Student-designs show bold ideas for 277 Victoria St. and TMU campus expansion

What does justice look like? Can a building reflect fairness and equality?

Those are the questions that 24 law and architecture students tackled this fall. They worked together in a first-of-its-kind course to design the Lincoln Alexander School of Law’s new home at 277 Victoria St.

The goal was to design a building that serves students and the public while showing what the law school stands for – justice, inclusion, community access and a commitment to integrating practice into the legal curriculum. 

A unique opportunity

“277 Victoria Street represents an incredible opportunity,” said visiting law professor David Sandomierski. He co-taught the course with architecture professor Lisa Landrum and instructor Marcin Kedzior.

“It’s unique for a law school to be located on such a public square,” said Sandomierski. “Given that the Lincoln Alexander School of Law has such a distinctive mission, there’s an opportunity with this building to create a global model for a new type of law school.”

Students began by visiting other law schools and legal spaces. They then designed moot courts, lecture halls, libraries and common spaces based on their vision for future law students and the wider community.

“This is not just a hypothetical school project. This is a rare opportunity for students to work directly with their client and create work that may inspire the real renovation of this building at the edge of Sankofa Square,” said professor Landrum, chair of TMU’s Department of Architectural Science.

Students presented their designs at an exhibit on Nov. 28, 2025. Check out three of the eight designs below.

Mosaic

Evelyn Foster, Aminah Haghighi and Preetul Pasha

Law student Aminah Haghighi is a non-traditional student and a mother. She knows how hard it can be to balance school and family life.

She worked with architecture students Evelyn Foster and Preetul Pasha to design a welcoming and playful environment for the law school.

“One of the main things I really wanted was family-integrated classrooms. How do we ensure more women are entering law school, entering the legal profession and are supported as primary caregivers of children?” said Haghighi.

Their design starts with a colourful exterior that invites students, their families and the public inside. Classrooms include intentional space for children so parents can learn with their children nearby.

“We wanted to normalize the practice of including your family and your kids in this learning process, which also exposes law to a new generation of lawyers,” said Haghighi.

As a school made up of mostly first-generation law students, Lincoln Alexander Law students have built a close-knit community. Even as the school grows, the team wanted to keep that sense of belonging in their design.

They designed gathering spaces, dedicated areas for student groups and a large winding staircase. The staircase lets students walk their path together instead of alone.

The team wanted to make law less intimidating and more accessible. They included a recording booth on the main floor – inspired by Speakers Corner – where people can share opinions on justice, legal education and more.

“As a law student in my final semester, it felt incredible to contribute to ideas of what the new law school building could be,” said Haghighi, who calls this project a love letter to the law school.

“It felt amazing to be able to collaborate on this with the architecture students and also to reflect on my experience over the past two and a half years and how that translates into the future of the law school,” she said.

Lights on Justice

Rishita Shukla, Brianna Vaga and Sarah Vonk

While Sankofa Square is a common space for social protests in the city, it’s also surrounded by large commercial billboards. 

Architecture students Brianna Vaga and Sarah Vonk, along with law student Rishita Shukla, wanted to counter consumerism and create a lasting presence of justice.

Their design features powerful images on the building’s exterior: Lincoln Alexander (Canadian lawyer and the law school's namesake), Lady Justice (a symbol of equal justice) and the civil rights movement. These images overlook Sankofa Square.

“We believe the Lincoln Alexander School of Law should not be a closed institution but rather aspace meant to educate students and the public on Canada's law systems and on citizens' individual rights, provide access to legal aid to vulnerable communities and create a dialogue between future law professionals and the people at Yonge and Dundas,” said Vaga.

Inside, their design features a bright, ground-floor atrium that welcomes the campus and the community. The building is organized into five masses: the lecture hall, moot court, learning and research hub, library and legal clinic. These spaces support experiential learning, studying and connection.

The team also designed a walkway that separates the main building from the legal clinic. This makes getting legal aid more approachable and discreet.

“Justice is often spoken about abstractly, so a major part of the process was exploring ways to materialize that. We had to think carefully about how programming, the arrangement of the masses and facade treatment express the law school's commitment to access to justice,” said Vaga.

“It was valuable for me as a designer to learn the needs of the users of the law school, the required learning spaces, the role of different legal education models and how space shapes legal learning from the law students,” she said.

Unveiled

Caitlyn Alegbe, Afra Anan and Lorenzo Spessotto

Law student Caitlyn Alegbe and architecture students Afra Anan and Lorenzo Spessotto designed “Unveiled” with access to justice as their focus. 

“We wanted the design to reflect key values of the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, such as equity, accessibility, community and a commitment to justice,” said Alegbe. “This was important to me because the building should reinforce the school’s mission, not contradict it.”

Their design includes space for Indigenous legal traditions, like an Indigenous moot court, and gathering space for equity-deserving groups. They added spaces to socialize, study and rest – especially important for commuter students – and a health and wellness space for law students.

Public areas include the legal clinic, a computer lab, and food and clothing banks that reflect the law school’s commitment to TMU’s greater community.

“Every design choice was guided by the belief that space communicates values and that architecture can either reinforce or undermine justice,” said Alegbe.

The building’s exterior features decorative panels that look like flowing fabric. Inside, the design uses flexible spaces that leave room for the law school to grow.

As Alegbe prepares to graduate, she says the course allowed her leave to her mark on the Lincoln Alexander School of Law.

“Opportunities like this one are rare in legal education, and I feel fortunate to have been able to take part in a project where student perspectives are prioritized and where we can help shape the future of the institution,” she said. “Knowing that some of our ideas may shape how future students learn, connect and build community gives the whole experience a sense of pride and purpose.”

Exhibit Day

Check out photos of all the student-designs (external link)  at the exhibit, including:

• The Living River by Parinaz Nabavi, Dana Kim and Paola Gabriele
• Trinity Gravitas by Mousa Dahi, Wilson Leung and Kingsley Eze 
• The Peripatetic Law School by Fatema Masuma Alidina, Dejana Nesovic and Lawrence Elkhinovich
• Fractured Order by Melissa Jafer, Sarah Ghattas and Kien Azinwi
• Aandakonan Inaakonigewin: Lincoln Alexander School of Law through the Medicine Wheel by Esha Moddi and Alena Vldyadhar

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