Grounded by place, the new Riverbend Library sits on the land like a glacial erratic left behind by time, while simultaneously becoming a landmark for the next generation. Indigenous peoples have inhabited this river valley area for thousands of years, using the North Saskatchewan River and its tributaries as primary transportation routes for this region. The new Library will acknowledge these shared histories of Treaty 6 lands and celebrate the regions’ rich biodiversity by re-establishing connection between people and landscape.
The sense of time and the changing climate are marked though its material choices, using materials that age according to their exposure and orientation in the environment. Rammed earth walls emerge from the land using their striations to guide people into the building like the flow of water in the nearby river & creek. Open sightlines through the building welcome everyone to the heart of what the library has to offer.
The compact massing and refined material palette draw inspiration from a keystone species, the bison, with its hues of brown and red. The highly textured top and clean bottom drawing from the molting process the animal goes through between the summer and winter months. Additional texture is gained through sections of raised lettering around the façade that tells the story of the indigenous communities.
Location
Edmonton, Alberta
Design Team
Omar Gandhi Architects, Sturgess Architecture, Carrie Allison, RPG, Transsolar.
Visualization
Norm Li
