Seneca College

LOCATION: ONTARIO CAMPUSES (NEWNHAM, YORK, MARKHAM, YORK)

Seneca College is dedicated to meeting the ever-changing needs of students; the College offers top quality educational experiences. Seneca provides the most up-to-date equipment, technology and teaching skills across eight campuses located throughout the Greater Toronto area, each with academic specialties and unique appeal. As the needs of students change, the campuses must be updated and reconfigured.

During the summer of 2011, Seneca built the KIP Building on their Newnham campus. POI won the supply for niche-type products including collaborative workspaces, lounge products, Node seating, Media:Scape, Bix lounge seating, and tables by Coalesse. POI then furnished an additional section of the Newnham campus, which incorporated two floors of space.

In an effort to address the changing needs of students and promote academic excellence, Seneca is currently working to set a standard for all campuses. To initiate the standards, York, Markham and King campuses were the first to be updated—starting April 2012 with public lounges and cafeteria areas for students.

Starting with the standardization that was set for the KIP building, POI carried the same concepts over. Beginning with the York, Markham and King campuses, POI proposed furniture selections, space planned lounges and cafeterias, supplied and installed tables, surfaces, and seating. POI used Steelcase’s Bix collection to provide refined systems of seating and tables to create lounge-based worksettings, hosting teams and technology in comfort. Steelcase lines including Move chairs, Turnstone Big Table and UniversalWorksurfaces were also incorporated.

 

As Seneca continues to implement projects and update their facilities, they intend to maintain a cross-campus standard of excellence. The College, an ongoing client of POI since 2004, expects to take on further projects with POI including the refurnishing of classrooms.

Laurentian University

VALE LIVING WITH LAKES CENTRE
LOCATION: SUDBURY, ONTARIO

The Vale Living with Lakes Centre was built at the heart of an industrial watershed and the center of Canada’s massive Boreal Ecozone. From the start, the research facility was to be the new home for an internationally renowned group of scientists—The Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit (Co-op Unit).

POI was awarded a qualification bid, put out by Laurentian, for LEED certified products. During the project, everything in the building contributed to the number of points necessary in obtaining LEED platinum standards. POI utilized Steelcase as an industry leader for products that contributed to LEED certification and met Laurentian’s product qualifications.

POI offered sustainable development, promoting the modification of interior design and practices to boost green construction in the region as a leader in the growing eco-industry. POI supplied workstations from Steelcase’s Kick panel systems in addition to Steelcase Jersey task/work chairs, Spec tables, and Steelcase’s Turnstone Currency line.

As a result of the project, the Living with Lakes Centre has one of the most innovative workspaces the POI project team has ever seen. Most impressively, every product in the building has a reason to be in existence (i.e. types of glass used, geothermal systems and the use of solar energy).

George Brown College

LOCATION: WATERFRONT CAMPUS, TORONTO
NUMBER OF FLOORS: 8

George Brown built a new campus during the spring/summer of 2012, located on the waterfront of downtown Toronto. POI provided all workstations, storage, systems furniture and filing.