As host of the 2017 American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) Quad Conference, Ryerson University reached out to ERA Architects to host a tour of the firm’s offices and to conduct a tour of The Distillery District on March 10th & 11th respectively. Ryerson’s vision for the event was in inspiring and educating students on new perspectives of architecture introduced through diversity and globalization.
For ERA’s part, a tour of the office functioned as a circuit between 4 separate environments on 2 floors of 10 St. Mary Street. Staff led 3 groups for 1½ hours through discussions on office environment features/layout, programming, team dynamics/disciplines, overarching themes, major/special projects, software/technology and the material library/plotter. The tour culminated in a small ½ hour reception and closing remarks by Michael McClelland.
The following day, in frigid weather, the group toured the award-winning heritage conservation and adaptive re-use project: The Distillery District. The tour was led by ERA Principals Michael McClelland and Andrew Pruss and ran from 2:30 – 4:00pm. They focused on the following themes: Historic Architecture & Urban Form, Adaptive Reuse & Occupancy, and the Contemporary Layer of New Construction as applied to Trinity Street, the Windmill site, Stone Distillery, the Tank/Boiler House and the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
The two tours made a positive impression on the students, many of whom had never been to Toronto and hoped to extend their trip and/or return to the city in the future.
