By Alexandra Macaulay Abdelwahab
Next week, construction will begin on Ryerson’s new digital media centre, an innovative project space to be run entirely by students.
By Nov. 20 the leased space in the former Toronto Life Square will be an open-concept workspace for student entrepreneurs. Ryerson has scouted interior design students to create the digital media centre.
Melanie Liaw will be designing the 6,400 square feet space alongside interior design graduate Andrea Pierre.
Liaw said they wanted the project to have a more playful design like the offices of Google or Facebook.
The space will include a carpeted “chill area” filled with grey beanbag chairs, 72 workstations with white moveable desks and orange, red and blue moveable chairs, monitors, LCD screens and a whiteboard that runs along one entire wall.
According to Monica Polo, interior design program coordinator, furnishing the space cost just under $50,000. Most of the furniture was refurbished from corporations that had downsized.
A team of students from Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) have also been helping with the development of the space and will be managing the centre once it’s opened. They are in charge of things like marketing, accounting and getting sponsorship for the space.
Editor’s note: Students in Free Enterprise was incorrectly referred to as Students in Free Expression in the original version of this article.
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