While universities often stake their reputations on historical pedigree and tradition, Toronto Metropolitan University is a testament to evolution. Established as Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1948, the school expanded to a Polytechnical Institute 18 years later, before becoming Ryerson Polytechnical University in 1993, and then dropping the “Polytechnical” shortly after the turn of the millennium. But while the evolving name signalled the institution’s growth throughout the 20th century, the next change reflected a paradigm shift. In 2022, the Ryerson name — which celebrated an author of Canada’s genocidal Indian residential school system — was finally retired and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) was born.

Throughout the 76-year history, architecture has been a vital part of the school’s identity. And like the university writ large, the curriculum’s ongoing evolution reflects both institutional and socio-economic change.