Toronto Star

Though all eyes in Toronto are focused these days on big architectural projects, sometimes it's the small ones that deserve our attention. The Wolfond Centre for Jewish Campus Life at the University of Toronto is an excellent example. Built with a budget of $3 million and occupying a tiny site on the northwest corner of Harbord and Huron Sts., this modest structure makes a little go a long way. Designed by Toronto architect Susan Friedrich, this exquisite three-storey building is the headquarters of Hillel of Greater Toronto and will serve the 4,500 Jewish students and faculty members at the U of T. From the street, the most striking feature of Friedrich's building is its long, sweeping roof, which curves up at one end like a Nike swoosh. Made of copper — so new it still shines — it is the roof as sculpture, vaguely reminiscent of Le Corbusier's early 1950s masterpiece, Notre Dame du Haut, at Ronchamp, France.