Munk School of Global Affairs

The Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto is one of the unique places in academia where world issues are studied and debated through a Canadian lens. Founded in 2000, as an interdisciplinary academic centre on global issues that integrates research with teaching and public education, it is now home to the Asian Institute, the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and 30 other centres, institutes, and programs. To accommodate the success and growth of its programs, the School will expand its facilities with the adaptive reuse of the heritage Dominion Meteorological Building (1908 to 1909) at 315 Bloor Street West into an interconnected hub for innovation and creative thinking.

The overall vision embraces the opportunity of its prime location on Bloor Street West to amplify Devonshire Place as one of the major portals into the University of Toronto campus. The architectural strategy respects the robust quality of the Romanesque Revival style and at the same time introduces thoughtful yet distinctively contemporary interventions

The original building is set back from back from the street and a landscaping concept with a lushly planted garden, terraced and paved lawns was developed to position the Munk School as a significant presence in the cadence of academic and cultural buildings that distinguish the stretch of Bloor Street West, from the ROM to the east and the Bata Shoe Museum to the West.

The project prioritizes the preservation of the historic elevation on Bloor. New interventions are limited. The circular tower that once housed the telescope of the original Meteorological building is reimagined with meeting spaces and a new glass clerestorey to create a viewing platform. At the south, students will access the building off Devonshire through a glass entrance pavilion which will also provide added vertical circulation. The design strategy for the new interventions are light glass and steel to act as a counterpoint to the mass and rough-hewn texture of the historic Miramichi sandstone exterior.

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