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'Continue to be aspirational': Sudbury's school of architecture plans to be around in 100 years

Teachers, students have a global view, but local focus, councillors told
McEwen Architecture School
(File)

Officials from the McEwen School of Architecture updated city council on their progress earlier this month, taking time out to thank councillors for being an early supporter of the project.

The school opened in 2013, led by founding director Terrance Galvin, and later opened a campus downtown, in the former location of the farmers market.

“We are here as a school and individuals because this council brought a bold vision of the school of architecture into downtown Sudbury — from a far-fetched idea into reality when many doubted this could ever succeed,” said David Fortin, the current director of the school. 

“When the first 70 students and six faculty arrived in Sudbury, we had no building or curriculum, but we were immediately immediately made to feel at home in this city.”

The school has now graduated its first class of architects, Fortin said, and now boasts 325 students, each paying $10,589 in tuition. When the 17-member faculty is included, as well as all their spending, the financial impact is more than $9.5 million a year in Greater Sudbury, he said.

And the first class of graduates “are now in the workplace, providing design leadership in Ontario and across the country,” Fortin said. “So on behalf of the students staff and faculty ... our first task tonight is to say thank you, merci and miigwetch to this council's leadership foresight and continued support.”

The school has also achieved gender parity among its students, Fortin said, and students hail from six different countries. Most are still from Ontario, however, and half are from the North.

“We are the only school of architecture in the country to offer studios in both English and French, and the only one in the world who have elders and knowledge carriers present throughout the week as paid and valued contributors,” Fortin said.

While focused on Northern design and innovations, he said students still travel internationally to expand their outlooks and broaden their learning base.

“We want them learning from other places, and be inspired by them,” Fortin said. “Our study abroad opportunities have become an essential part of our student experience. But the core of our curriculum and our programs are the valued relationships with our communities and our aspiration to become the central design hub for Northern Ontario.”

Students have connected locally by taking part in different events, such as the Up Here festival and installations at the farmers market.
Galvin, the school's founding director, said they have a vision for the future – a 20/20 vision for 2050, to be exact.

That vision includes such things as the McEwen International Advisory Board, in which some big names in architecture can offer their input and guidance through public lectures and other special events.

“We made a conscious choice to be successful, and all of us — faculty and students alike  – wish to take Sudbury to the next level over the next hundred years,” Galvin said. 

“Part of our maturity is having a powerhouse McEwen International Advisory board that has our backs in terms of continuing to be innovative in architecture, both locally and globally.”

A design competition is also in the works, Galvin said, and could be focused on building carbon emission-free buildings for the future. In light of the city's commitment to address climate change, the competition aims to elicit ideas on how to build with a much smaller carbon imprint.

“So the goal of the school, and the goal of the project, is to continue to be aspirational for Sudbury and to provide a visual language for ourselves, for the city and for the wider group of architects who are going to enter into the discussions with us,” he said.

“We hope that the competition will inform the updating and reframing of the (carbon emissions) master plan.”

See the full presentation from Dec. 10 here.


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Darren MacDonald

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