The Manitou a bi Bii daziigae at Red River College Polytechnic has officially opened on the university’s Winnipeg campus.
The project, formerly known as the Innovation Centre Project and designed by Diamond Schmitt and Number TEN Architectural Group in a joint venture, will bring together students with education and industry professionals in new ways that facilitate social innovation, enterprise, and innovative research.
The 10,000-sf facility unites a repurposed downtown concrete framed heritage building and a new construction to create an engaging crossroads in Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District. The building will house a combination of Indigenous and international student spaces, long distance teaching equipped classrooms, digital media labs and events spaces, and faculty offices.
The heart of Manitou a bi Bii daziigae is the agora. The agora is conceived as a place for campus-wide events as well as for group and quiet study. All programs overlook the agora while diagonal circulation invites its crossing and is supported by the collaboration areas that surround it. The sky-lit atrium above the agora blinds diffuse light to the center of the plan. A collaboration zone acts as a front porch between classrooms, the agora, and the atrium. The porch can be used by the classrooms, as a breakout room or project room, or independently booked by students for study groups.
The west corner of the new building is anchored by the 210-seat Roundhouse auditorium. The auditorium has a high degree of flexibility with an acoustically isolated space for ceremonial events, instruction, or celebration. At the roof level is the City Room, a beacon enveloped in a canvas of color representing traditional Indigenous teachings and local history.
The building’s facade is made of Kromatix Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) panels that change color depending on the angle of view and the weather. The facade, which is the first in Canada, conceals the solar cells behind nano-coated glass panels.
The facility’s name translates to where creator sits (Manitou a bi) and brings light (Bii daziigae).
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Northeast Lakeview College opens in Texas, to serve 15,000 students
After four years of construction, Northeast Lakeview College, the newest addition to Alamo Colleges, is complete. Designed by Overland Partners Architects in collaboration with Ford Powell & Carson, the nine-building, 285-acre campus in Universal City, near San Antonio, will serve up to 15,000 students.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dual physics buildings aim for LEED Silver
Two new physics buildings providing 197,000 sf of teaching, study, and office space are opening at Texas A&M University. The $82.5-million George P. Mitchell '40 Physics Building and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy offer new research laboratories, graduate and undergraduate lounges, offices, a 468-seat lecture hall, and a 180-seat aud...
| Aug 11, 2010
University building gets revamped, reused
KSS Architects of Philadelphia is designing the addition and renovation to SUNY Cortland's Studio West, a 43,000-sf metal panel and brick building dating to 1948. The 20,000-sf, two-story addition will become the Professional Studies Building, housing the consolidated departments of Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Studies; Communications Disorders and Sciences; and Kinesiology and Sports Managem...
| Aug 11, 2010
Project is music to school's ears
Florida Gulf Coast University is building a $7.55 million Fine Arts Building on its campus near Ft. Myers, Fla. The 25,000-sf building—the first project in the school's plan for an entire music complex—will house the music program of the College of Arts and Sciences. The facility includes a 200-seat recital hall, rehearsal hall, music labs, studio rooms, and administration offices.
| Aug 11, 2010
BU students move into high-rise dorm
Boston University’s newest residential building rises 26 stories above the Charles River. Part of the school’s 10-acre John Hancock Student Village, the 396,000-sf tower houses 962 students and has three apartments for faculty use. The tower also has a large multipurpose room on the top floor.
| Aug 11, 2010
Expansion of chemistry facility no experiment
A September ground breaking at Wayne State University in Detroit puts the school’s A. Paul Schaap Chemistry Building and Lecture Hall on track for a December 2010 completion. The $37 million, 96,000-sf facility is the second phase of a two-phase project to expand and renovate the existing chemistry building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Polshek unveils design for University of North Texas business building
New York City-based architect Polshek Partnership unveiled its design scheme for the $70 million Business Leadership Building at the University of North Texas in Denton. Designed to provide UNT’s 5,600-plus business majors with a state-of-the-art learning environment, the 180,000-sf facility will include an open atrium, an internet café, and numerous study and tutoring rooms—al...
| Aug 11, 2010
Cooper Union academic building designed to reach LEED Platinum
Morphosis Architects and Gruzen Samton are collaborating on an ultra-green academic building for New York’s Cooper Union that is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The program for the nine-story facility mixes state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms, a multipurpose auditorium, and a range of public and social spaces.
| Aug 11, 2010
Utah research facility reflects Native American architecture
A $130 million research facility is being built at University of Utah's Salt Lake City campus. The James L. Sorenson Molecular Biotechnology Building—a USTAR Innovation Center—is being designed by the Atlanta office of Lord Aeck & Sargent, in association with Salt-Lake City-based Architectural Nexus.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction begins on Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame
Heavy construction and foundation work has started on the new Louisiana State Sports Hall of Fame and Regional History Museum in Natchitoches, La. Designed by Trahan Architects, Baton Rouge, the $12 million, 28,000-sf museum will be clad in sinker cypress planks as a nod to the region’s rich timber legacy and to help control light, views, and ventilation throughout the facility.
