Talk:Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

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Happy Panda 25 (talk) 13:40, 2 August 2018 (UTC) edits
Wowzers! this page is 80% about the building. I think it might be best to have the buildings own wiki page (it even has a info box ready to go). I have pasted that information below if there is agreement, else it can be added back into the page. The building was already mentioned at length without the addition of the text below

This was removed because it does not pertain to the article: In Ontario, legislation to allow pharmacists to authorize refills without consulting the prescribing physician, administer the injection or inhalation of certain drugs, alter dosage forms, be able to prescribe certain medications and perform subdermal procedures is currently in the enactment process, having passed its second reading.

Secondary references were added to supplement the links to the programs website to decrease the potential promotional-like material. There is still work to do on this front, that is why I did not remove the box at the top.

Building and environs
Because the Faculty of Pharmacy Building represents an entrance to the University of Toronto campus, the university sought an exceptional design that would "turn heads". An international design competition was held, ending in 2002 with the partnership of Moffat Kinoshita Architects, a Toronto-based architecture firm, and Foster and Partners, headed by Sir Norman Foster, Pritzker Prize winner and Tony Blair's personal architectural adviser. The project was Foster's first foray into Canada, and served as a stepping-stone into numerous endeavours across the country.

Overall design
The entire building is constructed with simple, "ordinary" materials (Despite the Luxembourg-imported glass curtain wall façade and black granite window frames)."intricately engineered to be extraordinary. It is described as a "box atop a box". Externally, it appears as a large, seven-storey cube supported by a smaller five-storey box and twelve 19-metre tall concrete columns. These structures are unique in that they were built from the bottom up using self compacting concrete, which had never before been done in Canada. The building is surrounded by the Luxembourg-imported glass curtain wall façade and black granite window frames.

The building's unique design serves multiple purposes. The surrounding structures are mainly low-rise historical campus and government buildings, but with the bustling modernized city on the south side, including the glass Ontario Power Building. Thus, the desired design had to fit in well with all these aspects, while still managing to "turn heads". Of course, the building also had to accommodate the entire Faculty of Pharmacy (Canada's largest pharmacy faculty) within limited space. The result was the 5-storey + 7-storey design, where the platform aligns exactly with the cornices of the Fitzgerald and Tanz buildings. The picture to the right demonstrates how the glass architecture and height blends in with the southern buildings, while the atrium is the same height as the adjacent campus building. The open atrium also allows the older varsity buildings to shine through, aiding in the visual integration with the surrounding structures. The Pharmacy Building has been called the "anchor" of the intersection that was once an architectural contradiction. The glass architecture is also a tribute to the lot's former residents, the University of Toronto greenhouses (now relocated to Allan Gardens).

Before its completion, the building was featured in an architecture exhibition, "Gliding Through Space", an exhibition of Lord Norman Foster's works, a fusion of his passion for flying and aeronautics with his engineering and architecture expertise. The show, hosted by the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design and the Eric Arthur Gallery, gave the Pharmacy Building top billing, featuring 61 pages of working drawings, samples of the glass used and photographic sequences of the pods being constructed and attached.

Site context
Standing gracefully with its glass façade on the university campus, this building stands out from its adjacent traditional, brick, historical buildings. The building itself is pushed back from the street slightly, separated by a grassy area and paved sidewalk. Marking the boundaries of its site, a paved area (equivalent to the base area of the larger box) is also marked directly around the base of the building. Looking at the relationship between the Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building and its greater urban context, it is evident that this building plays a key role in the overall composition of its immediate landscape. Its stately concrete columns along with the elegant, fritted curtain wall glass, creates a strong relation between the Ontario Hydro Building to the south and the MaRS Centre diagonally opposite. The materials used throughout these three buildings are very similar and they complement each other very well in the greater scheme of things. This building serves an important role at this junction, as its ties together other buildings found on and outside of the campus, forming a harmonious composition in its downtown urban context; while gracefully establishes its presence and importance on the school campus, standing as a tall elegant, state-of-the-art facility for the Pharmacy Faculty of the University of Toronto.

