NEWS:
03.10.2014
INUIT ART CENTRE &
STAR APARTMENTS

A first-look at the new Inuit Art Centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery design was featured in the Winnipeg Free Press this week.  The new building, an addition to the Gallery in Winnipeg’s downtown, will display, highlight, and celebrate the Gallery’s Inuit Art Collection, the most significant public collection of Inuit art in the world.  Citing the article’s author, the “concepts put forward so far paint an enticing image of a gallery experience that will redefine the WAG and enhance its role as a cultural leader and advocate for Inuit art.”  Design work on the new Centre is currently in the final stages of schematic design with an anticipated construction start date in 2015.  The project will include a 40,000 square-foot addition with new galleries, classrooms, studios, a lecture theater, storage and research facilities, and a visible art storage vault as well as 6,000 square feet of renovation to the existing building.

Star Apartments was featured in the press today.  Described in the LA Downtown News as “one of the most striking structures to sprout in Downtown,” the project was credited for both its design and construction innovations, including the use of prefabricated units.  The AIA-Los Angeles Director of Government and Public Affairs Will Wright was quoted as saying “Maltzan and his team took a difficult site and added a sense of urban grace to an area that desperately needs more love.”  The six-story Star Apartments is MMA’s third project with the Skid Row Housing Trust.  The building transformed an existing single story commercial building into a mixed-use complex with 102 apartments for skid row residents. Designed with a new type of urban density in mind, it includes ground level retail spaces and a community health clinic, a second level shared community zone, and four residential floors above.