by: Christine Hearn
name: SFU Surrey
architect: Bing Thom
location: Central City Complex
date: September 8, 2006 photographs: Greg Ehlers

There's a new kid on the block in SURREY. And the kid is raising expectations and raring to go in a low-key, predominantly low-rise neighbourhood, adjacent to a mall and a recreation centre, and across from the Surrey Central City SkyTrain station. The new kid is SFU's Surrey campus.

top: The soaring tower is a landmark in the Surrey Central City neighbourhood. middle: The open, airy campus, designed by architect Bing Thom, is filled with natural light. Sally Emerson of Raven Design led the interior design team as she did almost 20 years ago at Harbour Centre. base: Students relax and catch up on their books on the interior steps of the unique complex that marries a campus to a shopping centre to an office building.

The SURREY CAMPUS was opened by a host of dignitaries, including Premier Gordon Campbell, Surrey Mayor Diane Watts, and President Michael Stevenson, on September 8, 2006. There were speeches, ceremonies, and a gala dinner. On September 9 the campus was opened to the public for tours and more celebrations.

Now the 21,500-square-metre campus is home to about 1,600 students — a number that is likely to swell to about 5,000 by 2015. Students are studying applied sciences, arts and social sciences, business administration, education, and science, as well as a variety of continuing studies offerings in a stunning setting. There is a roster of new programs inspired by technology and the evolving global marketplace. The campus will be an educational hub noted for its outstanding support for student learning, innovative teaching styles, interdisciplinary research, and bold approach to community collaboration.

Research excels in areas including information networking and multi-media, technology-mediated learning, computer games, e-business, knowledge management, bioinformetrics, intelligent systems and optimization, visualization, digital audio signal processing, computer music, physical modelling, and musical acoustics.

Residents south of the Fraser River have long wanted a campus to serve the burgeoning region with its rich cultural diversity. SFU Surrey is expected to foster close ties to the community with the university's philosophy of openness and accessibility. Local residents and community groups have worked hard to bring the SFU campus to the site.

Architect Bing Thom, who worked with Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey on the original SFU campus, sees this campus as a statement of its times, much as the Burnaby campus was. The office tower melded to a university melded to a mall has won numerous prizes, including the special jury prize at the 2004 Marche International des Professionels de l'Immobilier, considered the "Oscar" of the property industry.

Radical Departure

Glass and timber frame the atrium. The ceiling struts are made of peeler cores - the thin cylinders of heartwood left after plywood is made — strengthened by specially made iron nodes. The timber makes elements of the space touchable, in contrast to the gloss and hardness of the glass.

Thom's aim: to integrate the three disparate entities into a unified whole whose elements influence and support each other. He envisions shoppers attending events at the university, students patronizing the businesses in the mall, everyone using the nearby recreation centre and congregating on the pedestrian piazza outside the campus, and many people from across the region coming and going by SkyTrain.

The complex is designed to make maximum use of light and space, glass, steel, and wood. Its four major elements are the tower, a podium, an atrium, and the galleria. The complex curves around the piazza that becomes a community gathering spot and focus. External and internal spaces flow together visually. The atrium is a multi-level space, designed for mingling and social interaction among all users.

Unique Programs

Excellence comes through first-year cohorts, and programs in interactive arts and technology, computing science, entrepreneurship, management and technology, and mathematics research. bottom left: Many of the labs and classrooms look out over the surrounding area, further integrating the campus with the community. bottom middle: One of seven massive cruciform columns that support the upper structure. bottom right: The library is the heart of any university campus.

The towering building, rising 23 stories and dominating its landscape, is more than a beautiful place to learn in or to visit. It is expected to be the catalyst that will revitalize the Central City neighbourhood, bring pedestrians to a previously vehicle-oriented area, and rejuvenate a fading commercial landscape.

Celebrate

right: SFU pipe band on the pedestrian piazza in front of the landmark new campus. top left: Student Ashish Gurung opening a new era for Surrey. middle left: Architect Bing Thom outlines his vision for the complex. bottom left: SFU president Michael Stevenson at the official opening, September 8, 2006.

Up to now the fast-growing City of Surrey, created out of five separate communities, each with its own local commercial area, has lacked a focal point. With almost a third of a million people, Surrey is on the brink of becoming a metropolis and has long needed a worthy centre. Now, in this new campus, it has one. The new kid on the block is home - and ready to go and grow.