UAA has completed the Radium Amenity Building and Outdoor Rink designed as “Phase Two” for the Radium Community Hall and Library. It is located in Legend Park in the heart of the Village of Radium Hot Springs, BC and is acting as a small beacon, providing a home base for park activities.
For more detailed information follow this link to the project page.
UAA has just completed the renovation of the University of the Fraser Valley Chilliwack Library. Former stack area was converted into a student lounge area at the entry to the Library. Seating zones are defined by the new circular light installation. We also added a Learning Centre, additional study rooms and a new presentation area, and renovated the circulation desk to better greet the students.
We look forward a time when the students can return to campus and gather in a safe world!
Wood WORKS! BC announced completion of its latest case study on civic buildings.
This case study examines two innovative wood buildings, both civic projects, that illustrate the value and versatility of wood, while increasing the demand for BC’s wood products and assisting with the significant impacts of climate change. The Radium Hot Springs Community Hall and Library (by Urban Arts Architecture Inc.), located in the East Kootenay village of Radium Hot Springs, showcases a wealth of local wood products and assemblies, most of which were sourced from within 100 miles of the site. The Fire Hall No. 5 in Vancouver maximizes utilization of city-owned land by including four storeys of social housing above the state-of-the-art fire station.
Click here to view the new study: https://wood-works.ca/bc/case-studies-videos/
Through our continuous commitment to paying fair wages Urban Arts Architecture Inc. are now Living Wage Employer certified.
We have joined the growing list of responsible Living Wage Employers across BC and Canada who care about their employees and community.
For more information, visit: http://www.livingwageforfamilies.ca/
SFU’s Office for Aboriginal Peoples (OAP) held a special ground awakening ceremony to start the First Peoples’ Gathering House project in a good way.
We were humbled to be blanketed during the ground awakening ceremony.
UAA is honoured to be working with SFU on the First Peoples’ Gathering House which will be a First Peoples’ Gathering House with culturally appropriate ceremony hall and gathering space.
Please find a link to the detailed article here:
http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2020/10/honouring-the-past-and-looking-forward-to-the-future-on-orange-s.html
More important news to share this week:
We are proud to be a part of the Xwemelch’stn Housing Project which is marking the first time the provincial government will finance housing projects for First Nations on reserve lands.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/squamish-nation-capilano-reserve-north-vancouver-affordable-housing
Very exciting news to share today: the launch and funding of the ‘At Home in the North’ partnership.
UAA principal Ouri Scott is on the Executive Committee of this important research project.
Follow the link to the announcement and press release below. Please feel free to distribute and help share these news with our communities!
https://athomeinthenorth.org/at-home-in-the-north-partnership-launched/
Press release: https://athomeinthenorth.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/AHIN-launch_PR_Sept-16-2020.pdf
We are very pleased to share the news that the construction of the T'Sou-ke Community Hall & Health Clinic project by the nation and the province is expected to start in the spring of 2022 on a $7.4-million health and community centre that is being described as “life-changing” for the T’Sou-ke First Nation. The 10,400-square-foot facility will include offices for the T’Sou-ke administration, classrooms to support the teaching of Indigenous language and culture and a community hall for gatherings. The 1,800 square-foot health complex will give doctors, nurses and dentists ample room to treat the T’Sou-ke Nation’s 253 members.
Shelley Craig is in an exhibit featuring University of Waterloo Rome program alumni work in Rome and current work at the Roma XL Exhibition Opening Reception in Toronto. Click here to find out more.
UAA’s Ouri Scott will be speaking at the Department of Art + Design Fall 2019 Speaker Series for the Arts + Design Forum at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton on October 3rd at 5:15pm.
The Streetcar at North Vancouver Museum is in it's new home and looking proud! Currently it is sitting higher than it should, but once its lowered onto the trucks, more of the streetcar will be visible through the exterior glazing at the plaza level. David Walmsley from WCR is working with Nickel Bros to finalize the installation of trucks/tracks and the body of the car. The car will be protected by a fire resistant “box” later this week, where it will live until unveiled again next spring!