Geometry
The overall forms of this structure can be simply described as a larger box sitting on top a smaller box with a central void (the atrium) connecting the two forms together. Looking at the profile of this building from afar, it seems like the large seven-story block is held up solely by the series of columns. The lower block is completely transparent, thus the definition of that space is lost when the building is viewed from a distance. The facades of this building are very planar, and its overall form is very geometrical and rectilinear. Stretching along the vertical axis, this building is bi-laterally symmetrical. Made almost entirely of glass, the building facades are very planar yet sophisticated. The only contrast to its smooth, sleek, glass façade is the soft, round, colossal columns which the larger box sits atop of and the large organic orbs which float inside the atrium.

This planar geometry and rectilinear nature are also echoed and scaled down in nearly every individual member of the structure’s interior and exterior façade. Metal paneling, glazing, exterior ornamentation are all representative of the buildings overall dimension. Furthermore, it is evident from any elevation, that rectilinear overlap has been transferred from plan to section. This relentless linearity is broken only by the two abstract pod shapes and the cylindrical columns, in what appears to be an intentional play by the architect to create interest and tension.

Materials
There are several types of different materials that are used throughout this building. The main materials used in the building envelope consist of concrete, glass, granite and steel. The curtain wall facade of this building uses large glass panels, framed with black granite framing. While the glass used for the lower box is completely transparent, the curtain wall for the upper seven floors uses fritted glass with a series of light gray circles, each approximately the size of a CD. This creates a protective screen that hinders view out from the building, but provides privacy to its users while reducing heat gain, and maintaining a certain level of sophistication is its aesthetics at the same time. Each of the twelve hypostyle columns are made of reinforced concrete. The columns supporting the tower are Agilia Concrete, which is more enhanced in design effect and construction process compared to traditional concretes: it can be placed 50% faster than the traditional concrete, and form complex shapes that would have been impossible in previous years. Each colossal column spans spanning one meter in diameter and 19 meters high; each one was constructed in a single pour in order to achieve the highest quality and a sense of grace and elegance. A striking urban colonnade is created through this series of columns; asserting its presence on campus while setting distinct boundaries between the street, public space of the campus and the privacy of the pharmacy faculty. Self-compacting concrete is used as the structural support system throughout the rest of the structure. The pods were constructed as “steel baskets” suspended by steel rods. The shells of these pods are constructed of structural steel and plaster and silver reflective paint are used for the finishes of these pods.

Atrium
The Pharmacy Building's most prominent feature is its five-storey open atrium, complete with two suspended "pods". At night, these massive, orb-shaped, opaque structures are illumimnated with coloured stage lights.

The lighting effects are the work of Claude Engle, world-renowned engineer and theatrical lighting consultant, notable for his lighting schemes in The Louvre and the Reichstag. The colours slowly cycle through the colour spectrum, and come alive as sun sets. Every 15 minutes, the pods change to different colours: red, green, blue, purple, and orange. Also, a reflection from the inside with different lights illuminating the pods causes mirror images over panes of glass, creating 6 more pods. The lighting is computer-controlled and uses simple PAR can spotlights and gels.

The windows for these floors are two-metre tall glass panels that allow an essentially uninterrupted view into the building. The enormous panels had to be imported from Belgium because only one supplier in the world would create panes of those proportions.

The "pods" are two lecture halls suspended in mid-air. They are both "steel baskets" or "cages" constructed with a special structural steel known as "architecturally exposed structural steel". For each pod, six steel arches were welded together, mounted with ball-and-socket rods and reinforced with steel bridges connecting each to a building floor, eliminating the need for shoring. They are both suspended with steel hangers (10 in total) held in place with a ring truss system. The truss system is integrated into the physical sixth floor, which was made of structural steel to provide the necessary support and is also supported by the steel framing integrated into the windows. Finally, a 19.2 metre, 50 tonne transfer truss was integrated between the 6th and 7th floors to provide maximal support.

The pods are coated with smoothed plaster and coated with opaque silver reflective paint to amplify the lighting effects. Each pod also has a flat surface on which a lounge is situated. To enter the classrooms or a lounge, a catwalk must be crossed. These four bridges serve not only as an entrance and support, but also house all the electrical wires and other mechanical services that are necessary in each room.

