Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Qaumajuq Inuit Art Centre by Michael Maltzan Architecture with Cabinet Architects is an addition to the iconic 1971 museum building designed by Canadian architect Gustavo Da Roza.
The building faces south toward the Manitoba Legislature building and is a new cultural landmark within Winnipeg’s renewed downtown.
Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Qaumajuq Inuit Art Centre has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The design draws on the ephemeral qualities of northern environments and includes a wide range of art viewing and educational spaces that celebrate historic and contemporary Inuit art and culture.
Qaumajuq is connected to the Winnipeg Art Gallery by bridges on all levels, creating a seamless visitor experience between the two facilities.
The architectural design centers on the transparent, double-height Inuit Vault, immediately adjacent to the highly-visible new public entry at the corner of St. Mary’s Avenue and Memorial Boulevard.
The visible vault’s curved glass walls extend from floor to ceiling and include shelving that follows the curvature of the enclosure.
Additional collections storage, accessible by a stairwell within the vault, is located on the level below.
An expansive, light-filled Inuit Gallery on the building’s third level provides 8,500 square feet of open, flexible exhibition space dedicated to the display of Inuit art.
The voluminous gallery is intended to reflect the natural environments of the North, the setting in which much of the art was created.
The monumental, sculptural walls evoke the immense geographic features that form the backgrounds of many Inuit towns and inlets.
Figural skylights in the ceiling face all cardinal directions, suffusing the gallery with light from the sky, creating an ethereal illumination that focuses the viewer’s experience toward the Inuit art in the gallery.
Qaumajuq also includes a state-of-the-art conservation facility, art studios, a two-level interactive theatre, classrooms, a reading room, and a new café.
Project: Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Qaumajuq
Architects: Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inc.
Associate Architects: Cibinel Architects, Ltd.
General Contractor: PCL Construction
Client: Winnipeg Art Gallery
Photographers: Lindsay Reid
