Edmonton City Hall

The Edmonton City Hall is the home of the municipal government of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Designed by Dub Architects, the building was completed in 1992. It was built to replace the former city hall after it had become outdated and expensive to operate.[6]

Edmonton City Hall
City Hall's main pyramid and fountain. To the left is a cenotaph; in the background is the CN, and Epcor Towers.
General information
TypeCity hall
Architectural stylePostmodern
Address1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, Alberta
T5J 2R7
Coordinates53°32′44″N 113°29′24.5″W
Construction startedJune 1990[1]
OpenedAugust 28, 1992[2]
CostC$48.9 million[1]
($77.7 million in 2018 dollars[3])
OwnerCity of Edmonton
Height43 m (141 ft)
Technical details
Floor count3
Design and construction
ArchitectDub Architects
Main contractorStuart Olson Dominion[4]
Awards and prizesAmerican Concrete Institute - 1993 Award for Excellence for Design and Construction[5]
Other information
Public transit access Churchill station

Design

The building features two steel and glass pyramids, one 43 metres (141 ft) (ground to peak), on top of a three-storey concrete structure. One pyramid provides natural light for the main atrium, the other for the council chambers.[7] The building also features a 60 metres (200 ft) clock Friendship Tower topped with a set of 23-carillon bells.[8] Located on the eastern edge of the financial district in Edmonton's downtown, the building is the main feature on Sir Winston Churchill Square. In the winter, the fountain is converted to a skating rink.

The design for the city hall met with some controversy when it was first announced. The original design called for the building to be topped with four cones. The cones were meant to pay tribute to the tipis that the First Nations once lived in on the site. The design met with negative feedback from the public as they felt it looked like dunce caps and nuclear reactors.[9] Dub Architects then revised their design to replace the cones with the pyramids, with the pyramids designed to be evocative of the Rocky Mountains and the Muttart Conservatory.

  • City Hall interior
  • Council Chambers
  • A monument to the Ukrainian Famine in front of City Hall

References
  1. Jimenez, Marina (August 24, 1992). "Civic pride swells at opening of city hall". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alberta. p. B1.
  2. McIntyre, Heather (August 27, 2012). "Edmonton's city hall turns 20". Metro Edmonton. Free Daily News Group. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  3. Canadian inflation numbers based on Statistics Canada tables 18-10-0005-01 (formerly CANSIM 326-0021) "Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted". Statistics Canada. November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020. and 18-10-0004-13 "Consumer Price Index by product group, monthly, percentage change, not seasonally adjusted, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit". Statistics Canada. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  4. "Edmonton City Hall". Stuart Olson Dominion. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  5. "Dub Architects / Public Projects / Edmonton City Hall". dubarchitects.ca. 2013 Dub Architects Ltd. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  6. Herzog, Lawrence (August 10, 2011). "Edmonton's 1957 City Hall". Herzog on Heritage. Edmonton Heritage Council. Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  7. "Edmonton City Hall". CISC-ICCA. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  8. "Features of City Hall". City of Edmonton. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
  9. Kent, Gordon (August 29, 2012). "'Our favourite building' puts on a party". Edmonton Journal. Canada.com. Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.