Tall & Urban News

The University of Toronto has been given the largest donation it has ever received and as a result, it plans to build two all-new CA$100 million (US$74,696,545), 750,000 square-foot (69,677-square-meter) towers. The donation to the university was a gift from Canadian billionaires and philanthropists Gerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman.

The Schwartz Reisman Innovation Centre, by New York architectural firm, Weiss/Manfredi, will have vertical gardens, soaring atria and collaborative spaces. Located in Toronto at the northeast corner of College and Queen’s Park, the complex will house research sites, laboratories, and working space for startups and fast-growing companies.

“For the first time, the University of Toronto will have a central facility where young entrepreneurs and faculty can dream big,” says Scott Mabury, the university’s vice president operations and real estate partnerships. “These flagship buildings will have purpose-built spaces for innovation and provide much-needed room for research-based scale-up companies, which will help to keep Canadian ideas and talent in Canada.”

The new center will be dedicated to advancing innovation in Canada through artificial intelligence, biomedicine and other technologies. “This will contribute enormously to innovation at U of T,” said renowned AI pioneer and professor Geoffrey Hinton.

The university expects that the new complex will be frequented by researchers, investors, international visitors and more. The first phase of construction should begin in late 2019; a completion date has not yet been announced.

For more on this story, go the Narcity.