Laurentian aims to complete campus modernization in 2016.

• Author: Migneault, Jonathan
• Position: SUDBURY

By December 2016 Laurentian University expects to complete an ambitious campus modernization project that will change the way students and faculty interact with each other and the spaces around them.

Timmins-based Cy Rheault Construction won the contract for the project's $34-million construction phase.

The contractor has carried out work at Laurentian in the past; it contributed to the first phase of the School of Architecture and did renovations to the Single Student Residence in 2014.

Brad Parkes, Laurentian's executive director of facility services, said the total cost for the campus modernization is closer to $51 million, when counting fees for consultants and architects, and expenses for new signage, audio-visual equipment and furniture for classrooms.

To bring Laurentian in line with new research on education and teaching techniques, the modernization plan will renovate 25 classrooms and close to 10 labs.

"Moving out of the 2012 to 2017 strategic plan ... there was a lot of discussion around new methods of teaching," said Parkes.

The new classrooms will move away from traditional rows of desks, he said, and encourage more collaborative teaching models where students can have more back-and-forth discussions with their professors and their peers.

But classrooms are just one part of the modernization plan. "For me, the biggest bang for the university community will be the closing in of the breezeway of the Parker Building, and then building a skylight over top of that," said Parkes.

The Parker Building, located in the centre of Laurentian's campus, will be renovated to host a new point of welcome and orientation for students.

It will be the first place many new students visit on campus, and will offer a one-stop shop for information and administrative services.

"It will give the university a place of being and a place of identity" Parkes said.

Laurentian plans to build a new Indigenous Sharing and Learning Centre next to the Parker Building.

The centre--which represents an effort to connect with First Nations students and faculty--will provide informal study and learning spaces that meet their cultural needs.

A large circular room will allow for teaching, meetings, lectures and special celebrations.

To the far east of the campus...