CMHR's Future is up to us all
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By Brent Bellamy, Creative Director and Architect
It has been 4,549 days since the Winnipeg Free Press first announced media mogul Israel Asper had been secretly championing an idea to construct a national museum at The Forks, in the centre of the city. Children born on that day are now in Grade 8. This weekend, finally, the world will be given the opportunity to step through the museum's doors and into Mr. Asper's imagination.
When the concept of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was unveiled, it seemed to be an impossible dream. The average house price in Winnipeg was $98,000. The city had 80,000 fewer residents. There was no new airport, Manitoba Hydro tower or Investors Group Field. Our hockey team was a minor-league franchise playing in a 50-year-old arena. We were not used to big things yet.
Master of What?
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By Nadine Pearson, Architectural Intern
You have just received your master’s degree, and now you are headed to your first interview with confidence levels through the roof. After all, that piece of paper claims that you are a master… right?
Have you ever spent hours or days preparing for an interview, with parchment papers still hot off the press, only to listen to your interviewer rant for 30 minutes about how, in their opinion, your school didn’t provide you with the skills or knowledge that they expect from a graduate? I have.
Over the last several months, I have been grappling with the joys and struggles of making the transition from a university education to a professional career. It truly is a roller coaster of experience and emotion, successes and failures. I recently graduated with a Master’s Degree in Architecture, and managed to land an internship here at Number TEN. My time here so far has been filled with excitement, but also moments of anxiety. What do my employers expect me to know? Granted, this profession, like most others I’m sure, contains an infinite amount of knowledge to be learned over the course of a career. Even the most experienced architect probably doesn’t have all the answers. However, I assume that there is a base set of knowledge that a graduate should have when setting out to transition from their education into their career – but what does this base set of knowledge consist of? Does it depend on the type of school I went to? Do the expectations differ from employer to employer? I haven’t found a handbook of answers yet.
Many of City's Well Known Buildings Designed by New York Architects
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By Brent Bellamy, Creative Director and Architect
Referring to Winnipeg as the ‘Chicago of the North’ is like comparing the city to a famous child actor who, after his television show was cancelled, spent the rest of his life reminiscing about his time in the spotlight.
Focusing on this Chicago comparison not only discredits the diversity of what Winnipeg is today, it dilutes what the city was during the booming, turn-of-the-century rail-town days that inspired its nickname.
Grand Vision for Union Station
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By Brent Bellamy, Creative Director and Architect
In 1908, the headlines of the Manitoba Free Press boldly proclaimed Winnipeg's new train depot, to be constructed at the foot of Broadway, would be "the most modern railway terminal in the world."
It described the building as magnificent in proportions and luxurious in its appointments, the finest in the Dominion. American architects Warren and Wetmore, who were simultaneously designing Grand Central Station in New York, would go on to create a building that stood as the gateway to the Canadian West, a symbol of prosperity and optimism in the young city.
Crowd-sourcing the city - Collective experience making better buildings
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By Franz Greenwood, Architectural Designer
It is now all too simple to raise money online to pay for that Dr. Who concept rap album you’ve been wanting to record, or perhaps that dream of building your very own 50ft electromechanical serpent. The relative ease of gathering a number of people together online who are willing to contribute time or money to a common cause, however uncommon, has helped everyone from basement tinkerers to NGOs not only see a demand for their product or project but fund it, test it and eventually realize it.
Number TEN Blog
Number TEN Inspired! captures the knowledge, passion and ideas of our award winning architects, interior designers and supporting staff, as they navigate through the complexities of the modern design landscape. We are creative problem solvers, advocates for better ways of doing things, and observers of all that is interesting and noteworthy in our field. This blog is our effort to share our knowledge and ideas in a way that resonates with everyone. Whether you work in the industry as an architect, interior designer, building manager, property developer, or are just someone with an interest in creativity and new ways of doing things, this blog has something for you.
