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DECEMBER 2017 | 61 The Polygon Gallery PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMA PETER PHOTOGRAPHY/COURTESY THE POLYGON GALLERY The Polygon Gallery by ZUZANNA WODZYNSKA O n November 18, 2017 a well- established cultural institution in North Vancouver, B.C. officially said goodbye to its outdated roots, and opened the doors to its new beautiful and modern location. The Presentation House Gallery had been geographically marginalized in a building without climate control for several decades, forcing it to close down every summer. Despite that, the gallery still managed to establish a local and international reputation. Now, the newly built and renamed The Polygon Gallery is located at the foot of up and coming Lonsdale Avenue, right next to the SeaBus station that connects commuters to downtown Vancouver. "The building's footprint was defined by the east wall needing to align with Lonsdale Avenue, while the west and south sides had to allow the 6.5-kilometre Spirit Trail to make a turn around the building," notes John Patkau, principal at Patkau Architects. "The character of the structure, however, is defined by a solid volume on the second floor floating above a transparent ground floor, leaving the pedestrian experience of the harbour beyond uninterrupted." The glass used was specifically chosen for maximum transparency. "We felt it was important from an architectural point of view to acknowledge the industrial history of the site, so the cladding is made of the kind of industrial grating you often see in harbours and on docks," adds Patkau. "The perforated metal planks have a stainless steel backing that reflects the sky. On overcast days it's grey and sombre, while on a sunny day it's bright and blue." The cladding was both fabricated and installed by a local North Vancouver company, Keith Panel Systems, and demonstrates a local identity that doesn't follow the province's signature material of wood. "This was an industrial location, not a natural one, and the cladding is a reflection of that context," notes Patkau. Another nod to the site's history is the sawtooth roof with north facing clerestory lighting. "Not only does it give the building a distinctive profile but it also provides natural lighting without damaging the art," says Patkau. Continuous flexibility in lighting the galleries was an important factor in the design. "The gallery layout changes throughout the year, so allowing light to readily move with the art pieces was pivotal," explains Padraic Greed from Integral Group. "A particular challenge was integrating the lighting into the architectural elements without seeing the source, which was achieved by seamlessly integrating the luminaires with the ceiling architecture." The glazed ground floor has been given over to a commercial tenant on the north side, a bar is planned to overlook the harbour to the south, the west side houses a modest service area, while the east is home to the gallery's lobby. "For the first time, we're truly accessible to the public and not only because we have a prime location, though the walk-by traffic will be a new experience for us," comments Reid Shier, director of The Polygon Gallery. "Our old site had three flights of stairs so if you were bound to a wheelchair, you were unable to visit. The new structure is accessible to everyone and we put a lot of thought into making sure it was attuned to the visitor experience and would reward people wanting to stay in the galleries." On the upper level, there is a large devoted exhibition space as well as a second gallery that can be used for exhibitions, but is intended to have a public dimension. The retracting glass wall overlooking the harbour and the city of Vancouver makes a spectacular backdrop for any reception, dinner or lecture. Structurally, the large floor beams that cantilever over the plaza below and support the roof over the northeast corner are key. "The challenges of a cantilevered floor structure in an art gallery is keeping the floor vibrations to a minimum, so we performed a detailed analysis of footfall induced vibrations on the floor system to check that the accelerations of the floor were within acceptable limits," explains Derek Ratzlaff, principal-in-charge at Fast + Epp. "The building is built over a variable foundation where the south section is supported by the base structure for the shoreline walkway and retaining structure, while the north section is supported on steel piles driven to solid bearing." This allows the lateral loads to be shared between the two foundations. It was the attention to detail that truly stands out for all of the team who worked on the gallery. "There are six- millimetre reveals in the stainless steel LOCATION 101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER The Polygon Gallery PROJECT MANAGER Turnbull Construction Project Managers Ltd. ARCHITECT Patkau Architects GENERAL CONTRACTOR Haebler Construction STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Fast + Epp MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Integral Group TOTAL SIZE 25,000 square feet TOTAL COST $18 million 2:29 PM

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