The new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) will be an anti-institution: an open and democratic place catalyzing new currents of cultural life at the Halifax waterfront; a radically inclusive hub where creative engagement engenders both a welcoming and comfortable space for all to convene, and a setting in which the most challenging contemporary issues may be confronted through the medium of art.
The Salter block offers an extraordinary opportunity between downtown and the Port of Halifax for creating a new public space around the AGNS mission. A continuous cultural fabric will connect the city to the boardwalk, right through the AGNS foyer--inviting locals and visitors alike without inhibition to pass through, hangout, mix, and encounter art. At the same, the life of the Gallery will spill out freely to the public with food, education, installation, making and music. The design of the Salter Block will reveal and reconceive its layered history, reestablishing the soft edge of the native landscape where the land meets the water; reconnecting with its productive history as a port with an Art Yard; and building on the boardwalk as a space of event and performance.
Architecture49 (A49) and Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) along with Hargreaves Jones bring a deep commitment to redefining the public realm in cities through connecting people with culture, art and performance; as well as creating buildings for art which question and rethink their institutional nature, in order to break down barriers to reaching the broadest audience. We have envisioned a 'soft icon' for the AGNS with a commanding presence on the waterfront, a hub for the entire community, but one that also feels accessible to all and materially grounded in its place. Our process began by deeply questioning the brief and developing three unique approaches that brought together program and site into unique and provocative configurations at Mid Review. Based on stakeholder feedback, we developed our first approach, titled 'Light Touch,' while integrating the strongest features of the other two: an embedded outdoor public space at heart of the building from the 'Connected Ground' scheme, and the overlap of programs across levels to produce unexpected juxtapositions and views between activities from the 'Weave' scheme. The development of this design has involved a close technical collaboration with our consultant team to ensure the fundamentals of buildability, operation, and resiliency. In addition, throughout the process we had regular workshops with our First Nations Advisory Panel to help us develop a strong connections in the design to nature and natural phenomenon including solar, lunar and seasonal cycles. We have also begun the on-going process of working with placemaking consultants CoLab to identify opportunities for engagement with stakeholder and community groups through the design development process.
Our goals for the project are crystallized in the following conceptual principles for a new AGNS and a reimagined Salter Block:
-All Orientations
The porous site will enable the AGNS to assume an outward and inclusive focus with views and physical connections in the four cardinal directions .
-Continuous Public Realm
To accommodate the flow of visitors coming to the AGNS from multiple directions, the Salter Block will remain fully porous to its surroundings.
-Water Matters
The waterfront will be foregrounded throughout the visitor experience with framed views out from galleries and event spaces.
-Light Touch
The building will engage the ground as minimally as possible by lifting the AGNS galleries up to an elevated level with ample and fully accessible vertical connections between.
-Education Everywhere
Inviting the public to participate in formal and informal hands-on learning inside and out.
-Contemporary Classic
The new AGNS building must always appear fresh despite the perpetual change of its internal artistic content.
(From competitor's text)
All three design teams brought forward ambitious and quality design visions for the New Art Gallery of Nova Scotia to anchor this new Arts District. Each excelled in embracing the multitude of challenges and desires for the Project to be welcoming, sustainable, accommodate a wide spectrum of programming, and challenge the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia to rethink what it means to be an Art Gallery for now and into the future.
(From jury report)
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