Sheridan College (Ontario)
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Architectural Technology program: Emerging Building Technologies course: Students examine issues related to residential building renovation, including design considerations, structural, mechanical and electrical systems following a case study approach.They describe the social and economic benefits inherent in building renovation (reduce, reuse and recycle). In the Winter 2016 semester the students were challenged with the problem of fitting energy-efficient technologies into an actual building renovation/addition. Working with an actual client, a fair-trade “chocolate factory” (Chocosol) in downtown Toronto, the students needed to ensure they understood not only the design problem at hand but the client’s vision and values. The client wanted the intervention to be an “off-grid chocolate factory-science center in the city”. The scheme aims to make Chocosol a champion of energy-efficient architectural technologies by making those technologies apparent, observable and accessible by visitors while also fulfilling the program’s primary purpose of being an educational commons for fair-trade chocolate and production facility. The building is a two-story storefront type building at St. Clair and Dufferin. Studio 5: In this term 5 studio class, the students are to design a mixed-use artist live/work loft. They work with Artscape, a non-profit organization in Toronto, to design affordable units for the artists. The students are also to include a gallery space on the first floor that is used to display work and is open to the public. Building Renovations: Students work on real-life projects. We seek projects from the community that are varying in scale and typology. Sustainable techniques would vary based on the project.