heneghan peng chosen to complete canadian canoe museum in ontario

heneghan peng chosen to complete canadian canoe museum in ontario
image by luxigon

the canadian canoe museum has announced that irish architecture studio heneghan peng will design the organization’s new building, which will be located at the historic site of the peterborough lift lock in ontario. the $45 million (CAD) project has been developed alongside local firm kearns mancini architects, and will house the world’s largest collection of canoes and kayaks.

the design is topped with a two-acre roof garden
image by luxigon

the competition winning design has been conceived as a serpentine glass pavilion, topped with a two-acre roof garden that embeds the scheme within its natural context. internally, a single-storey 80,000 square foot layout offers a flexible floor plate. consequently, the museum is able to adapt to changing requirements through the reconfiguration of internal partitions.

a single-storey 80,000 square foot layout offers a flexible floor plate
image by luxigon

with only the east and south glass walls exposed to the elements, the design has inherently low operating costs. geothermal heating and cooling is used throughout. embedded within the site’s ridges, the organically-shaped volume allows the museum’s light-sensitive collections of historic birch bark canoes and aboriginal artifacts to enjoy energy-passive, naturally dark spaces.

the organically-shaped building is embedded within the site’s ridges

during the spring of 2015, the canadian canoe museum received over 97 stage 1 submissions from practices located all over the world. from that group, five firms — including kohn pedersen fox and provencher_roy architects — were selected to submit designs, with heneghan peng selected as the winning entrant. construction work is expected to start on-site in late 2017.

construction work is expected to start on-site in late 2017