The Urban Campus: KCS Senior School 

Kingsway College School (KCS) chose a unique urban school model over a conventional campus. Its senior school occupies 38,000 square feet in the commercial podium of a 66-storey residential tower. The result is Toronto’s first independent school in a podium, and a useful model for education in a dense city.

The school is arranged as a network of classrooms, gathering places and clear circulation. Varied settings serve different learning styles, including neurodiverse learners. Daylight, city views, natural materials and biophilic elements create a calm but lively setting. Flexible, digitally enabled rooms can adapt as teaching changes. Reusing the commercial space also extends the life of the building and limits the project’s environmental impact. The heart of the school is “the market,” a convertible event, food service, meeting, gathering, and informal social space.