King’s reveals plans for new multi-million-dollar building

The University of King’s College has announced plans for a $95-million building on the south-end campus.

The Southeast Corner project will house the School of Journalism, Writing, and Publishing, an athletics and wellness centre, and a 100-bed student residence. To build it, the university will bulldoze its current gymnasium, which was built in 1962.

“We conceived a building that is as bold in design as it is ambitious in its purpose,” said King’s president William Lahey during a presentation on Tuesday.

Drawings of the proposed building were produced by two architecture firms, Diamond Schmitt and Abbott Brown. Diamond Schmitt has designed more than 150 academic facilities for 60 post-secondary institutions. The firms were awarded the design contract in September 2024.

Alec Brown, one-half of Abbott Brown, said adding to the university’s “very defined architectural form,” is a unique challenge.

“The whole project really resonated for us,” Brown said after the announcement. “It’s going to be transformative.”

Fred Vallance-Jones, director of the journalism school, sits on the project’s steering committee. He said there has been continuous consultation and involvement with Indigenous and African Nova Scotian communities throughout the design process.

“This will add a new element to King’s,” he said on Monday. “An essential part of it is recognition that we’re in Mi’kma’ki, and that the African Nova Scotia community is an important founding community in Nova Scotia.”

Vallance-Jones says he hopes the building will bring the students of Dalhousie and King’s together.

“It is absolutely stunning,” he said. “It’s going to be like a place for the whole community to gather.”

Lahey told The Signal that the project was developed in conversation with Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotians over a span of three years. 

“The campus community will become more inclusive and diverse because of that,” Lahey said. “(It’s) a better atmosphere and deeper learning for everyone, from everyone.”

There are currently no plans to begin construction on the Southeast Corner project, and the school is fundraising for the next phase of the project. Once construction begins, they estimate the building should take two years to complete.