Victoria College's Wymilwood student union building is doubling in size, thanks to a donation from two monied alumni.
The new structure, with an extra 20,000 square feet of space added on to the original 1952 building designed by
Eric Arthur, will be named the Goldring Student Centre, after donors
Blake and Judy Goldring, who contributed $4 million to the new project.
This year is the college's 175th anniversary.
The building, designed by
Moriyama and Teshima, will add a new quad, a renovated cafe, room for 20 student clubs, an assembly space, a two-storey lounge and lockers.
"It will double in space
, but not all the current space is within student use," says Victoria president Paul Gooch, "so they'll actually get significantly more space."
Gooch says that in addition to the student population roughly doubling since Wymilwood was built, it currently exists on several levels, none of which is connected by elevator, so the expansion will also make the space more universally accessible.
A ceremony to announce the gift and the plans was held on campus on Saturday. Wymilwood is closed, and will be until the development is completed, sometime late in the fall of 2012. Gooch expects construction to begin later this summer.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Paul Gooch
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