Collaboratively Centred on Learning

University of New Brunswick – Hans W. Klohn Commons

Project Photos

Extending the quad of the existing campus, this facility is home to the UNB Saint John Library, the Student Technology Centre, and many other important resources and services. The university sought a new library and academic learning commons with group study rooms that would support collaborative modes of learning, alongside more traditional spaces for quiet study. This building quickly became the heart of the campus – the place where people, services, and activities come together to create an integrated and student-focused academic environment.

 

The Commons area has a raised-floor system that allows for flexible, plug-and-play furniture arrangements and facilitates the room’s conversion to an assembly-style hall for speaking engagements and small performing arts events.

 

Fritted glass in a birch tree pattern simultaneously relates the building to its conservation-area wooded surroundings and helps achieve the right balance between daylight and views on one hand and effective thermal performance and controlled UV exposure for printed material on the other.