Honour Court to welcome visitors and recognize donors to York

By Susan Scott

York University will have a permanent site for welcoming visitors to the York campus and recognizing donors to the University with the completion, next spring, of an Honour Court and Information Centre.

The structure will replace the current black booth located just inside the Keele Street entrance to the campus. University officials held a ground-breaking ceremony at the site on Oct. 15 to officially launch the start of construction, scheduled to begin today and to be completed next May.

The Honour Court will be a free-standing pavilion and serve two main purposes: as a central welcoming and information centre for visitors to the University, and as a focal point to publicly recognize donors to York over its 40-year history.

Seymour Schulich, a member of the University's Board of Governors, contributed to the Honour Court project which is financed entirely by private donations. In fact, the project was initially Schulich's idea after he saw a similar concept at another university. Schulich is well known at York for his past support to the University, particularly to the Schulich School of Business.

"The Honour Court commemorates York's benefactors during its 40 year history and ensures a place of honour for donors during our next 40 years and beyond," said Gary J. Smith, vice-president (University Advancement). "We are grateful to Mr. Schulich for his vision and support of this innovative project."

Toronto architect, Stephen Teeple, whose design was chosen during a University competition, explained his challenge was to create "something inventive and new" that is "complimentary" to the rest of the York buildings. The stone which will be used for the Honour Court, for example, will be similar to that of York's Vari Hall. His motivation was to "soften" the look of the main welcoming centre using a variety of materials. A type of Manitoba limestone and concrete will be contrasted with cedar and mahogany detailing. Landscape materials were selected to highlight the changing seasons including tall grasses, clipped Muho pines and dogwood trees. His design for the York project will be featured in an upcoming book called The History of Canadian Architecture, due out next year.

Donations to the University will be marked with individual stones placed on a donor wall in the court that Teeple explained exemplify, "the spirit of creation which is commemorated through transformation of the court. Each gift transforms the court, and transforms the University. The court symbolizes continuous growth."

The Honour Court will be open to the public, provide assistance to visitors and feature information about York University.

Construction bulletin

A message from Facilities Management, York University

 

Construction begins this week on the Honour Court and Welcome Centre at theYork campus to replace the existing black booth located inside the main Keele Street entrance. The new building will both welcome visitors to and offer information about York, and provide a permanent location for publicly recognizing donors to the University. Work is scheduled to be completed in May 2000.

During this time, access to parking lots 1A and 1B will remain open. The University does not plan to close any roads on campus; however people may experience some delays in the immediate construction area when equipment is operating. The contractor will give consideration to minimizing this impact during rush hours.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to the public, visitors and members of the University community. We will try to minimize obstructions to normal traffic flow in the construction area. At the same time, it is a construction site and we ask people to use reasonable care and caution in the area.