Students at the Ted Rogers School of Management have to wait a few more months before the revamping of their eighth-floor quiet study zone will be complete.
The current design plans exceed the project’s $30,000 budget, and students from the business and interior design schools are now making adjustments to reduce costs.
The Ryersonian first reported in October last year that the two schools were collaborating to redesign the space at 55 Dundas St. W. The Ryerson Commerce Society, the business school’s main student-elected representative group, posted an article on its website in April claiming the project would be finished by the start of the fall semester.
“We’re at the wrapping-up stages, (but) we realized that after we got estimates, (it) came in too high,” said Alessandra Isola, one of the two fourth-year interior design students involved.
New furniture was ordered, but construction has yet to begin, according to staff from the facilities and building operations office.
Isola doesn’t have an estimated completion date, but she said she hopes it will be finished by the end of the fall semester.
Thy Nguyen, a fourth-year interior design student and the other student working with Isola, said the delay is also partly due to her and Isola’s inheriting the project at the last minute in July, after the students who were previously in charge graduated.
Nguyen also said it was difficult for them to contact companies for quotes during the summer.
A lack of study space is a recurring problem for management students. In the past, as a quick fix during finals, the RCS set up “pop-up study spots” in lecture rooms.
Other departments recognize a dearth of study space as an issue, and are taking steps to create on-campus study spaces for their students.
The Faculty of Communication and Design revamped a workspace and added two new lounges in the past year. The Student Learning Centre on the corner of Yonge and Gould streets is also expected to increase study space availability.
Calvin was a copy editor at The Ryersonian in 2015. He was also an editorial intern at Canadian Geographic magazine.