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Four months since we last checked in at the Winspear Completion Project, and progress has moved ahead significantly. Excavation is now underway, with work crews busy at the task of digging out the site ahead of the project's construction.
Set to become the new home for the Francis Winspear Centre for Music, the current, provincially-funded, expansion project will add 40,000 sq. ft. of cultural space, including a new 600-seat acoustic hall, a recording studio, a music library, a daycare, and street-level retail. Located just east of the core in Boyle Street, the Winspear Completion Project will take up a large lot at the corner of 97 St NW and 102 Ave NW.
Designed by Andrew Bromberg at Aedas, the current iteration (following previous conceptual designs by Revery Architecture) features a relatively simple glass structure (below) with a swooping roofline, and multiple lower volumes. The multiple (tiered) exterior volumes will provide ample room for theatre-goers to congregate at intermission, and after special events, while the glass facade will allow light to glow into the night sky.
Beyond its main duties as a performance space, the Winspear Completion Project will include a new district energy plant at the north end of the site - to be built and operated by Enmax - which will provide the complex with an efficient source of heat. With construction soon to begin, it will not be long now before the expansion starts to take shape.
SkyriseEdmonton will be sure to return to this project as progress continues. For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