Photo Credit: Dianna Foldi
UAA is proud to be the architect for the proposed Aboriginal Land Trust Housing and Healing Centre Development - an Indigenous-led mixed-use development focused on serving Vancouver’s Urban Indigenous community in the Downtown Eastside in partnership with Lu’ma Native Housing Society and Vancouver Native Health Society.
The project will include a Healing Centre operated by the Vancouver Native Health Society, 58 affordable rental units for Indigenous families with lower incomes operated by Lu’ma Native Housing Society, and 53 units of supported adult housing, operated by RainCity Housing Society. The project’s residential and healing spaces are being designed to meet the needs of Indigenous Peoples. Designed to welcome everyone with dignity, respect, honour and love, the new building will offer a safe and inclusive space where people can heal and flourish.
This project creates the opportunity to celebrate the rich history of the three host First Nations – and make visible what was made invisible by colonization. It will make space to honour the cultural and spiritual traditions that tell the stories of the land and its people and embrace all cultures and practices.
This project is an important step towards reconciliation and an opportunity to repair damage done by colonial actions. The project is being designed utilizing Indigenous protocols and guidance from Elders and Knowledge Keepers to develop the project vision, space program, and building design.
"Radium Community Hall + Library is the recipient of the 2019 Canadian Green Building Award for a Small Institution.
Urban Arts Architecture is proud to receive this prestigious award granted on the basis of not only exemplary environmental sustainability, but on the basis of its innovative social and economic sustainability. https://sabmagazine.com/awards/winners/
The winning projects are fully published in the Summer issue of SABMag, and the digital version can be seen here.
SABMag also has an article up on their website about Radium, click here to check it out!
Urban Arts is thrilled to be working on phase 2 of the project - 'Radium Stadium' - a rink facility in the park adjacent to the award winning Community Hall.”
Photo Credit: Nic Taggart
"Partner Jennifer Marshall participates in Deep Dives at the Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver on June 6, 2019. These sessions aim to connect the local Vancouver audience to gender equity issues through free talks and workshops.” Jennifer’s session was live-streamed, click here to watch it.
Photo Credit: Ida Adamowicz
UNCEDED - Voices of the land features the innovative design talents of 18 Indigenous architects and designers in a breathtaking installation. Tlicho Dene architect Ouri Scott is one of 18 Indigenous architects and designers from across Canada and the U.S. who showcased her work as part of a collaborative exhibit at a prestigious competition in Venice, Italy.
The installation is now being showcased at the Canadian Museum of History and will run from May 3, 2019 to March 22, 2020. They are the first venue in Canada to host UNCEDED - Voices of the Land, following its successful debut in Venice. “This groundbreaking exhibition highlights the important contributions that Indigenous cultures have made to the world. It also underlines our commitment to promoting a greater understanding of Canadian and Indigenous history,” said Mark O’Neill, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of History.
The Canadian Museum of History is located on the shores of Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec and welcomes approximately 1.2 million visitors per year. UNCEDED is presented with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, and will be on display until March 22, 2020. For more information please click here.
Photo by Cueyo Laux
Located in White Rock at the corner of North Bluff Road and Maple Street, the project vision is to create an affordable community within a 10 minute walk to the Semiahmoo Town Centre. The project will create a vibrant new community with a variety of housing types for “growing up and growing old” in the same neighbourhood, to support the diverse needs of White Rock residents. Buildings will be constructed from mass timber construction, implementing a pre-fabricated sustainable construction system that reduces construction time, enhances affordability, and sequesters carbon. The project provides community connectivity with open and engaging public realm spaces, including “the Beachway” - a public mid-block promenade that increases porosity of the neighbourhood by breaking down the scale of the large city blocks, enhancing the character of the built environment, and supporting the City of White Rock’s socially-oriented urban design principles.
Our recently completed building, Radium Hot Springs Community Hall and Library has been featured on the Wood Design & Building website! The article highlights the use of Dowel Laminated Timber, Glulam to create a special community hub. To read the article, click here.
UAA is delighted to be working with the City of Burnaby on the Cowan Theatre Feasibility Study at the Shadbolt Centre. Shelley worked on the Shadbolt Centre with Henry Hawthorn in 1992 as the design architect. Henry sadly passed away earlier this year, and we feel honoured to continue his legacy through a review of the Cowan Theatre. This area was not part of the 1992 25,000 sq ft addition.
