Laurier expansion plan will transform University Avenue gateway in Waterloo
Exterior of current music building is set to metamorphose from a wall of concrete and brick
An 18,000-squarefoot expansion to Wilfrid Laurier University’s music faculty will put its musicians at the forefront.
“It’s going to bring a glass atrium all the way out to the street at the gateway of our campus,” said Jason Coolman, the school’s vice president of advancement and external relations, who said the new space will be used for teaching, receptions and performances, working in concert with the Maureen Forrester Hall.
The exterior of the current music building, mostly located at 75 University Ave. W. between King and Albert streets, now a wall concrete and grey brick, will be transformed.
“Up until now, other than the fact it says ‘Faculty of Music’ on the building, you really wouldn’t know that it’s a music building,” said Coolman.
“It’s really the gateway to Laurier’s campus as well, and it’s meant to be inviting and visible and open, and it really doesn’t feel that way now.”
The expanded space will rely on natural light with relaxed seating, sound equipment and a grand piano for impromptu concerts and small community events.
A second storey of glassed-in practice facilities will allow people to see students playing instruments from the outside, Coolman noted.
The parking lot between the building and University Avenue will be removed to create a new entrance plaza with walkways, seating, lighting, landscape features and a digital sign.
The city is providing close to $600,000 as part of its University
Avenue gateway strategy to create a more welcoming and pedestrianfriendly space. Mayor Dave Jaworsky said it’s an ideal opportunity to liven things up.
Though University Avenue is a regional road, the city says it maintains a keen interest in the transformation of what it calls the “front door” of the university.
The project, in the making for more than 11 years, will likely cost upwards of $20 million and wrap up in 2024, Coolman said. The university has raised about $12 million so far in a $15-million capital campaign called Making Space for Music, including $4 million from the Savvas Chamberlain Family Foundation.
In recognition of the major donation, the renovated music building will be renamed the Savvas Chamberlain Music Building.
Laurier’s former dean of music, Glen Carruthers, who died in 2020, was the driving force behind the vision.
“This new and renovated space will be a 21st-century home for our exceptional music students, faculty and staff in which to learn, play and engage with our broader community,” said Laurier’s president Deborah MacLatchy at the groundbreaking ceremony earlier this spring.
Much of the initial work will involve renovations to the existing building to accommodate students during expansion.
Laurier’s music faculty offers two undergraduate programs: a bachelor of music and Ontario’s only bachelor of music therapy.
Enrolment is limited to 400 undergraduate students — a number that’s said to be small enough to give students ready access to instructors, yet large enough to have a full symphony orchestra, three choirs, a wind orchestra, opera program and baroque, wind, jazz, percussion, contemporary and other music ensembles.
Students, faculty and outside artists present upwards of 100 concerts and events each year to the public.
The university has outstanding traditional music programs but also cutting-edge graduate programs such as a master of arts in community music, Coolman said.
“This will hopefully be a showcase to invite people to learn more about what the future of music is like,” he said.