Visiting architects at the IBCPA site

By Meredith Dault, Senior Communications Officer

Thirty-nine American architects with Snøhetta, the internationally renowned design firm behind the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts (IBCPA), donned hard hats and steel-toed boots to tour the facility as part of a special visit to Queen’s. The architects were in town as part of an annual company study trip to see recent projects.

“I can’t tell you how pleased we are to have you here,” Jerry Doiron, Director of the IBCPA, told the group of architects at a luncheon held just before the tour. “I know you will be proud of yourselves when you see the building.”

Craig Dykers, principal architect with Snøhetta, who have also completed projects like the Oslo opera house and the reconstruction of Times Square in New York City, recalled first seeing the site for the IBCPA on a snowy winters day, never believing his firm would win the contract. “It really was an audacious attempt to build something unique,” he said.

 Visiting the concert hall, still under construction

The 80,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility will feature an acoustically superior concert hall, a studio theatre, a screening room and a rehearsal space. It will also house the majority of the university’s creative art departments  - drama, film and media, and music - and provide some facilities for the department of art.

“It has been wonderful to see it become a reality,” said project architect Takeshi Tornier, who has been overseeing the building’s construction for the last two years. “It has been a long process but finally we’re here,” he said. “Hopefully everyone will like what they see.”

The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts has been made possible with a generous donation from Drs. Alfred and Isabel Bader, and in partnership with the Federal and Provincial governments as well as the City of Kingston.

Click for more on the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts