I think they meant it's enough space for 1800 students simultaneously, which is actually quite a large number.

This is not a picture of efficient use of space: https://www.macewan.ca/contribute/groups/public/documents/im...

The school only has 20k student population and music students are going to other buildings. So, it's not simultaneously unless you mean as an audience.

I mean sure it looks nice, but that price tag is not due to utility. 60 million still pays for a huge building even at 1/3 the cost.

$180m is still $90k/student. If the building lasts 30-40 years without major maintenance, that’s still $2-3k per student year, which is a healthy chunk of what tuition should be.

A building that has studio space for 1800 should be much cheaper, building costs should be on the order of $500/student/year to keep tuition reasonable.

This. The overwhelming majority of machinists learned the trade on clapped out old Bridgeports. Competition shooters started out on 10/22s that had a bajillion rounds put through them. There's no reason to give a student something nice if the student's ability is not yet limited by their resources. Even with crappy facilities and equipment the student's ability is almost always the bottleneck.