University of Toronto
MVVA was tasked with reimagining a 30-acre precinct surrounding the University of Toronto’s King’s College Circle, a historic campus center that had become clogged with traffic and parked cars. Contemporary approaches to program, materials, and planting complement the historic green while creating animated thresholds at major throughways and connections to the surrounding campus and city.
MVVA’s design introduces safe and accessible pedestrian connections around King’s College Circle by relocating parking to an underground garage and allowing only service and emergency vehicles to enter the Circle. A new entry pavilion connects the underground roadways with the largely car-free surface.
The multicolor granite paving, inspired by the roof of University College, reflects the subtle variations in the natural stone of the historic campus buildings, adds visual interest, and unites the precinct.
