Which design would you choose for the Royal Alberta Museum? That is the question being posed to Albertans until the end of the day today. Providing citizens with access to view and comment on the four proposals for the new museum the Alberta Infrastructure website, where the submissions can be viewed, even suggests that the public consider the following:
1. Does the design inspire you? Does it inspire you to want to visit, explore and learn more? Do you see it as a gathering space and a place that you would return to again and again? 2. Will the design appeal to Albertans of all ages? Will it engage our young people and students; will they see it as a place they want to visit and feel welcome in? 3. How do you think the design reflects the story of Albertans: our spirit, our culture, our landscape? 4. Does the design reflect who we are now and also provide a glimpse into the future of who we will become?
The comments provided by the public will be considered during the selection process. All four proposals and their descriptions following the break.
EllisDon Construction Services Inc.
The Alberta story comes to life in a dynamic new home for the Royal Alberta Museum. Grand galleries, surprising spaces and innovative design celebrate this extensive collection of human and natural history. The Museum will be a place of community connection and celebration for all Albertans.
Extensive glass cladding reveals the activity within and enlivens a streetscape made all the more welcoming by Museum Green, a new urban park. Children’s and Aboriginal Cultures Galleries feature exciting outdoor rooftop activity areas. Sustainable features will make the Royal Alberta Museum the greenest museum in Alberta. And embedded throughout its design are topographical references to the natural elements that gave shape to the province.
Team: Diamond & Schmitt Architects of Ontario, HIP Architects of Edmonton, Haley Sharpe Design (Museum Planner) of the United Kingdom
Graham Design Builders and Jardeg Construction Services Ltd.
To ensure that the new Royal Alberta Museum is both memorable and identifiable, the GRAMC team enlisted world-renowned museum architect Richard Meier to conceive a fitting landmark within Edmonton’s emerging Cultural District.
The image of the new Royal Alberta Museum is one of quiet beauty. It does not scream for attention but is, instead, subtly elegant, well proportioned, and expressive of its functional components. Its lightness and transparency – the signature “whiteness” of a Meier-conceived building – is destined to become a timeless work of enduring beauty that will engage the ongoing discourse of civility and urban placemaking for generations to come
Team: Laing O’Rourke of the United Kingdom, IBI Group Architects Engineers of Alberta, Richard Meier & Partners of New York, Solomon & Bauer (Museum Planners) of Watertown, MA
Ledcor Design Build (Alberta) Inc.
This Royal Alberta Museum design honors the uniqueness of our Museum, our City and our Province.
The architecture respects and celebrates the stories and the artifacts of the people of Alberta. It tells a story that weaves together inside and out, the building, the city, and nature. The gardens and terraces bring nature into the building and the building extends out into the landscape. It looks upward to the sky and out to the city and the future.
The Museum is open and accessible to all. It speaks with an authentic Alberta voice and will be an engaging visitor experience.
Team: Dialog of Alberta, Lundholm Associates Architects of Ontario (Museum Planner)
PCL Construction Management Inc.
A Timeless ‘Museum in the Park’ The magic of Albertan land and sky, mountain and prairie is expressed in an elegant 3-part Pavilion at the heart of an Urban Park of green that not only wraps the building, but is drawn through its doors in a continuum of five outdoor terraces, summiting at “The Peaks”- a rooftop garden that yields spectacular panoramic views of Edmonton.
Young or seasoned, your journey through the Museum is one of unfolding mysteries and playful moments where – in design and materiality – the associations that might evoke Alberta are yours to discover and interpret.
Welcome to your new “Royal Alberta Museum” …
Team: A joint venture between Moriyama & Teshima Architects of Ontario and Architecture/Arndt Tkalcic Bengert of Alberta, Maki & Associates of Japan (Architecture), Museum Planning Partners of Ontario
