Arena design stays

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/12/2001 (9046 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The True North group is “moving forward confidently” with its brick and glass design for the new arena on Portage Avenue, despite growing criticism the vision is stale and backward-looking.

The group’s resolve to get on with it is backed by Mayor Glen Murray and Premier Gary Doer.

“Nothing changes,” True North president Jim Ludlow said yesterday. “We’re perfectly comfortable with where we are going and we’re moving forward confidently.”

The local business consortium announced last week it was shelving the original glass and steel concept unveiled last May because it was considered cold and uninviting. The futuristic design featured fibre-optic lighting designed to create the effect of the Northern Lights.

In its place, True North unveiled a brick and glass design, with a modern-looking turret at the corner of Portage and Donald Street, where the main entrance would be located.

A feedback forum showed Free Press readers were roughly divided on the two designs, but the city’s professional architectural community has been fiercely critical, saying the brick version is a symptom of the community’s fear of boldness and daring.

The latest blow came a week ago when Smith Carter Architects and Engineers, the Winnipeg firm responsible for the initial concept, quit the project because it believed the latest design was selling the city short.

Doer shares True North’s eagerness to begin construction.

“We’re trying to get the job done,” he said in an interview yesterday. “The bottom line is, we’ve spent 20 years arguing in this community and we still don’t have a new arena or entertainment centre.”

Doer refused to say which arena design he favoured, saying he has heard from almost equal numbers of people — both inside and outside government — who prefer each design.

“Don’t go by me — I’m colour-blind,” he joked, deferring to the expertise of True North’s Denver-based main architects, who also designed CanWest Global Park.

“I like the baseball field,” the premier said.

Divided

At city hall, as everywhere else, opinion was divided.

Mayor Murray said he liked the brick design because it successfully married modern concepts with traditional elements.

“I tend to be a bit of a traditionalist,” Murray said. “I like something that blends in a little more.”

The mayor also objected to opinions the city is afraid of going bold with the design of its new buildings.

He pointed out that many sports facilities in major cities use brick, including the Molson Centre in Montreal, where the Canadiens play home games.

Many councillors shared the mayor’s views, but others said they were very disappointed.

“We’re recreating the error we made in the 1980s when we built Portage Place mall,” Coun. Peter de Smedt said, noting it was built too close to the street and was inward instead of outward looking.

Coun. Bill Clement said council voted for the modern design, and he was annoyed it had been changed without public consultation.

True North’s Ludlow said he believed Smith Carter behaved poorly, considering it was still a paid architectural consultant when it walked away.

Nevertheless, he said True North would find another local firm to work with Sink Combs Dethlefs of Denver.

“This doesn’t cause us a hiccup,” Ludlow said.

True North’s partners liked the original design, he said, but they gradually came to feel it was out of context for the street and lacked warmth and human scale.

A series of open houses attended by 500 citizens confirmed that view, he said.

Ludlow denied the design was changed to please heritage buffs or critics opposed to the demolition of Eaton’s.

True North still plans to incorporate fibreoptic lighting into the new design, and there will be enough glass in the new building to ensure it is transparent and open to the street, he noted.

The final design is still subject to scrutiny from the city’s downtown design board, which could require more changes, although it’s unlikely the board would demand a major overhaul.

Jim Orzechowski, CEO of Smith Carter Architects and Engineers Inc., said True North first hired Smith Carter to be the lead arena architects. He said his design team was the lone creator of the original model.

Orzechowski said a few weeks after the cutting-edge building was made public, True North back-benched them and promoted the Denver firm to head the area’s design.

David Witty, University of Manitoba dean of architecture, said True North’s decision to demote Smith Carter in favour of an American firm violates the concept of downtown revitalization.

“It goes against everything True North said they were trying to do. They were supposed to be promoting Winnipeg as an urban centre,” Witty said. “Who better to use than a local firm with an international reputation?

“When we created the original images for the May announcement, we saw that as being a hell of an exciting approach to the future of this community — and particularly downtown.

“You can admit you’ve made a fatal mistake that’s going to affect this city for a long time. Correct it now. Apologize later.”

dave.o’brien@freepress.mb.ca