Blog - Day 1

The day started out at the Regina Public Library and Dunlop art gallery, with a lecture from Dr. Serena Keshavjee. The lecture was really an introduction on just what is “modernist architecture” and how it is partly a breakaway from the “revival” styles, such as Classical or Gothic Revival, that had been popular in the years preceding the mordernist era. Not being as well versed in styles and techniques as a number of the other fully trained architects in the crowd I found this information quite interesting, and something I’m sure to use in the future. Now as indicated in the title of the lecture, the main focus was on the University of Winnipeg’s Centennial Hall building. Although I do attend school in Winnipeg I must say that I am not familiar with this particular piece of work and have never in fact been down to the U of W campus. However Dr. Keshavjee did a good job in explaining the history of the U of W and explained very well the circumstances surrounding and leading up to the building of the Centennial Hall. It was very interesting to listen to her explain how the current building is really not at all like how it was first designed, it has been modified and renovated extensively and as Dr. Keshavjee pointed out it is partly the buildings own fault. Now what I mean by that is, she explained how when the building was first designed and built there was designed into it features that purposely made the building easy and cheap to renovate so that it would be able to suit the clients needs throughout the years to come. It was this very feature that caused the building to be found in it’s current state, very different from what it originally was. I found that art very interesting how what was mean to be a feature to increase the buildings functionality could eventually be detrimental to the buildings overall look and feel. Now I’m sure that most people who are currently familiar with the building are familiar with it only in its current state, I was actually very surprised to see how much it had changed from the original. The original building extensively used out door court yards and had a very open and transparent entrance area, a trademark of modernist buildings, however now those have all been closed due to the spatial needs of the university. One of the things that I like about this and other modernist buildings is that most of the mechanical and structural elements on the interior have been left exposed and there is an emphasis on large open spaces which I also like. So overall The lecture was very well done and informative and the Q and A period after was also very interesting.

After lunch we moved to out tour of the new RCMP Heritage Centre. This is a building that while not %100 finished has been opened to the public and is a very nice addition to the RCMP depot training grounds. The big things that jumped out at me about the building was of course the exterior design and the roof lines of the structure which according to our guide are partly influenced by the appearance of snow drifts found on the prairies during winter, that I found very interesting. The building was in part designed by Arthur Erickson a very accomplished architect and as we moved inside I was just as impressed. The building uses a lot of tyndall stone from Manitoba, which I have some to be a big fan of, as well is incorporates large windows and glass partitions. The part I really found interesting is that they also use a sizable amount of vertical cedar siding. Apparently this is to emulate the construction of the original forts that the RCMP built on the prairies, having always been a big fan of cedar I found this very interesting. One of the other things that I noticed was the large amount of use of natural light, through the use of sky lights and large windows, this I found gives the building a much more comfortable atmosphere and makes it seem more connected to the landscape around it, which was a goal of the design team. One of the really nice features was the columns along the front of the building while this area is not yet complete it promises to be a very picturesque location. Just as a note there are still a number of stages left to be done on the building over the next I assume years, which will tie the center to the space across the road near the creek, which was actually the original suggested site for the current building. Personally I can’t wait to see how things will turn out.

Our night finished off at the MacKenzie Art Gallery with a tour of the 41 to 66: Regional Responses to Sustainable Architecture in Canada. The exhibition looks at how buildings have to differ to be able to be sustainable in the different Canadian climates, such as the artic of the mountains. Marco Polo did a very nice introduction and there to many great things for me to describe and I would strongly recommend that you go and take a look for yourself. Attached and along with the 41 to 66 exhibition were a number of others including Telling Details which focuses on the architecture of Clifford Wiens a great Saskatchewan Architect. There are so many excellent buildings featured there, so of them you probably know, it was very interesting to learn some of the story behind the buildings that I have seen on the prairies. Again everyone should head down there a see for themselves, weather you are a big architecture fan or not, I think every one will enjoy it. We were also privileged to watch a interpretive dance performance done by Clifford’s daughter Robin Poitras who is also the Artistic director at New Dance Horizons. This performance was very good, I’m usually a big fan of things of this nature I think because they go over my head, but this I found very nicely done. Also in the evening we got to hear a few words from Clifford himself and that was very interesting and I am really looking forward to hear more from him, to me he seems like a very interesting and amazing man who I would like to know more about. So overall today was very good and very busy and I am really looking forward to tomorrow.

Written by Scott Dean