Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan got the inspiration for Qaumajuq — a new wing of the Winnipeg Art Gallery dedicated to Inuit work — from a trip he took to Nunavut. Maltzan’s schematic design consists of a sculpted granite facade resting on a luminous glazed podium. At the centre of the atrium is an art-filled, three-storey vault, visible through sinuous glass. The main exhibition space features a mix of convex and concave walls, all beneath circular skylights that channel the sun. The building, with its curvilinear and monumental forms, evokes a northern realm of snowdrifts, ice floes and undulating topographies.
Team Michael Maltzan, Tim Williams, Gee-ghid Tse, Sara Jacinto, Michael Faciejew, Raffy Mardirossian, Paul Morel, Niel Prunier, Andrew Smith-Rasmussen and Casey Benito (Michael Maltzan Architecture); George Cibinel, Mike Robertson and Steff Beernaerts (Cibinel Architecture Ltd.); Guy Nordenson & Associates; Stantec; Lam Partners; Crosier Kilgour Partners; MCW/AGE Consulting Professional Engineers; Epp Siepman Engineering; WSP; HTFC Planning and Design; RJ Bartlett Engineering
Michael Maltzan’s design features a mix of convex and concave walls, all beneath circular skylights that channel the sun.