This was the winning entry in a design competition held in 1963. Only two years later, the University opened to the first 2,000 students.

The firm's role included preparation of the overall master plan for a maximum student population of 18,000; co-ordination of all design work done by other architects and the design, construction documents and construction supervision of the central mall and transportation. Also included in the master plan were: classroom block (including offices), lecture theatres, 500-seat media centre and laboratories, married student and women's residences, water tower and auxiliary structures. The University has retained the firm to provide ongoing consulting services relating to the physical development of the campus.

The design concept encourages cross-fertilization of knowledge through proximity and sharing of spaces. Traditional academic facilities were broken down into a few basic types and then reassembled, not into individual enclaves; but into large clusters, allowing for a more efficient use of facilities.

The academic and social nature of the University was expressed in the creation of two large spaces linked by a linear walkway structure, which also gives access to the other components of the University.

This one-building concept provides for incremental expansion which takes place always at the periphery. Extra facilities can be built as needed on a steadily expanding perimeter.

The University located on the top of a small mountain presented a special siting challenge. By spreading the building out and cutting it into the hillsides in terraces, so that the University would hug the summit; building and mountain appear to be part of each other. By extending out in the form of terraces, the edges of the complex dissolve into the land form.

MASTER PLAN CONCEPT

Unlike any previous university, Simon Fraser University is a direct translation into architecture of the expanding fields of knowledge that defy traditional boundaries, of the vital role of the university as both challenger and conservator of human culture and of the university community as one in constant intellectual, spiritual, and social interchange.

The plan and architecture of Simon Fraser University derive more from a basic approach to education, to human relationships at a university and to the university's role in the culture at large, than from a particular aesthetic approach. The issue is to redefine the university in contemporary terms, to make it meaningful to the community and natural to the place where it sits. The idea of universality and interrelationship was fundamental to the concept of the university. It was less important to show that chemistry and mathematics or theatre or history were taught there, than the knowledge in its infinite complexity was represented there for the advantage of the community.

The architectural form given to this 'new plan' was an interpretation of the ideas inherent in the concept as well as the consideration of the most appropriate form for the site. It seemed presumptuous to put towers on a mountaintop. To build horizontally close to the contours seemed not only more fitting, but more practical because it allows for easy inexpensive expansion. Parking lots and playing fields had to be cut into the site as terraces and the buildings were allowed to follow the contours on terraces as well, so that the 'terrace' became the predominant formal idea of the university. This allowed the buildings to become part of the mountaintop and extend quite naturally and easily down the slope.

Thus, the usually scattered university campus was compressed into a single campus building. The academic area, with labs and classrooms gathered around the academic quadrangle, a cultural area at the covered mall between the library and the theatre, an entrance area at the transportation centre, with the coffee shop and student services offices, all joined to the mall. The linking of the mall to all parts of the campus provides not only the necessary services link, but uninterrupted covered walks as well.

In 1990 a master plan update was carried out. By and large, the original use and zoning concept of the university retains its validity. However some changes have been introduced to reflect the evolving University requirements. The ultimate building capacity was determined to be 3.2 million net square feet of academic space and 620,000 square feet of residential space for a full time student population of 32,000. Inherent in the linear master plan concept is its ability to expand both longitudinally and laterally without any loss in the clarity of the basic organization. The ongoing University development has maintained the compact clustering of buildings, continuous pedestrian circulation sheltered from the rain and very restricted planting with the building complex itself.

WEST MALL COMPLEX

This major addition to Simon Fraser University was developed along the main circulation spine of the campus plan. This 193,000 square foot building is a key component in the master plan and is fully integrated with the existing east-west student circulatory routes to adjacent facilities - the gymnasium to the north, the library to the east, and student housing to the west.

The new complex was developed in two equal building phases. Phase I accommodates the Faculty of Business Administration, the Continuing Studies Program, Lecture Theatres (120-250 seats), Policy Rooms, Seminar Rooms (25 seats), Classrooms (50 seats), Computer Facilities and Instructional Laboratories. Phase II, located immediately west of Phase I, is similar in program and plan to Phase I. It will accommodate the Department of Economics, School of Criminology, Department of Philosophy, Audio Visual Classrooms (25-50 seats), Classrooms and Instructional Laboratories.

The complex is zoned in three major zones. The mall zone on two levels accommodates spaces, which will be generally shared by all departments and be available to the University Community as a whole. These are the instructional classrooms and lab spaces, theatres, student amenity spaces, and food services.

The mall zone is separated by an atrium from the departmental zone. The departmental zone consists of two separate building blocks and accommodates the various departments in two phases as indicated above The building form responds to a need for an extensive exterior perimeter configuration to accommodate the large numbers of faculty offices and a requirement for clear and controlled circulation. The overall mass of the building is stepped in form with integrated courtyards to maximize view potential and natural light for all the classrooms and faculty offices.