Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan
| Location | Saskatoon, Saskatchewan |
|---|---|
| Client | The City of Saskatoon |
| Size | 205,000 ft2 (19,000m2) |
| Role | Structural Engineering Consultant |
| Budget | $71 million |
| Awards | Canadian Architect Award of Excellence – 2011 |
The Remai Art Gallery is being funded through a combination of Federal and Provincial grants and private donations. Ellen Remai’s contribution of $30 million is the largest private contribution in the history of Saskatoon. The facility will serve as a destination centre in city’s south downtown area called River Landing.
The gallery is located directly adjacent to the existing Persephone theatre. The project more than triples the space available for temporary and collection-related exhibitions, and includes a community gallery, studio classrooms, a film and lecture theatre, meeting rooms, and spaces for receptions and other public events. As well, there is ample storage space for the growing permanent collection, now numbering 7,000 works. The building meets rigorous modern gallery standards, making it possible to host national and international touring exhibitions previously unavailable to the city. This is an energy-efficient, sustainable building with LEED Silver certification.
The gallery includes a unique stacked arrangement of column free spaces. The gallery spaces cantilever out beyond the ground floor as much as 45 feet with views over the adjacent river. This combination of architectural requirements resulted in long span floors in excess of 60 feet and full story height vierendeel trusses at the perimeter to minimize the obstructions through the structure. This arrangement resulted in the need to address significant vibration issues with particular concern in the multi-purpose room where private functions will be held. Tuned mass dampers are needed in this area to limit the vibration transmission to more sensitive areas of the gallery.
