Twelve-hundred students from the University of Calgary's School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape will be relocated downtown as part of the school's 180,000-square-foot expansion.

Last week, the university and the City of Calgary announced a new partnership to convert an underused office tower into design studios, classrooms, research spaces, a robotic fabrication workshop, an exhibition gallery, and a community-facing design justice lab.

"This relocation and expansion downtown will enrich the educational journey of our students, providing a dynamic urban context for learning within the fabric of the city. Downtown will be a living laboratory where our students can apply their learning in a practical context," said Dr. John Brown, Dean of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. "Being immersed in the heart of the city is important because it provides more opportunities for our students and researchers to work with our professional community, the city, and others on collaborative projects."

The project is supported by up to $9 million in funding from the City of Calgary's Downtown Post-Secondary Institution Incentive Program and is one of several initiatives targeting the west end of downtown including streetscape improvements and four office-to-residential conversion projects.