The larger pod is a 60-seat lecture hall accessible from the 2nd floor. It is 3.5 metres from ground level. Atop this pod, accessible from the 3rd floor, is the private student reading lounge.

The smaller pod, accessible from the 4th floor, is a 24-seat classroom. The small faculty lounge is found atop this pod, accessible from the 5th floor.

The purpose of the pods is not merely aesthetic. While the atrium was specifically designed so openly to allow the older varsity buildings to show through, this resulted in a considerable cut in usable space. By creating these floating classrooms, the original effect is still maintained while still allowing this space to be functional.

Floors
The first five above-ground floors of the 12-storey building are designed as an open-concept atrium, as described above. These floors are designated for study spaces and administrative offices. The remaining seven top floors, seen from the outside as a larger square atop the atrium with patterned glass windows, is home to the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy's researchers, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and professors, along with numerous research labs, the Professional Practice Laboratory, and the Patheon Pharmaceutics Teaching Laboratory. The sixth through eighth floors are mainly used for student laboratories, tutorial and meeting rooms, as well as the faculty and research staff studying the social, economical, epidemiological and practical aspects of pharmacy and pharmaceutics, along with clinical research. The remaining floors are reserved for the pharmaceutical science "wet labs" (though many primary faculty members are located in the new Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the MaRS Centre).

Architectural intentions
The void which cuts through the entire height of the building, and this was intentionally done by the architect to visually connect the upper and lower spaces. This longitudinal void opens to a rooftop skylight, bringing in natural daylight into the atrium below. The typical dependence of artificial lighting for a building of this size would typically account for more than 13% of its electricity use. However, with the installation of this void, a great portion of that cost is reduced. This spatial device was intended as a sustainable element of the design, as seen in many of Foster’s projects, it is an effective solution to reducing electricity consumption which is vital to a structure of this scale. The most important aspect that this vertical void contributes to the building is that is creates a distinctive social space for its users. Norman Foster has been experimenting and studying with the reconfiguration of spaces and the natural lighting conditions to redefine institutions. This void creates a vast, open, daylight space for the students to gather and relax in between classes. Also, the 23 research laboratories and teaching laboratories are intentionally planned and organized in such a manner where they are fully integrated into other programs- service spaces for faculty members, students and administrators. These programs are connected by bridges which cross the void at the upper floors. As for the pods which are suspended in the middle of the atrium, these mysterious pods were intentionally designed to give the illusion of defying gravity due to their size and weight. One architectural detail that most be noted, the bottom of the glass-clad cube of the larger volume was specifically designed to line up with the cornices of its adjacent historic buildings. Furthermore, the bottom of the new building will be transparent so that the older buildings will be visible through the lobby, says David Nelson of Foster and Partners.

Energy and Sustainability
According to the University website the building uses a prodigious amount of energy, 775 kWh/m2 in 2009. This is more than twice the energy use per floor area of normal commercial buildings and ranks it as one of the most energy intensive buildings on the U of T campus. The energy consumption has since lowered to 263kWh/m2 in 2010.

Reception
However, pharmacy at the University of Toronto is a deregulated program, meaning that the administration can set tuition fees free of the government restrictions placed on most undergraduate programs. In September 2006, when the Pharmacy Building opened, the tuition and ancillary fees for domestic students had just increased from $10,653.48 to $11,117.98, over 4%. This left students wondering why they were experiencing significant tuition increases when the Faculty had money for fancy lighting systems, pods, Belgian glass windows and famous architects. Only 5 years later, in 2011, tuition fees were almost $15,000.
 * Award of Merit, 2009 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards, Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI)
 * Specialty Concrete Applications Award, 2007 Ontario Concrete Awards
 * 2nd place, 2007 Pug Awards - The People's Choice Awards for Architecture, Toronto
 * 2006 Ontario Region Steel Design Award (Engineering category), Canadian Institute of Steel Construction

The pods may sometimes feel claustrophobic, and their floating appearance deters acrophobes. Inner walls of the pods are lined with soundproof panels, which prevent echo and maximize audibility.

Popular culture
The building was used as the setting for the Umbrella Corporation's underground Tokyo headquarters in the 2010 film Resident Evil: Afterlife.