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233 competitions documented	472 competitions listed
6 086 projects	62 541 documents

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Competitor

Dunlop Farrow

Kitchener City Hall

Stage 1

Stage 2

GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE COMPETITOR

Team	Christopher Fillingham
	Alar Kongats
	Christian Klemt
	Robert Chang
	Nada Bajic
	Mirjana Lazovich
	Mark Berset
	Greg Guerra
	Agnes Gontarz
	Tim Lee
	Welming Chen
Doc. level	75%

Description

The significance of the new City Hall should be its ability to project to visitors and residents alike "the image of a dynamic and modern city." states Mayor Dominic Cardillo's introduction to the competition conditions. Kitchener has a strong history of modern building design. This project draws upon that strength and the city's desire to look forward. We propose a new modern architecture evocative of the City of Kitchener's pride in its past and confidence in its future.

The extroverted site organisation of the proposal embodies a three-dimensional design approach ackowledging existing urban views, street edges, axis and topography. With the typically undulating topography of Kitchener, the new City Hall, being the most important building in the city, strikes a new idealized floor plate signifying permanence and stability. The square takes its point of reference from the city's major thoroughfare, King Street, thereby designating it the ceremonial entrance. The threshold of the square ackowledges picturesque Victoria Park, while inside the Square, the sweeping incisions ackowledge the memory of the industrial railroad landscape. The prominent built forms of the Square are defined through the selective use of precious materials.

The City Hall is elevated above the Square to allow multiple points of access and viewing. Built form, particularily that of the flanking buildings and bridge, reinforce and frame views into the square and to the natural promontory of Duke Street. These wings avoid a bulky building mass and are either service-orientated or of a legislative-administrative character. The service-orientated wing is characterized by a metal "arbour" wall while the legislative-administrative wing forms an elegant circle bar composition with the Council Chamber and the Mayoral and councillor's offices. The materiality of the Council Chamber consists of glass with various degrees of transparency, exposing a marble cube which houses the Mayoral and councillor's offices and symbolizes a dignified, stable presence for municipal politics.

There is an implicit desire to look to the constituents as potential contributors to the civic image. As encouragement, the building offers two sculptural pieces - the Water Gallery and the "Arbour" wall. The Water Gallery, originating from the Interior Civic Square, flows out into a reflective pool and four smaller water gardens. The dramatically sloping metal and glass "arbour" wall looms above the reflective pool and upward from the Water Gallery. A copper panel at the pool's edge, fed by rain water, eventually oxidizes and allows the wall to become, in part, a permanent green ornament within the square. Other pieces within the Square are the arced armature of the plaza canopy and the gargoyle-like watch towers of the roof garden.

(From Competing Visions: The Kitchener City Hall Competition)

Jury Report

List of accessible documents

14 scanned / 12 viewable

Photograph of Model
Perspective
Perspective
Elevation
Elevation
Section
Section
Site Plan
Diagram
Plan
Photograph of Model
Plan

IMPORTANT NOTICE : Unless otherwise indicated, photographs of buildings and projects are from professional or institutional archives. All reproduction is prohibited unless authorized by the architects, designers, office managers, consortiums or archives centers concerned. The researchers of the Canada Research Chair in Architecture, Competitions and Mediations of Excellence are not held responsible for any omissions or inaccuracies, but appreciate all comments and pertinent information that will permit necessary modifications during future updates.
info@ccc.umontreal.ca

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