Performing Arts Venues
National Music Center of Canada
Keith Alnwick | Allied Works Architects
Research | Site Analysis | Collections Analysis | Concept Design | Proposal & Competition Documentation
Modeling | Videography | Schematic Design | Programming
The National Music Centre encompasses a museum, performance hall, music education center, recording studio and broadcast center. Sited in Calgary’s historic East Village, the new building, along with the restored King Edward Hotel, signals the renaissance of the district and attracts new audiences to the city.
As a major civic institution, the open call for design teams attracted widespread interest, with over 70 submissions from 3 continents. The finalist phase required detailed design concepts, public presentations and videography to share the concepts and vision with a national and international audience.
The building is organized as interlocking towers that hold the diverse programs and collections of the Centre. Wrapped inside and outside in terra cotta that evokes the earth and light of the prairie, the formal and material expression echoes the landscape of southern Alberta and the mechanics of instrument construction.
Coliseum Theater Historical Reconstruction
Brett Holverstott | Elijah Evenson
Historical Research | Digital Modeling | Documentation
Designed by Marcus Priteca, the Coliseum Theater opened in 1916 in Seattle as a 2,400 seat silent movie cinema. Hailed as one of the world’s first “photoplay palaces,” it featured a mix of renaissance ornamentation (masks, wreaths, cartouches) and Egyptian mosaics and motifs. In 1950, much of the original interior was replaced, and in 1993, the lower level was demolished and converted to retail. Our team was tasked with rediscovering the design of the historic interior, including a reconstruction of ornamentation and mosaics.