The national arts centre is the jewel in Canada’s cultural crown. Designed by Fred Lebensold (1917-1985) and completed in 1969 as one of Canada’s Centennial projects, it is a key component of Ottawa’s Confederation Square National Historic Site.
In more recent years, the NAC, marked by its heavy Brutalist style, came to be viewed as “disconnected” from its urban context. To make it more “lively” in character (as per the National Capital Commission’s original charter), Diamond Schmitt Architects designed three new wings that lighten the overall effect.
The north wing provides two new floors of lobby, program, and audience amenity space. Enclosed by a custom-designed unitized steel-glass curtain wall, the pavilion opens up the NAC’s cultural programs to visitors to the nation’s capital.
A hexagonal laminated timber coffer roof and decorative ceiling with built-in MEP/AV systems was built offsite by StructureCraft Builders.
The new glass and bronze-paneled pavilion on the west adds the Fourth Stage—a community-oriented space for music—to the NAC’s extant trio of performance spaces.
On the east, a new third wing bows toward the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its Panorama Room can seat 600 guests.
The feature that really captivated the Reconstruction Awards judges was the Kipnes Lantern, a hexagonal tower that links the three new wings. The glazed structure is lined on four sides with an LED digital “scrim” that can display performances from within the NAC and livestream other performances from across the country.
It’s a remarkable use of technology that furthers the NAC’s mandate as a truly national cultural institution.
Gold Award Winner
BUILDING TEAM Diamond Schmitt Architects (submitting firm, architect) Fast + Epp (SE) Crossey Engineering (M/E engineer) Parsons (plumbing engineer) Morrison Hershfield (building envelope consultant) Verval (glass fabricator) StructureCraft Builders (roof fabricator) PCL Constructors Canada (CM) DETAILS 80,000 sf Total cost $125 million Construction time January 2015 to July 2017 Delivery method CM
Click here to go to the 2018 Reconstruction Awards landing page
Related Stories
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 11, 2016
Exclusive Chicago club re-emerges as a boutique hotel
Built in 1893 for the World’s Columbian Exposition, the CAA was an exclusive social club founded by leading figures in American sports and commerce.
Reconstruction Awards | Dec 1, 2015
Massive Chicago parking garage gets overdue waterproofing
Millennium Lakeside Garage, the largest underground parking facility in the U.S., hadn’t been waterproofed since the 1970s. The massive project took nearly 2½ years and 33,554 man-hours.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 30, 2015
Washington Monument restored after 2011 East Coast earthquake
This restoration and repair project, which was completed under budget and eight days early (despite several setbacks), involved re-pointing 2.5 miles of mortar joints, repairing 1,200 linear feet of cracks, and installing 150 sf of Dutchman repairs. Construction took place from November 2011 to May 2014.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 30, 2015
Denver's 107-year-old seminary campus modernized
The scope of the project included the seminary dorms, library, and chapel, all of which posed their own set of obstacles.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 24, 2015
Center of I.M. Pei-designed plaza part of Washington redevelopment
The L’Enfant Plaza, a three-story below-grade mall, was renovated to include a new glass atrium pavilion and a 40-foot-long, interactive LED.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 24, 2015
Manhattan's first freestanding emergency department a result of adaptive reuse
The Lenox Hill Healthplex, a restoration of the Curran O’Toole Building, has glass-block walls and a carefully preserved exterior.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 19, 2015
Nave restored at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library
Turner Construction and Helpern Architects revived the 150-foot-long nave, which was embellished with stained glass windows by G. Owen Bonawit, stone carvings by René P. Chambellan, and decorative ironwork by Samuel Yellin.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 19, 2015
Infinite Chicago redevelopment bridges past to present
The renovation of three historic downtown buildings—the Gibbons and Steger Buildings and Pickwick Stables—includes a multi-level concrete walkway connection.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 18, 2015
Sun Theater serves the youth of St. Louis
Lawrence Group and property owner TLG Beaux Arts raised $11 million to restore the 26,000-sf theater into a modern performance venue.
Reconstruction Awards | Nov 17, 2015
Smithsonian Institution’s Arts and Industries Building again an exposition and museum space
After removing decades’ worth of unfortunate additions to expose 17 historic interior spaces for the National Historic Landmark, the Building Team zoned in on the client’s key concern.
