The Globe and Mail

The University of Toronto's New College residence, opened just last month, is both refined and dignified. These days, the University of Toronto is a busy hatchery of interesting buildings. Some, including Sir Norman Foster's $70-million Leslie L. Dan Pharmacy Building, will likely be big and newsy. Others seem destined to remain somewhat retiring, non-newsy and merely wonderful. In the latter category: the $26-million New College residence that opened in late October. A walkabout through the nine-storey building with Amanda Hickling, president of the New College residents' council, left me wondering if refined and dignified dormitories like this one existed when I was an undergraduate, and if so, where.