Winter scenes of Campus

W. P. Thompson Building, with mosaics shown.

W. P. Thompson Building, with mosaics shown.

W. P. Thompson Building, with mosaics shown.

W. P. Thompson Building, with mosaics shown.

W. P. Thompson Building, with mosaics shown.

W. P. Thompson Building, with mosaics shown.

Elevated view of University and civic officials standing at dedication service of Memorial Gates at centre; attendees standing in foreground. Union Jack draped over the Memorial Tablet. University buildings from l to r: Biology Building, Qu'Appelle Hall, Little Stone School House, and Emmanuel College. St. Andrew's College visible directly behind gates.

Stone masons work among boulders in front of the steel skeleton of the Biology Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The W.P. Thompson Biology Building is named after Walter Palmer Thompson, the University of Saskatchewan's third president and founder of the Biology Department (1913). Designed by Izumi, Arnott and Sugiyama, it was constructed between 1957 and 1959 and officially opened in 1960. Set back from the Bowl, the flat-roofed cube style building was located between the Collegiate Gothic architecture of the Chemistry and Physics Buildings. It originally consisted of a teaching wing and a research wing but a header and greenhouse complex was added in 1962. Unlike many other Canadian universities the Department of Biology remained a single unit, balancing diverse sub-disciplines rather than separating into several distinct departments. Prior to the building's opening in 1960, work in biological sciences was scattered among four campus locations. Perhaps the most striking of the building’s features is the mural of mosaic tiles that adorns the south and west exterior walls. The mural depicts the four main stages of cellular mitosis. The artist, Roy Kiyooka, chose chromosome patterns as a testament to Dr. Thompson's important discoveries regarding the genetics of wheat rust. In 1986, the Geology Building was completed on the south side of Biology, resulting in the transformation of the south façade from an exterior into an interior wall, part of a new atrium.

Looking southwest at the Biology Building; students walk along pathways.

Looking north at the Biology Building; students sit on grass.

View looking north of the main entrance of the Biology Building; flowers and trees in foreground.

Architect's conceptual sketch of the Biology/Geology Building.

Bio/Historical Note: Designed by the architectural firm Black, McMillan and Larson of Regina, the Geology Building was given a neo-Collegiate Gothic exterior to blend harmoniously with the other buildings in the central campus. The two-and-a-half-storey building was erected just south or the bowl side of the W.P. Thompson Biology Building providing 8,543 square metres for office, laboratory, library, classroom, and storage space for rock and fossil samples. The exterior was clad with greystone and dressed with tyndal limestone. The dominant feature of the interior was a two story atrium that featured the mosaics for the former exterior walls of the Thompson Building, a life-size skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and geological and biological displays. The $18.5 million Geology Building was completed in 1986 and fused the space between Physics and Biology and linked through a walkway with Chemistry, creating an integrated science complex on campus.

Garden plot behind the Biology Building, also known as the School of Environment and Sustainability community garden, being demolished. Image looking south towards the back of the Biology Building. Tunnel connecting the Agriculture Building to the Biology Building visible.

Historical note: This garden plot was also used to be used to grow research plants for the Biology department. The garden was removed for construction on a new building.

Stone masons work among boulders in front of the steel skeleton of the Biology Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The W.P. Thompson Biology Building is named after Walter Palmer Thompson, the University of Saskatchewan's third president and founder of the Biology Department (1913). Designed by Izumi, Arnott and Sugiyama, it was constructed between 1957 and 1959 and officially opened in 1960. Set back from the Bowl, the flat-roofed cube style building was located between the Collegiate Gothic architecture of the Chemistry and Physics Buildings. It originally consisted of a teaching wing and a research wing but a header and greenhouse complex was added in 1962. Unlike many other Canadian universities the Department of Biology at Saskatchewan remained a single unit, balancing diverse sub-disciplines rather than separating into several distinct departments. Prior to the building's opening in 1960, work in biological sciences was scattered among four campus locations. Perhaps the most striking of the building’s features is the mural of mosaic tiles that adorns the south and west exterior walls. The mural depicts the four main stages of cellular mitosis. The artist, Roy Kiyooka, chose chromosome patterns as a testament to Dr. Thompson's important discoveries regarding the genetics of wheat rust. In 1986, the Geology Building was completed on the south side of Biology, resulting in the transformation of the south façade from an exterior into an interior wall, part of a new atrium.