York University’s Markham Campus is a vertically integrated academic facility that establishes a new post-secondary presence northeast of Toronto. Positioned at an intermodal transit hub, with commuter train, highway, cycle network and regional bus access, the Campus creates access to post-secondary education for students closer to home.

The 400,000 sf academic building accommodates 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students and brings together a collection of academic programs within a 10-storey academic tower. Collaboration between these diverse programs is supported by interconnected floor spaces, fluid spatial geometry, and visually connected work zones, creating an animated crossroads of learning, inquiry, and student engagement.

Student programs and services are situated on the building’s lower floors in the podium, serving as a student hub for the university, while also fostering connections with the community. The upper levels are occupied by academic programs–each one housed on a different floor within its own wing–and administrative offices.

The building opens onto a Campus Green at three levels, further strengthening its connection to the site’s new landscape and surroundings through a continuous sequence of informal, exterior public spaces.

Design: Diamond Schmitt Architects
Photography: Tom Arban