Here's A First Look Rendering Of What The Peterborough Public Library Interior Will Look Like

The Library is excited to share a first look of its interior (see photo and caption info below), created in collaboration with +VG Architects and Intercede Design Consultants. The rendering gives the community a much anticipated image of what the new space will look like.

The Peterborough Public Library has been operating temporarily out of the lower level of Peterborough Square while the Main Branch on Aylmer Street has been under major renovations since June 2016. Now that demolition is complete, the construction of the addition has begun.

One of the highlights of this project—the central staircase that leads down to the children’s area on the lower level. Accessible public seating wraps around the staircase, allowing patrons to use the library's computers on one side, or sit comfortably enjoying a beverage from the onsite café on the other. Visible at the far end of the image is the wall that once concealed the upper level of the library which has been partially removed to create an inviting entrance into a completely re-imagined space. This upper level will be home to the Library’s new teen zone, the café, a new mid-size program room and three smaller study/meeting rooms.

"The objective with the interior space was to accentuate the existing curving design of the original architecture while transforming it to an open, airy and bright active community hub," says Nicole Crabtree, Associate Partner at +VG Architects.

The integrity and shape of the building has stayed relatively the same, but everything else about this Peterborough landmark is being updated. From the new addition and glass entryway to the open concept design, the new library will be a flexible community space. There will be upgraded lighting, more windows and natural light, new floors, an updated HVAC system and a number of new amenities which will make the library a bright and inviting space for the community to explore.

The new library is slated to reopen late summer 2017.

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat (ptbo_canada). Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.

Look At These Renderings Of Awesome Sustainable Upgrades Fleming College Is Getting

Fleming College, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017, is receiving vital and necessary upgrades to classrooms and labs at its Frost and Sutherland campuses through infrastructure funding from the federal and provincial governments.

The projects will update building areas that are original to their construction in the 1970s, and are slated to be completed by Spring 2018.

Culinary lab rendering supplied by Fleming College

The renovations provide an opportunity for Fleming to significantly improve sustainability. Renewal of the buildings’ exterior envelope, cladding and roofing—along with the installation of new lighting, mechanical and electrical systems—will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency.

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, via the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF), will provide Fleming College with $6.23 million to renew its health sciences facilities at Sutherland Campus.

This will be combined with a $1.36 million contribution from the provincial government and $4.87 million in institutional funding from Fleming for a total project cost of $12,463,000.

Nursing lab rendering supplied by Fleming College

Science lab rendering supplied by Fleming College

SIF will further fund a renovation to the GeoCentre and environmental sciences area at Frost Campus. The federal government will contribute $2.26 million to that project with another $2.26 million funded by Fleming for a total cost of $4,520,500.
 
“We are pleased to welcome this funding announcement from our federal and provincial governments,” says Fleming College President Tony Tilly. “With the recent opening of the Kawartha Trades and Technology Centre and the Fleming Sport Complex, we are excited to embark on yet another project to further improve and enhance our learning spaces on campus.”  

Exterior Sutherland

Society Study Space, Sutherland campus

Renovations at the Sutherland Campus will include:

-> Renovation of eight classrooms and five labs/skills simulation centres
-> Renewal of original classrooms that have little access to daylight or views
-> Redesign of corridors and staircases that experience overcrowding, particularly in the area where students access public transportation
-> New social study areas
-> Renewal of IT infrastructure
 
 
Renovations at the Frost Campus will include:

-> Renovation and expansion of existing geoscience labs: two new geology labs, two new storage rooms, four new offices, and a realigned corridor
-> Renovation of the existing fish hatchery lab/classroom into a dedicated classroom and adding two new environmental science labs
-> The labs will feature state-of-the-art learning technologies and flexibility in design
-> A secondary entrance will be added to the east wing, along with an elevator and ramp, to improve access and circulation
-> New technology and AV infrastructure

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat (ptbo_canada). Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.

Robinson Place In Downtown Peterborough Turns 20

Robinson Place at 300 Water Street turns 20 this year, and is hosting anniversary celebrations this Friday, November 4th. Home to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry as well as housing many other ministries, this building is also a provincial leader achieving LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum status two years ago.

One of Canada's most eco-friendly buildings, it has ample room for bicycle storage, a waterfall and community garden out back, and a 35,000-litre tank that gathers rainwater to be diverted to the flush toilets. Here are some photos of the various stages of construction...

