By the time that Mount Royal received approval to start building on the Lincoln Park site, college leaders had been busy planning the architectural and educational design of the new campus for a number of years. Construction of the campus was planned in three phases, with each stage adding further classroom and residence space. The goal was for Mount Royal to be able to serve up to 10,000 students by Phase III of construction, which was tentatively planned for 1977-1979. To accommodate enrollment growth and changes to programs over a projected decade of construction, Mount Royal leaders wanted to design a college campus that was adaptable and unique. The architectural design of the campus was impacted by two main factors; the Leggett Model of instruction and the rise of the American shopping mall.

The adoption of the Leggett Model had direct implications for the architectural design of the new campus. Flexible spaces for instruction and spaces that were meant to encourage 'informal learning' were built into the campus design. The new library, called the Learning Resources Centre, is a good example of how the college's new educational goals were to be supported by architectural design. The Learning Resources Centre was designed to be the main learning hub of the campus. Two stories tall and larger than three football fields, the library was the single largest space in the new campus and acted as a central repository for all physical resources. Material circulation took place via 'resources islands,' semi-autonomous collections of books, periodicals, and audiovisual materials organized by discipline. Resource islands were staffed by subject-specific staff and provided a central location for students from that discipline to research and learn. The design also tried to encourage informal learning and discussion by locating over 200 faculty offices in the library near the resources islands. The idea was that students could easily liaise with or simply 'encounter' faculty as needed. The Leggett Model also prioritized the creation of spaces for both independent thought and social and meeting spaces, translating into unique spaces such as seminar pits, fireplaces lounges, and an abundance of student-focused spaces.

Architectural Design:

After a competitive search for an architectural firm, college administrators selected the Calgary-based firm Stevenson, Raines, Barrett, Hutton, Seton and Partners. As part of the design process, college leaders and the architects toured college campuses across Ontario and the United Sates for inspiration. The greatest inspiration for Mount Royal's new campus ended up being the shopping mall. The architects were taken with the idea of the campus being a megastructure with a central core that would act as a 'one-stop shop' for student needs and services. The main hallway, now known as Main Street, was the central artery moving students from one end of campus to the other and connecting students to primary services such as the library, bookstore, bank, food services, and bar.

In addition to the shopping mall concept, the architects incorporated many of the most popular and current design styles of the time to give the campus a modern and unique aesthetic. The geometric design of the expansive outdoor terraces, the campy colours of the carpets and terracotta hallway tiles, the liberal incorporation of wood paneling, and the use of large blocks of concrete as the primary building material are all classic examples of the brutalist, postmodern architectural style that predominated in the 1970s. The goal was for the campus to reflect the values of individualism, experimentation, and high-tech modernism that were being implemented in the college's educational design.

Construction began in November 1970 and took two years to complete. Progress of the construction was documented by a local photographer, Jim Cameron, who was hired by the college for the purpose. Cameron took several thousand photographs that illustrate the weekly development of the new campus over 82 weeks of construction.