Assiniboine Park, Qualico Family Centre

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"The goal was to create a sustainable, evocative and emotionally inspiring building that is rooted to its site. Structure, space and materials are choreographed to the rhythms of the Park, expressing the landscape in its harsh environment. As the days and seasons change, so does the building’s appearance. Shadows animate the irregular shapes through leaf-filtered light. The colours of the forest leaves reflect the changing seasons on the building’s façade. The angular form directs harsh winter winds in unique ways, carving snow drifts that grow as extensions of the structure itself. Materials that weather and patina will allow the building to grow into and from its site. A zinc fascia will evolve to a soft grey and coreten steel cladding will rust in ways that express a permanent record of local weather patterns on the facade. A vegetated roof, planted with local grasses, will mature to become a raised piece of the forest floor." (from Number Ten Architectural Group's website)