WINNER OF A 2016 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Custom stainless steel panels form a rhythmic skin around the transit garage, including around roof lanterns and mechanical penthouses.
The North East Transit Garage is big architecture on a big site. The 38,340-square-metre building will accommodate approximately 320 workers and 300 buses, and includes the Edmonton Transit System?s administrative offices.
The historic smokestack is preserved as a beacon within the site?s large expanse.
Bordered by the Trans-Canada Highway, the Edmonton LRT corridor and Fort Road, the 9.7-hectare site was once industrial; the only artifact remaining from its previous use, a 50-metre-tall Canada Packers smokestack, is preserved.
A view from the south towards the entrances to the bus storage and maintenance garage. The project performs at the scale of urban infrastructure, while providing more intimately scaled amenities for transit employees. Sheathed in corrugated stainless steel panels and mirrored glass, the building has an elemental and simply articulated presence. It invokes the industrial legacy of the site and of modern architecture, without lapsing into nostalgia for either.
Generous roof lanterns provide natural light to the main atrium.
Roof lanterns bring diffused natural daylight into the workplaces, while social areas such as the cafeteria enjoy views to a garden and the historic smokestack. The alignment of angled walls and a footpath create visual and physical connectio...