Forest Pavilion
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Category: Small Projects
Architect: Public City Architecture Inc. Owner/Client: City of Winnipeg
Landscape Architect: Public City Architecture
Structural Engineer: Wolfrom Engineering
Mechanical Engineer: MCW Consulting Engineers
Electrical Engineer: MCW Consulting Engineers
Contractor: Marrbeck Construction
Photographer: Lindsay Reid Photography

Jury Comments

This project is striking, yet strangely familiar and appropriate. It has a neutral Modernist quality to it, suggesting that it could be anywhere, when in fact early Modernist work set the stage for interpreting the Prairie ‘genus loci’. Apart from its physical constitution, this project acknowledges two significant features of the site: namely, that it is located on Treaty 1 lands and built in a floodway zone of the Red River. Designed to meet FEMA flood design standards, it incorporates sustainable locally sourced materials, low energy consuming mechanical and electrical systems, and native planting throughout the site. The pavilion program provides indoor and outdoor functions for meeting and recreating, based on the rhythm of the days and the seasons, artfully mediating its forested context through its porous façade, and creating a place for all to enjoy.