The University of Toronto is already the biggest postsecondary institution in Canada, and it is getting bigger every year. All three campuses of U of T have shown a remarkable hunger-some would say an insatiable one-for new land, bigger buildings, more floor space, extra student housing, spare classrooms. The numbers are staggering, from the construction cranes you can count dotting the campuses, to the square footage that will be added to U of T facilities over the next few years.

According to the records of the university’s Planning and Budget Committee of the Governing Council, U of T has 40 capital building projects underway right now: from the $105 million Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (CCBR) to the $1.3 million renovation of the old Toronto District School Board at 155 College Street into space for the Faculty of Nursing, U of T is in the process of dramatically altering the landscape of downtown Toronto. It doesn’t come cheap, either: Those 40 projects have an estimated cost of over $830 million. And there are a further 38 projects on the university’s wishlist.

Here are a few glimpses into what U of T will look like in a few years, when it will incorporate dozens of new buildings from some of the world’s most famous architects. We don’t have anything quite as far-out as the Ontario College of Art and Design’s shoebox-on-stilts, but at least you have the comfort of knowing that if you don’t like one building, there’s sure to be another one coming soon.

-Graham F. Scott