Laurentian architecture school to hold Nuit Blanche event for official opening

Officials and students with Laurentian University's McEwen School of Architecture are ready to celebrate the grand opening of the school's second phase with an arts exhibit set to emulate popular festivals in places like Toronto and Ottawa.

Thursday's Nuit Blanche all-night event is expected to have art installations for the public to view on every floor of the architecture building.

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"I know a lot of people want to see the inside, they're dying to see what's been created," said Ra'anaa Brown, a third year student and one of the curators.

"So we're encouraging people to browse the school by putting installations on every level and every corner so that people kind of have to tour the school see all the hard work."

The school, located in downtown Sudbury, first opened its doors in 2013, and the second phase — which is housed in two newly-constructed wings — saw its first students in the fall of 2016.

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In addition to showing off the new building, which saw its opening date pushed back a couple of times, Vennice de Guzman, a second year student and another one of the Thursday event's curators, said the goal is to highlight Sudbury's arts scene.

"The whole point of Nuit Blanche is just collaborating and showing everyone what we have here," he said.

"I know that there's some people from Germany that come to Nuit Blanche Toronto to make an installation, so maybe after this Nuit Blanche, we can invite more people."

The exhibition gets underway at 7:00 p.m. Thursday.