GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE BAKE LABS RENOVATION

The renovation of the Baking Labs at George Brown Chef School’s King Street campus has dramatically transformed the tired old basement facility into a showcase for innovation in culinary education. This project has allowed the college to update and expand its baking programs with state of the art teaching facilities and has further allowed it to attract and retain some of the best faculty and students in North America. This project brings the bake labs in line with the leading edge standards established in the rest of the School of Culinary Arts which has recently undergone a 20 million dollar award-winning transformation designed by KMA.

Since the creation of the original labs more than 20 years ago significant changes in academic programs and teaching methods along with the advancement of kitchen and baking technology necessitated a complete rework of the space. This had to be accommodated within the existing structure and had to preserve and connect to existing mechanical systems outside of the baking labs precinct. The primary design motivation for this project was to establish a bright inspiring space that was highly organized, functional, and that accommodated the needs of faculty and students while reflecting the particularities of the art of baking.

Extremely tight timelines required that the multidisciplinary design team, lead by KMA, quickly organize and deliver a highly complex, fully functional laboratory oriented facility in only 4 months from project inception.