U Ottawa Faculty of Social Sciences – Diamond Schmitt Architects

Faculty of Social Sciences – Diamond Schmitt and KWC Architects

We were recently commissioned by Diamond Schmitt Architects to photograph the new U of Ottawa Faculty of Social Sciences building, their latest joint venture with Ottawa’s KWC Architects.

University of Ottawa Faculty of Sciences Building from the Rideau Canal in winter at dusk

The building in question is a “16-storey tower [that] creates a new gateway and focal point for the downtown campus and provides 275,000 square feet of learning and student space. It features extensive classroom, student study and collaborative space on the lower five floors and connects with the renovated Vanier Hall via multi-level bridges that span a five-storey skylit atrium. The upper floors house seminar, office and research space for faculty, graduate students and staff.[…] A signature feature of the LEED Gold candidate building’s sustainable mandate is a six-storey-high biofilter living wall – the tallest in North America.”

The main feature stair and the 6-floor living wall

For the Faculty of Social Sciences, this project has been a long awaited dream. This venture constitutes the first time in the history of the Faculty that its 10,000 students, 260 professors and 100 staff members are together under one roof, in the heart of the downtown campus. This move creates greater opportunities for collaborative research and teaching activities and will hopefully lead to richer learning experiences, bringing new vitality to the Faculty’s intellectual resources.

Our commission, was a several day endeavour to not only capture the architectural features of the complex, but also show it as it is used by its new occupants:namely the students, faculty and staff. You can see a more complete gallery of images here.