New art gallery a homage to River City
L. A. architect was inspired by meandering river and grid pattern of streets
Richard Warnica
Edmonton Journal
Sunday, September 20, 2009
CREDIT: Larry Wong, The Journal
As seen earlier this month from atop the Sutton Place Hotel, the new Art Gallery of Alberta is a curious overlay of curved shapes on a rigid grid-- inspired, architect Randall Stout says, by the river flowing through the city.
The newly renovated Art Gallery of Alberta, an occasionally controversial, oft-praised swirl of steel and glass on the northeast corner of Churchill Square, will open to the public for the first time on January 31, 2010.
The $88-million project, designed by Frank Gehry-protege Randall Stout, will be unveiled as part of a weekend-long celebration, said gallery chairman Allan Scott.
"You'll be getting two for one," Scott said. "You'll be getting the phenomenal architectural structure that the building is and at the same time, you'll be seeing what we hope will be our new level of artistic celebration."
The new building, 12 years in the making, is highlighted by a massive swoop of aluminum and stainless steel known as the "Borealis," which curls through the building inside and out in a deliberate contrast with the structure's otherwise boxy shape.
The effect is meant to mimic, or at least speak to, what Stout considers the defining contrast of Edmonton's physical geography.
In a 90-minute talk Saturday that followed the announcement of the gallery's opening date, the architect described being struck by the natural curl and flow of the North Saskatchewan River when he first visited Edmonton five years ago.
The movement, he found, was in direct opposition to the fixed lines of the city's built-up urban grid, which he described as "restricted" and "concrete."
His design for the gallery is an attempt to marry the curves of the river with the lines of the city.
"American cities tend to co-opt their rivers," he said.
That Edmontonians have left theirs free of condos, cafes or heavy industry is one of the core realities of its visual space.
Stout's design, one of four finalists, was selected in 2005. But his final product has shifted significantly from that original vision.
After getting estimates that would have put them tens of millions of dollars over budget, Stout and his team went back to the studio for another go.
They eventually decided to compact the gallery space, make it less vertical, and create a more unbroken area at a lower cost.
The updated design shifted two glass walls and reduced the exterior surface area by about 30 per cent.
It also dropped plans for a redesigned adjacent LRT shelter, something Stout said was always more of a suggestion than a plan he intended to implement himself.
Transportation, though, remained a key element throughout.
The gallery will be completely linked to the pedway system and the LRT tunnels when it's finished, allowing easy access in the long, miserable winters.
The rest of the building was also designed with winter in mind, Stout said, though he wasn't quite ready to say how.
"There will be some nice surprises in the building that are weather-related," he said, without elaborating. One surprise he did reveal Saturday is that the exterior walls shift colours in different lights.
"It doesn't scream for attention like a painted surface would, like --what's that called? The Butterdome. It's not trying to be like that," Stout said.
Instead, the surface will transition gently from a greenish hue through neutral grey to blue.
The building's zinc and stainless steel exterior should last upward of 100 years, he said.
Stout's design has not been without controversy since it was unveiled five years ago.
Some have labelled the building a cheap Frank Gehry knock-off; others have called it plain ugly.
Stout, though, said the debate has been good for the city.
And while it's hard to predict what one building can do, he's hopeful this one might serve as a catalyst for the city's architectural imagination.
"It might open the door to architecture that might otherwise have been business as usual," he said.
The Art Gallery's Allan Scott agreed.
"I hope it will be a start of what things can be," he said.
"I think I've said it before, it shows what can be done in this city and what, hopefully, can be done in the future."
© The Edmonton Journal 2009
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I really like to see they start renovate the LRT stations too. Anybody knows if there is the plan?
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