If you’re looking for a place to study at Ryerson University, you can try the “Beach.”
Students at Ryerson will be able to study or relax in the new Ryerson Student Learning Centre which opened several of its floors Feb. 23.
The $112-million building, which is located in the heart of downtown Toronto, has eight floors featuring different colourful themes and designs for each floor. The building has open and quiet study areas, group work rooms, and areas for students to convene. The building also features whiteboard tables and walls.
The entire building is expecting to open this spring, according to Brandon Buechler, a tour guide for the building.
“It’s the soft launch,” Buechler said. “[Ryerson] finished it to a standard that was acceptable to open to students to give them a space to study for midterms.”
The sixth floor, nicknamed “the Beach,” is intended to be the hangout spot of the library, and features light wood floors, blue carpet and lounging beach chairs.
There is a bridge walkway connecting the learning centre to Ryerson’s library.
The top floor, nicknamed “the Sky,” is designed with large windows that capture sunlight and overlook streets of Toronto’s downtown core.
The seventh floor will have a space dedicated to graduate students.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Buechler said. “One of the biggest complaints about Ryerson was that they didn’t have enough room for people to come to hangout, study, and do their work before commuting home.”
Camille Matthews, a creative industries student at Ryerson said being in the building beats staying in her residence.
“I like ‘the Sky.’ It’s all windows and during the day it’s all natural light, so it’s nice to study in. The library was always dark, and no one wanted to study there because there was no light,” she said.
Some students felt Ryerson lacked a quality place to study on campus before the learning centre was open.
“It’s pretty good because now we can properly study in the library. Anyone who was in the library to hangout before can go to the Beach,” said Mohammad Hammad, a third-year computer engineering student at Ryerson.
Hammad said the building should have incorporated more floor space however.
“They could have done 10-12 floors instead of eight. We don’t need the big open-concept ceilings. It’s a waste of space, but it looks very nice,” he said.
The building, which broke ground in May 2012, replaced the iconic Sam the Record Man record store, made famous by its illuminating light sign.
Ryerson University bought the record store in 2008 and currently owns the sign. Although some Torontonians hoped Ryerson would incorporate the sign into the learning centre’s design, it is rumoured the school might find a home for it at the nearby Yonge and Dundas Square.
