Dalhousie University’s Marion McCain Arts & Social Sciences building – Halifax

“The building in which my own department is situated at Dalhousie University, the Marion McCain Arts & Social Sciences building, generally offers me a positive experience of quality in the built environment. This is good, because I spend a lot of time there. The first time I visited it, I was struck by how light and well-designed faculty members’ offices are. Most importantly, most have an entire wall of built-in bookshelves, which is important for professors in the arts and social sciences. The classrooms, which mostly fit 35 people, are light and spacious, with big windows and working blinds. The two big lecture theatres are fine with decent acoustics. The dominant materials are wood and glass. I like how the departments are set up: rather than stretching along a horizontal corridor, the departments are organized ‘vertically’, with their main office on the first floor, and faculty offices spread over the first, second, and third floors along the vertical axis of a spiral staircase. Apparently, back in the days before this building was built, the departments each had their own house – literally a former residential house – and the architects wanted to keep that homey, ‘house’ organization. I like it very much; it feels friendly and cozy and I like the spiral staircases (there are a lot of staircases, for the size of the building!). There are also a couple of good common areas: the main lobby, an atrium style space that is very spacious and airy but feels quite ‘public’, and the ‘Fireside Lounge’ which has a real fireplace and is often used for departmental social events. It is very light (lots of windows) but feels more private, because while there are no doors the fireplace wall creates a partial partition from the adjacent corridor. It is a carpeted area so the acoustics are good (easy to hear conversation), unlike the main lobby/atrium area which is very echoey. There are three main practical problems with the building: 1) the third floor gets very hot in the warmer months and there is no air conditioning; 2) we can no longer open the windows, apparently because replacement parts are no longer available for when the window hinges and latches break so the solution has been to permanently close the windows; and 3) there are only two single-person toilets on the first floor, meaning that it is a long hike to the nearest toilets for anyone on this floor.” (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.65).

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