Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, University of Toronto

The Leslie Dan Building for the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, provides state-of-the-art facilities for more than 1000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, creating the largest pharmacy faculty in Canada. Responding to the expansion of the pharmacy department and to recent changes in the teaching of the subject, the multi-functional building centralises all teaching, research and administrative spaces within a single structure, bringing together departments that were previously spread throughout the university campus.

The building’s design responds in a sensitive manner to its context while also creating a landmark facility for the University. The building is lifted above a 20m-high, five-storey, colonnaded circulation space, which matches the cornice heights of two neighbouring listed university buildings and the nearby Ontario Parliament Building. This daylit space is the hub of undergraduate activities, providing quick and easy access between the basement lecture theatres and the laboratories and the library as well as encouraging interaction between students. A soaring atrium pierces the height of the building providing visual connections between all floors as well as creating a central hub for student, faculty and staff. On the upper floors of the building, there are laboratories dedicated to research in the pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice as well as the administrative offices for the faculty.

Two reflective silver-coloured pods are suspended within the main space, which change colours according to the light conditions, adding a striking focal point for the faculty. The larger pod houses a 60-seat lecture theatre and a reading room, while the other houses a 24-seat classroom, a quiet study lounge for undergraduate students and the faculty lounge. Wet labs for postgraduate research are housed on the upper floors of the building.



Client: University of Toronto
Consultants: Yolles, Vermeulens, H.H Angus, Diana Gerrard, Claude Engle Lighting Consultant, NXL Architects