MUSEUM OF HUMAN RIGHTS
At the Forks, Izzy Asper’s improbable project takes shape
ROY MACGREGOR
WINNIPEG— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Sep. 26, 2011 10:22PM EDT
Last updated Tuesday, Sep. 27, 2011 5:21AM EDT
There are moments when you stand in the middle and look up at the crisscrossing, seemingly haphazard steel beams and feel like you’re inside a giant beaver lodge – which is rather appropriate, given that those building the Canadian Museum of Human Rights are hopeful that it, too, will one day stand as a national icon.
But there are times, too, when it feels like some giant child has run amok with a Meccano set, times when it looks like you are trapped inside a huge hydro dam, times, even, when some feel vertigo from the lack of square angles and level ceilings.
Architect Antoine Predock’s curious masterpiece will not be finished for at least another year, but already the striking construction site has emerged as a symbol for the new Winnipeg. At the start of the second decade of the 21st century, Winnipeg is a city reveling in the return of its National Hockey League team, the Jets, the beginning of a new university football stadium, the opening of a brand-new airport and – perhaps most indicative of all that this urban centre has arrived: a monstrous new IKEA store.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle2181195/