Award of Excellence

Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum
Wembley, Alberta

Category: Recent Works
Project Owner: The County of Grande Prairie No. 1
Architect/Interior Designer/Landscape Architect of Record: Stephen Teeple Architect (Design Architect) with Architecture Tkalcic Bengert (Architect of Record)
Structural Consultant: Fast+Epp
Mechanical Consultant: Hemisphere Engineering
Electrical Consultant: Aecom
Contractor: PCL Construction Management Inc.
Additional Consultants: Reich + Pletch (Exhibit Designer) & StructureCraft (Heavy Timber Design Build Contractor) Tom Arban (Photographer)

The Project | Jury Comments

Powerful contextual references to the specificities of site are successfully implemented in the building. The expressive roofline responds well to the Western Canadian context, evoking iconic silhouettes seen in the work of great prairie architects such as Clifford Wiens. There is a sense of the close connection between building and landscape; the Museum seems to emerge from the ground itself. Its hulking, muscular form belies an intimately scaled interior that is conducive for viewing the exhibitions contained within: intersecting and overlapping bridging elements provide a unique narrative experience rife with cinematic potential. The degree of technological innovation in the structure and structural connections is appreciated.