Construction
Construction of Physical Sciences Building, March 7, 1968. Regional & Campus History Collection, Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (RE1 UOG A0179).
The cast-in-place structure of the building is clad in highly textured and modeled precast panels. The cast sections of the building are sandblasted and exposed as vertical and shear-wall framing elements for the decorative precast. And unlike the Hancock/Sert buildings (such as the MacKinnon Building and University Centre), the MacNaughton was constructed with hooded clerestory windows (i.e., a row of windows well above eye-level).
The ground floor is designed for a high level of flow between the exterior and interior related to the heavily used lecture halls, but also expressed in the projection of the main auditorium out into the Plaza (a gesture made slightly awkward by the fact that the neighbouring Zavitz Hall was never demolished as originally planned).
The cast-in-place structure of the building is clad in highly textured and modelled precast panels. The cast sections of the building are sandblasted and exposed as vertical and shear-wall framing elements for the decorative precast. The language is subtly different than the earlier concrete buildings on campus. For example, hooded clerestory windows replace Sert’s characteristic brise-soleil.
The remaining tension between old and new is demonstrated in the architect’s renovation drawing that shows the picturesque details of Zavitz Hall contrasting the simple outline of the projected Brutalist facade of the Physical Sciences Building.
Lett/Smith Architects. "Renovations to Zavitz," (December 1989).
Regional & Campus History Collection, Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (RE1 OAC A0228).
Aerial Photograph of Physical Sciences Building (ca 1969). Regional & Campus History Collection, Archival & Special Collections, University of Guelph Library (RE1 UOG A179).