Building a more beautiful province

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This article was published 07/06/2018 (2713 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three Manitoba building projects were honoured at the Prairie Design Awards, including an affordable housing project meant for people living with mental illness and low-income families. Overall, just 10 awards were granted out of 113 submissions from across Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The awards are a collaboration between Manitoban, Albertan and Saskatchewanian architectural associations, held every two years in one of the three provinces.

Two Winnipeg firms, David Penner Architect and h5 architecture, jointly received the award of excellence in the recent work category for Fountain Springs Housing, a six-storey, 30-unit apartment building on Sherbrook Street meant mostly for people who can’t find stable housing due to mental illness.

The project was funded by Clubhouse of Winnipeg Inc., a mental health non-profit that operates in the building next door, and Manitoba Housing.

One of the architects, David Penner, emphasized the use of unusual materials as part of why the project was honoured. On its street-facing facade, it’s clad in Ipe — a somewhat fire-resistant wood, according to ASTM International Standards.

“One doesn’t usually see wood-cladding on a six-storey building,” Penner said.

On the south side, the facade is made of mirrored aluminum and floor-to-ceiling windows — which Penner suggested makes the building look less imposing than most six-storey structures.

It also has another effect, Penner suggested.

“It helps make the area safer when the eyes of the building are looking out onto the street,” Penner said.

Part of the challenge of the design was working on what was once a single-unit lot — meaning it was particularly narrow, so they had to build back and up.

As for the award itself, Penner said it was fabulous to be recognized by his peers.

Architecture firm 1×1 brought in an award of merit in the small projects category for its design of a shower building and Zamboni storage building at Camp Manitou’s outdoor hockey facility in Headingley, a camp operated by True North Youth Foundation.

The shower and change room building is meant to mimic the look of a covered bench at a community hockey rink. The Zamboni storage building was designed as a simple garage with the silhouette of a Zamboni.

Jason Kun, one of the principals and architects with 1×1 architecture inc., noted how he studied architecture at the University of Manitoba with a number of the Manitoban winners, including Hélio Rodrigues, principal of h5 architecture, Penner of David Penner Architect and staff from Stantec Architecture Ltd., who also took home an award this year.

“We’re coming into our own,” Kun said, referring to him and his fellow U of M grads. “Winnipeg and Manitoba had a great showing this year.”

He also noted that although the firm has won awards in the past, it’s always reason to celebrate.

“It’s not something that happens often,” he said.

Stantec Architecture Ltd. won an award of merit in the recent work category for renovating Alloway Hall at the Manitoba Museum.

The renovation saw the hall redesigned to allow for curators and exhibitors to have more freedom in the space.

Michael Banman, principal of the design team at Stantec Architecture Inc., described the new hall as a pure box or cube.

Previously, the hall had a barrel vault ceiling — which means it was not the same height on the sides as it was in the middle. On top of that, the hall had trusses across the ceiling, which created bays, limiting the height and size of any exhibits.

“You can put your dinosaur here and nowhere else,” Banman said, referring to the bays in the unrenovated exhibition space.

The Alloway Hall renovation also included installing a picture window on the facade facing a walkway and garden beside the hall.

The Manitoba Association of Architects is set to host the next awards in 2020.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @erik_pindera