WINNER OF A 2016 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF MERIT
The museum?s low-slung, serpentine form creates a gentle presence adjacent the Trent-Severn waterway with its historic lift-locks.
Taking the form of a serpentine glass pavilion with a gently sloped, two-acre rooftop garden, the Canadian Canoe Museum rises out of the ground alongside the Trent-Severn Waterway. Embedded into the drumlin-lined landscape instead of dominating it, the museum provides spectacular views of the water and the Peterborough Lift Lock National Historic Site, originally constructed in 1904.
Rooftop view
The museum?s deference to its surroundings embodies the Aboriginal tenet of building lightly on the land. The structure nestles between its green roof and the earth to provide energy-efficient and environmentally controlled display spaces for canoes, kayaks and other artifacts dating back to the 1780s. A sinuous central skylight draws light deep into the interior along the access path. Flexible, internally partitioned floor plates enhance the museum?s ability to adapt to programmatic and technological changes over time. The building is a dramatic backdrop for formal and informal outdoor events.
Although the building?s lines are organic, it has been designed to be straightforward to construct. Two concrete slabs, one at grade and one forming the roof, are the main structural elements, and the undulating elevation will be glazed with a 4:1 straight-to-faceted glass ratio; no curved glass is required. The ...