John and Patricia Patkau. Raymond Lum Photography.
Following a three-year architect selection process, Vancouver-based Patkau Architects has won a commission to design a new art gallery in Thunder Bay.
The award-winning team beat out 13 architecture firms vying for the commission to design the new gallery, to be located on the waterfront in Tugboat Bay. Federal, provincial and municipal governments have announced a shared $2.2 million for the gallery’s design.
Patkau Architects is a renowned Vancouver studio and one of Canada?s most notable architectural firms. Their buildings have earned national and international accolades, and include such significant landmarks as the Beaty Biodiversity Museum in Vancouver and the new School of Art at the University of Manitoba, currently under construction in Winnipeg. In over 30 years of practice, Patkau Architects has insisted on a practice that integrates architectural, urban, social, environmental and cultural concerns. In addition to art galleries, completed projects include libraries, schools, sports facilities, visitors? centres, community and academic buildings and private residences. In 2010, they won a prestigious international competition to design onsite cottages at Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright masterwork in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Most recently, they were chosen to design the new Audain Art Museum in Whistler.
Patkau Architects’ work focuses on the intricacies of local cultures, the specifi...