rooms and 790 full size lockers for students.

“KPMB understood not only our physical needs for new space but also our commitment to a new way to think about innovative approaches to business education,” says Mary-Ellen Yeomans, Assistant Dean, Integrative Planning & Chief Operating Officer at the Rotman School.  “With the expansion we’ve been able to continue to innovate and grow our programs.”

“We conceived the Rotman Expansion as an integrated, vertical campus to reflect the design thinking strategies introduced by former Dean Roger Martin. A dynamic stair with a ribbon of hot pink animates the interior atrium. Desautels Hall, a large signature event space, extroverts the Rotman programs to St. George Street, the campus and the city,” says Bruce Kuwabara.

“From the start we were inspired by Rotman’s belief in the power of creativity and thought leadership to revolutionize business education for making the world a better place. The Governor General’s Medal reinforces the Rotman School’s broad and embracing commitment to their faculty, the University of Toronto and the city,” adds Marianne McKenna.

The Governor General’s Medals in Architecture recognizes outstanding achievement in recently built projects by Canadian architects. This program, created by Royal Architectural Institute of Canada contributes to the development of the discipline and practice of architecture, and increases public awareness of architecture as a vital cultural force in Canadian society. These awards are administered jointly with the Canada Council for the Arts

The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is redesigning business education for the 21st century with a curriculum based on Integrative Thinking. Located in the world’s most diverse city, the Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables the design of creative business solutions.  For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.

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For more information:
 
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Voice 416.946.3818
E-mail mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca
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