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Art Gallery of Alberta (formerly Edmonton Art Gallery) goes to Stout

N

nassauone

Guest
Which is what I feel like doing after seeing his design...

Rendering follows via link.

Edmonton Journal

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Gift-wrapped in a swirling tangle of stainless steel ribons, Edmonton's new art gallery won't merely be a depository for art work.

It will be a piece of art in itself.

Or at least that's the thinking behind the choice of Los Angeles architect Randall Stout's modernistic design for the new $48 million Art Gallery of Alberta.

Of the four designs in the running, Stout's iinterpretation of the Alberta art scene spoke the loudest, say gallery officials.

"In the final analysis, this design provided a friendly, open design inviting to people on the street level to make them want to come into the gallery," says Allan Scott, chairman of the art gallery board and member of the seven-person that picked the design. "It recognized the whole range of things that we do in the art gallery, from children's education and being a meeting space. This will allow us to show our permanent collection and it will enable us to handle travelling collections.

"On top of that, it has great architectural lines and will be a landmark and a true piece of impact architecture and a landmark for Edmonton."

The winning design was annouced this morning. The provincial government is kicking in $15 million towards its $48 million cost, the federal government has committed $10 million, the city is contributing $6 million and another $9 million is coming from private donations, including $5 million from Edmonton philanthropists John and Barbara Poole. The design was the least conventional of the four under consideration.

Stout says it's designed to reach out to the community.

"It's really an effort to understand the climate, to understand the programming of the museum and express that through architecture," he says. "We have been very sculptural with the public spaces of the building and we have been quite reserved and neutral with the art exibit spaces. We feel this duality represents the appropriate way of combining exuberant space with art space."

He says it "responds well" to the pyramid-shaped designs of City Hall across the street and the rectangular Winspear Centre next door.

"It will certainly be recognized among architects and will be providing facilities that are outstanding," he says.

What others are saying:

"The building will make an artistic statement of who we are." — Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan.

"It will be a work of art in itself and a magnet for creativity." — Alberta Community Development Minister Gary Mar.

"The country will recognize Edmonton as an arts leader." — Coun. Linda Sloan.

LINK:
www.canada.com/edmonton/e...9e98bf7800
 
alklay:

Published reports in the Globe and Mail last week suggest Alsop bagged the project.

Talk about getting it completely (and awkwardly) wrong.

re: the project

I don't mind it, thought the fact that such a cool but "been there done that" design was chosen speaks plenty about the arts scene (and it ain't a "National leader").

GB
 
"will" - the most dangerous word in the English language, as in, "the jury will recommend" ...
 
Added to the hype was the fact that Alsop was rumoured to be in Edmonton all week. My SO has a prof who works closely with Alsop and the two of them were awol and said to be in Edmonton.
 
GB,thanks. I thought that is what you meant.

Alsop has a much better and original design. Oh well....the more Alsop for Toronto then.
 
I've often felt critical of Alberta in the sense that for many years now they have had all this money, and what of lasting value have they invested in? Calgary and Edmonton are so strongly about power centres and freeway "trails" and the like. So I'm pleased to see an Alberta centre take some of the money they have and invest in architecture and the arts, may we see many more of these projects in the future out of that province.

I too preferred the Alsop, but I'm also willing to think that this choice will work well - I've been to Edmonton, but I don't really recall the existing galleries well. At some point, I may have to go back now.
 
Regardless of the choice of architect, I think this was a smart move for a smallish regional gallery that showcases contemporary artists and relies heavily on loan exhibitions which it augments from its permanent collection. May the power of iconic architecture be with them!

On the Canada Council website the gallery, founded in 1924, is described as, "the oldest cultural institution in Alberta" - and who are we to doubt it?

There's a website that lists annual attendance for Edmonton attractions, and in 2002 they claim to have had 36,896 visitors - compared to 9,803,626 for the West Edmonton Mall.

www.edmonton.com/statisti...sp?page=70
 
Poor Russell Smith repeated the big lie in his column on Thursday:

"Will Alsop, the one who designed the riotous new Ontario College of Art and Design building in Toronto, has just been commissioned to do the Edmonton Art gallery."
 
Maybe they meant commissioned to compete for it? Anyway, I'm glad the Stout one got it. I liked it and the Alsop both.
 
Will Alsop: the Thomas E. Dewey of starchitects

thumb-kerry.picks.gephardt.jpg
 
The Stout design is pretty impressive for a $48 million dollar budget.

Really makes it look like the AGO got duped with Gehry's $200 million ad-on design.
 
What? Only $48 million? Maybe if AGO built a second campus, it could've used its money to get more flash for its buck...
 
The 48M figure sounded *awfully* low - not knowing the size of the addition, it's difficult to tell.

Keep in mind the AGO figure includes reconfiguration of existing galleries as well -it's basically a reno AND an addition.

GB
 

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