The Francis Winspear Centre for Music grew out of the community’s love for music. With a budget deemed impossible by a wide variety of experts, DIALOG assembled a fully integrated team that rose to the challenge of designing an international quality, acoustic music hall. The Centre has expanded the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s audience and attracted international talent to the stage. More than 20 years later, it still receives critical acclaim and remains central to Edmonton’s Arts District.
- Location
- Edmonton, AB
- Client
- Edmonton Concert Hall Foundation
- Completion
- 1997
- Collaborators
Artec
Hemisphere Engineering
PCL Construction Management Inc.- DIALOG Services
Architecture
Electrical Engineering
Interior Design
Structural Engineering
Winspear Centre is appropriately nestled in the downtown core alongside Royal Alberta Museum, Art Gallery of Alberta, Citadel Theatre, City Hall, and Edmonton Public Library.
The heart of Winspear Centre is its spectacular 3-level performance chamber that seats 1,900 guests.
The program also includes the lobby, reception rooms, a rehearsal hall, back-of-house support facilities, and offices.
The result far exceeded expectations and budget constraints, opening on time, and without a single change to the price.
The result far exceeded expectations and budget constraints, opening on time, and without a single change to the price.
The walls of the performance chamber are micro-textured to create outstanding reverberance and clarity, which has resulted in a global reputation for acoustic excellence.
Five lines representing a music staff and the wandering North Saskatchewan River undulate along the chamber walls, along with impressions from leaves collected in Edmonton’s river valley.
The tall, dramatic windows in the lobby allow the sparkle of lights and music lovers to animate and engage Churchill Square and Edmonton’s Arts District.
Dr. Francis G. WinspearMusic can help build harmony between people of all ages, races, cultures and beliefs in our own growing city. My dream is to have a place where the people of our region can make the most beautiful music they are capable of – and share it with each other.