Entry Title: " Jackman Humanities Institute"
Name: Kohn Shnier Architects, Canada
Category: Professional, Architectural Design


Entry Description:

The project is a new penthouse space atop the historic Medical Arts Building at Bloor and St. George at the north edge of the University of Torontos downtown campus. The design provides an educative and inspiring space for scholarly interaction and dissemination. Layered use of glass and mirror, inspired by the work of artists such as Dan Graham, creates wondrous effects of refraction and reflection all the while assisting natural light to permeate deep into the floor plate.

Kohn Shnier Architects was founded in 1990 as a small practice dedicated to non-specialization. The work is characterized by eminent practicality imbued with invention and often whimsy. The firm has been widely recognized for their work including receiving nominations for the prestigious International Chrysler Design Award and the New York Architectural League's Emerging Practice Award. Their projects appear in global compendiums such as The Phaidon Atlas of World Architecture and Architecture Now! Volume 2, and have been honoured with an inclusion in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York.