Award of Excellence

Montrose Cultural Center
Grand Prairie, Alberta

Category: Recent Work
Architect: Teeple Architects in association with Kasian Architecture
Owner/Client: City of Grande Prairie
Structural Engineer: KTA Group Inc.
Mechanical Engineer: Hemisphere Engineering Inc.
Electrical Engineer: Beaubien Glover Maskell
Landscape Architect: Scatliff + Miller + Murray Landscape Architects & Planners
Contractor: Wright Construction Western Inc.
LEED: Enermodal Engineering
Costing: BTY Group

The Project

Set in Grande Prairie's downtown, the Montrose Cultural Centre is conceived as a new cultural hub and rejuvenated civic focal point. The 60,000 square foot Centre houses a library, exhibition spaces, community meeting rooms, a café and art gallery.

'Capturing' the iconic prairie grasslands and the dramatic beauty of the northern prairie light, both literally and figuratively, was the key design focus. Colourful low trusses strategically channel light deep inside the building while providing protection from the heat of the summer sun. These brightly hued fins also generate an irregular patchwork of shapes, shadows and colour recalling the textured Alberta landscape.