Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/255439
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights by Irwin Rapoport T he Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which opens to the Winnipeg public this September, is the world's first museum to be dedicated to the concept of human rights. The 265,000-square-foot building was the dream of the late Izzy Asper, the founder of Canwest Global, and the design for the iconic building was made a reality by the team of Antoine Predock Architect PC and Smith Carter Archi- tects & Engineers. The building itself is a unique, mod- ern design, based on unusual geometric patterns and brings together a variety of elements such as a glass tower, a lime- stone "mountain" to house the muse- um's galleries and concrete "roots." The design also unites Prairie landscapes and Aboriginal spiritual concepts. "The idea is to enhance the public's understanding of human rights, pro- mote respect for others, and encourage reflection and dialogue," says Maureen Fitzhenry, the museum's spokesperson. "We will have a few artifacts that sup- port the stories and narratives that we want to tell, but it's not a collections- based museum. Rather, it's a museum about human rights itself. It's thematic and the galleries are built around themes so that people can understand human rights stories from many diverse groups that are being weaved together." The museum consists of 11 core galleries, with central themes such as the Indigenous perspectives of human rights, Canada's human rights journey, the protection of human rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and mass atrocities and genocide. The museum experience, via the main entrance, allows visitors to take a journey from the formation of rights to the ideal – a journey from darkness to light culminating in a 328-foot-tall glass tower. But with many entrances, the design allows visitors to create their own journeys. "It's iconic architecture and very much a piece of art itself – a sculpture to human rights in every respect, and we hope that people will instantly recognize it in the same manner that people recognize the Sydney Opera House," says Fitzhenry. "The architecture influences the way the exhibits are being designed, the impact on visitors and the public programming. One example of this is the large centre space – the Garden of Contemplation, a space for quiet contemplation, reflec- tion and discussion. Graham Hogan, project architect with Antoine Predock Architect PC, adds: "The museum stressed that human rights are rooted in humanity and we agreed. We reflected this in the architecture, making visible the Prairie landscapes around us, which translated into symbolic apparitions of ice, clouds and stone in a field of sweet grass. We were able to place on the Winnipeg skyline the abstract ephemeral wings of a white dove embracing a mythic stone mountain of 450-million-year-old Tyndall limestone. It's a striking image." He adds that designing a museum based on concept was a challenge, but that the site helped to inspire a uni- versal design approach that influenced "the decisions about materials, the overall programmatic hierarchy, the intentional blurring of the boundaries between exhibits and architecture, the employee and visitor experience, and a desire to create an international beacon for the human rights struggle." Hogan describes the visitor experi- ence from start to finish, pointing out that the main entrance begins from the bottom via a dark subterranean environment consisting of four stone "tree roots" that portray humans as being children of the earth, as equal and equally deserving of human rights. "The journey through the museum parallels an epic journey through life," he says. "The roots and protective stone arms are suggestive of an ancient geo- logical event. They clutch the earth and it was important for this first expe- rience to set the tone for the visitor and establish the framework for the exte- rior elements." Inside, the roots house classrooms, a restaurant, ticketing win- dow and a museum shop, with plans for a theatre and a temporary gallery. Visitors enter through two of the roots into the Great Hall, which has the floor surface emulating the bottom of the nearby Red River – the walls are red-coloured concrete and the floor looks like cracked, dried river mud. A key feature of the hall is deliberately dim lighting and the beginning of more than a kilometre of ramps. "The lighting is based on light filtered through thin sheets of alabaster and the galleries appear as stone vessels that are stacked to shelter the museum from the wind. Subtractive full stone modules and glazed head joints were selected to suggest aperture view and fulfil light potential," adds Hogan. Moving towards the main gallery spaces, more light via opaque glazing enters the museum. The ramp areas are clad in white alabaster (from Spain) that is lit from within with LED lighting, glowing as a literal path of light through the darkness. Then there's the Garden of Contemplation – a 10,720-square-foot space whose features include columns of basalt rock, pools of water and green- ery, poised beneath the massive glass "cloud" that engulfs one face of the building. It is composed of 1,300 unique panes of fritted glass, allowing natural light to stream in. "We want the Garden to be Winni- peg's winter garden," explains Hogan. "It's a focal point of the museum and accessible along any point in the jour- ney. Basalt stones cover the top surface of the basalt monolith, and water and medicinal plants help to define space and content. We honoured the First Nations sacred relationship to water. The idea is for this space to be one of healing and solace amidst reflections of earth and sky; and one as a water garden function as a purifying envi- ronmental lung, it was important to reinforce fundamental environmental ethics and concerns." The visit culminates with the ascending of the glass tower – The Tower of Hope, which consists of over 300 panes of glass on a steel frame and can be accessed by a spiral stairway or elevator. The viewing platform provides visitors spectacular vistas of the city. Smith Carter Architects & Engineers was the architect of record for the proj- ect and assembled a team of consultants Photo: AAron Cohen/CMhr february 2014 /41 The Canadian Museum for Human rights p40-43HumanRights.indd 41 14-01-22 11:31 AM