Upper Fort Garry Wall – Phase I du nouveau centre d’interprétation

By : Cohlmeyer Architecture

GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 14th edition

Upper Fort Garry, a fur trading fort demolished in the 1880s, lay at the crossroads of Winnipeg’s history. In commemoration, a 400-foot-long interpretive wall and park were constructed to mark its exact location. The wall, built of layered corten steel and embedded with sophisticated diagrams, audio programming, and lighting that playfully project Manitoba’s history, forms a backdrop to the park, referencing the fort’s original location and boundaries. The wall is constructed from 4 layers of overlapping steel plate, the edges where they overlap were cut using CNC torches and the 3 visible edges weave their way along the wall creating a mural that depicts the past, present, and future of the site. The mural was created by a team of architects, graphic designers, historians, fabricators, and technology specialists working together and relying on the expertise of each other. Mounted to the backside of the wall is an array of LED nodes that shine through thousands of holes in the steel plate to create a low-density video wall that can be viewed from the park and controlled via a smartphone app. Upper Fort Garry Provincial Park received the Jury’s Award of Excellence, the highest award given by the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, The Canadian Institute of steel construction awarded the wall the award for architecture in steel, and the City of Winnipeg awarded the access award for excellence in universal design and accessibility.

Collaboration

Architect : Cohlmeyer Architecture

Media Agency : Pattern Interactive

Graphic Designer : Kevin Gunther CGD

Engineering : Crosier Kilgour & Partners

Engineering : Pro Engineering

Acoustics : Inland AV

Media Agency : Signex

The project in images

Photo credit : Jerry Grajewski

Photo credit : Jerry Grajewski

Photo credit : Jerry Grajewski

Photo credit : Jerry Grajewski

Photo credit : Jerry Grajewski