Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/988637
68 | J UNE 2018 Canada's Diversity Gardens – Assiniboine Park Conservancy The structure of the space has provided a true challenge to the electrical consultants at SMS Engineering — in addition to high humidity and temperature levels limiting the selection of electrical devices, there will be no space on the ceiling to mount lights. SMS plans to add reflectors to the cable net close to the diagrid (lights will bounce off and simulate moonlight) and create custom bollards to encase the life- safety devices. Of course, the exterior landscape design is a critical component of this project as well. HTFC Planning & Design is the landscape architects here, in the process of crafting unique garden zones around the building. The Indigenous Peoples' Garden will be a naturalized landscape intended to honour this group's connection to both storytelling and the land; this section will connect to the Kitchen Garden, which landscape architect Monica Giesbrecht describes as "the heart of the site," complete with outdoor ovens, a hammock grove and massive themed vegetable plots. "Working with indigenous archi- tects David and Cheyenne Thomas and a large group of stakehold- ers, the Indigenous Peoples' Garden reintroduces naturalized prairie and wetland landscapes to Assiniboine Park, while acting as the catalyst for modern Indigenous storytelling and sharing with the broader community through provocative land art installa- tions," says Giesbrecht. The Sensory Garden nearby is meant to heighten the perception of the environment, stimulating taste, touch and smell via kinetic sculpture, texture walls, and plants with particularly strong scents or textures. The Seasonal Garden, meanwhile, will use landscape as a living painting that's ever- changing, and The Grove will feature hundreds of trees developed on the prairies – native and adaptive species cultivated to be as hardy as possible in Manitoba. "We want it to be as well loved in the winter as every other season," says Giesbrecht. Though it will take five to 10 years for the landscape to grow into its full potential, Giesbrecht is excited about what this site will eventually become. And if there's one thing The Leaf at Canada's Diversity Gardens has, it's incredible potential. "We've never built a building like this in Canada," says Corbett. "It's one of those iconic proj- ects that does not come around too many times in an architect's career." A 1055 Erin Street • Winnipeg, Manitoba • 204-775-7141 • www.bird.ca Concept rendering Concept rendering SMS.indd 1 2018-05-09 9:44 AM