Inuit Art Centre Construction Update

WAG Inuit Art Centre. Photo: WAG Staff.

Construction continues at an energetic pace to insulate and close in the walls and roof of the WAG Inuit Art Centre before the arrival of real winter weather. Both are scheduled to be finished in November. As well, the bridges connecting the WAG to the WAG Inuit Art Centre have been cut in the exterior walls.

“It’s a race to get closed in before winter comes. As soon as the outer walls are up, we’ll turn on the heat and the tradespeople can go to town on the interior work,” says Rick Chopp, WAG Inuit Art Centre project manager.

“We’ve been battling the weather a bit this fall, and lost a few days with the October storm,” Rick continued, “Barring a blizzard, however, the weather will not stop us.”

Two stories of glass

While the outside walls of the top two floors are white granite, they are glass on the bottom two, wrapping the visible vault, and the start of your visitor experience, in natural light.

It’s rare to go to an art museum and be met, face-to-face, with art right away. The existing WAG is a testament to wonderful design, and like all galleries, the art is protected from the damaging effects of sunlight. At the WAG Inuit Art Centre, art will be the first thing you see, with stone carvings greeting you.

All the interior walls on the main floors, as well as the vault itself, will be glass. So, wherever you are on those two floors you’ll experience the amazing carvings in the visible vault. You’ll also have views of the Legislative Building and the city going by.

The interplay of interior and exterior space continues to the glass-enclosed second floor, which features the floating terrace you can now see cantilevered toward St. Mary’s Avenue.

The terrace is an extension of the Knowledge Centre, which includes activity space and the library and archives. It will provide an area for you to read, create, contemplate, and have conversations, all overlooking Winnipeg below.

We hope you share our energy and excitement as the Centre’s spaces take shape and the transformation continues. We are working towards a late fall 2020 grand opening.

We encourage you to drive by, if you can, and take in the Centre’s evolution that you have made possible.