Posted on Oct. 30: The new math: a centre that embraces logic, angles, creativity

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Peter_James_opt2.jpg” caption=”James Stewart and Peter George”]A new era in the teaching and learning of mathematical sciences has begun at McMaster University with the opening of the James Stewart Centre for Mathematics.

The interior of ivy-clad historic Hamilton Hall (circa 1929) has been restored to house the new James Stewart Centre for Mathematics. The $11-million restoration was overseen by a working group of McMaster mathematicians that included professor emeritus James Stewart, a champion of mathematics at the University for 26 years.

Stewart donated $1 million to the project with additional gifts coming from mathematics graduate and Board of Governors member Richard Buckingham, Deloitte & Touche, the McLean Foundation, SuperBuild and the Ontario Innovation Trust fund.

At a gathering celebrating the official opening of the building Thursday, Stewart said that his support was given as a way to say thank you to the people in the math department that had always supported him.

“I am very happy that this centre associated with my name is such a beautiful building,” said Stewart. “The original idea was for a brand new building, but that proved impossible. I have to say I am absolutely delighted with this exceptional building.”

McMaster President Peter George hailed the generous support for the new centre as an investment in innovative teaching, learning and scholarship.

“These gifts have helped create a unique centre for mathematics that integrates the best of the old traditions and the new approaches to teaching, learning and research that we embrace at McMaster,” said President George. “This centre fosters the development of team building, collaboration and creative problem solving skills that our students need and puts us at the forefront of the changing culture of mathematical sciences in Canada.”

The project involved 49,000 sq. ft. of interior renovations, including classrooms, faculty offices, math laboratories and graduate study areas. The new centre features blackboards woven through public and office spaces covered in students' and professors' mathematical notations. Public corridors are oversized and furnished with tables, benches and blackboards to encourage group study, collaborative thinking and discourse. On the ground floor, the Math Cafi, featuring a long bar and series of hinged chalkboard panels, is easily transformed into teaching and lecture space or to accommodate a crowd for special events.

Professor Matt Valeriote, chair of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, said students are using the space in keeping with its design.

“This design recognizes the interactive nature of doing math at all levels,” he said. “It's designed to foster interaction and encourage students, faculty and visitors to talk mathematics. We're doing lots of team-based math and this is the first mathematics building at a Canadian university that promotes this type of interaction.”

Architect Bruce Kuwabara, of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, said the design challenge was to create a new architecture within an existing historic framework.

“When we first saw Hamilton Hall, it was essentially a modern concrete building dressed in Collegiate Gothic clothing,” he said. “Our renovation aggressively stripped away layers of building fabric to reveal the deep structure of the building and the truth of its construction. In doing so, it was transformed from a building designed to appear traditionally collegiate, to a building that truly embodies the spirit of collegiality.”

Photo caption: Professor emeritus James Stewart, left, draws an equation on a blackboard in the lobby of the Centre for Mathematics, with McMaster President Peter George. Photo credit: Chantall Van Raay