Award

October 2020

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O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0 | 55 Innovation Centre – Red River College R EN D ER I N GS CO U RT E SY D I A M O N D S C H M I T T A RC H I T EC T S INNOVATION CENTRE – RED RIVER COLLEGE by ROBIN BRUNET LOCATION 319 Elgin Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba OWNER /DEVELOPER Red River College ARCHITECTS Diamond Schmitt Architects / Number TEN Architectural Group CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Akman Construction Ltd. STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT Crosier Kilgour & Partners Ltd. MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Epp Siepman Engineering ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT SMS Engineering Ltd. SUSTAINABILIT Y CONSULTANT RDH Building Science SITE DEVELOPMENT/ L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT HTFC Planning & Design TOTAL SIZE 100,000 square feet TOTAL COST $95 million M aria Mendes, director of cap- ital projects for Red River College, describes the institu- tion's new Innovation Centre not only as a crucial addition to its downtown Winnipeg campus (it will bring an additional 1,200 students and staff to the city's historic Exchange District), but also as a striking architectural expression "that speaks to the fabric of the District in a unique way." Indeed, the four-storey struc- ture designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and Number TEN Architectural Group in a joint ven- ture is on the one hand a modernistic structure both inside and out: the atrium is a showcase of swirling curves defining the staircases and each open level, topped by a skylight, while the building envelope is com- prised of photovoltaic glass on the south side that will generate energy and change colour according to the weather and the viewing angle. On the other hand, thanks to what Diamond Schmitt principal Michael Leckman describes as "a careful cali- bration of the massing and form with relation to the adjoining buildings," the 100,000-square-foot Innovation Centre integrates with the surround- ing 19th-century structures that exhibit a classic heavy base, a midsec- tion of windows, then cornice. "Our building's base is glass, followed by a well defined middle section, and a 21st-century interpretation of a cornice that swoops out and is aug- mented by spectacular artwork from Anishinaabe artist Jackie Traverse, whose 1,000-square-foot area extends into the building," says Mendes. Doug Hanna, partner at Number TEN, describes the design joint venture as one "in which both parties split an equal amount of work. We supported Diamond's design of the Innovation Centre, and they supported our repur- posing of the historic Scott Fruit building, which will link to the Centre on three levels and whose renovation includes rehabilitating rather than replacing the original 1914 windows, among many other elements." Targeting near net zero energy and LEED Gold status, the Innovation Centre's concept is to encourage collaboration and multi-disciplin- ary teamwork in the business, IT, and other programs. "This in turn inspired the open atrium with walls mostly of glass," says Leckman. The architects ensured that all cir- culation routes would be immersed in light, and they designed front porches between classrooms and the common areas to blur the boundary between structured and informal learn- ing. They also created a Roundhouse auditorium as an acoustically iso- lated space for musical events as well as to accommodate celebratory and instructional functions. In addition to the adaptive re-use of the Scott Fruit building, the archi- tects connected the Innovation Centre to Roblin Centre across Elgin Avenue via an above-ground pedestrian walk- way. "Plus, we opted to close one block of Elgin Avenue and repurpose it as a pedestrian plaza," says Hanna, refer- ring to a task undertaken by landscape architects HTFC Planning & Design.

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