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat (ptbo_canada). Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.

Renowned Canadian Architect Eb Zeidler Spent His Formative Years In Peterborough & Made Huge Mark Here

Before Eberhard Zeidler had his first huge architectural project, he spent more than a decade, 1951-1962, in Peterborough. While none of the projects would match the scale of the Eaton Centre or the McMaster Health Sciences Centre he did, several helped hone his skills, and to contextualize his ideas.

The Modernist trained in Bauhaus became more sensitive to the people who lived and worked in the buildings created by architects. Peterborough remained a part of his world long after he left.

When Eb Zeidler started working at the Blackwell and Craig architectural firm at the corner of Hunter and George, he already had impressive credentials, and had expectations of being a chief designer or architect in Canada.

However, he quickly learned that unlike in Germany, architects did not have to sign off on every building project. Architects rarely designed houses or factories, and there were not enough new churches, hospitals and office buildings to support very many architects. Zeidler began as a draftsman and the wages were low.

St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lakefield

For the first week, he stayed in a boarding house at Water and Parkhill, and then moved to the YMCA, which was closer to work. Blackwell and Craig had a major client in the Bank of Toronto, and had an office in Toronto designing new branches of the bank. The amalgamation of the Bank of Toronto and of the Dominion Bank of Canada occurred in early 1955, and there would be more architectural work for the firm.

But in early 1952, Zeidler was transferred to the Toronto office to work on designing new banks. There he worked with Ron Dalziel and William Ralston, the “chief designer of our firm”, and their office was in the Bank of Toronto’s “lovely classic temple” on Yonge across from Eaton’s. Zeidler drew the working drawings for Ralston’s design of the new branch at the corner of Dundas and University—a magnificent Art Deco building.

Architect Frank Franner had left Blackwell and Craig to start an engineering and construction firm known as Timber Structures, which was on the west side of High Street north of Lansdowne. He invited Zeidler, who had architectural and engineering experience, to join the new firm.

Early projects in Peterborough were a hockey rink and two churches, in which Zeidler said they worked with glulam, a new engineered product consisting of two-inch wooden planks laminated together and which could be bent into pleasing arches. Franner became an architect in Scarborough, and Timber Structures continued with David E. Ness as president; the Roy Studio had Timber Structures as a major client, and so an impressive collection of photos of their projects are in the Peterborough Museum and Archives.

When Jim Craig invited Zeidler to return to Blackwell and Craig, Zeidler took the two churches, Grace United and St. Giles Presbyterian, with him. Both projects were on hold as the congregations raised the necessary money. Zeidler’s first project as chief designer was to add, 1952-1953, a Sunday School hall to St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lakefield.

This was a two-storey box with glulam arches, and laid out parallel to Regent Street. To match the existing church, the roof angles matched, and stone facing joined the hall to the church. There was a narthex of glass between and exits to both Regent and Queen. “I thought the composition looked charming and fit well into the little village,” Zeidler said. He spent more time supervising this project because it was his first Canadian building.

Grace United Church

He was soon working on Grace United Church, on Monaghan across from Kenner Collegiate. The Sunday School on Barnardo Avenue connected with George Street United Church from the 1880s to the 1930s was also known as Grace. Because the congregation had only raised $100,000, the Sunday School was put in the “gloomy” basement “in Peterborough fashion.” The main entrance was at grade level, and the stairs went up for the church and down for the Sunday School.

That said, the church is quite amazing. Jim Craig and Bill Williams helped prepare the construction documentation, and the project was put to tender. Huffman Brothers came in below the architect’s budget and the building of the church was underway. The building used glulam arches, but the arches increased in height as they came closer to Monaghan Road, so the church reached its greatest height over the chancel and sanctuary and the roof extended over the front wall.

That wall facing Monaghan Road was manufactured by Norm Armstrong, a local precaster, and each square was coloured a different hue. Zeidler wanted the wall to be grey like a fieldstone wall but to have pink and green tones, “like natural fieldstone”. He also considered the ways the light would enter the church. Mainly, the light was concentrated on the communion table.

St. Giles Church

There were some critics of the church, but Zeidler was impressed by Robertson Davies’ “glowing editorial” in the Peterborough Examiner about the church which he felt captured our times, and met the needs of its people.

Zeidler worked on St. Giles Church, 1953-54. A few blocks north of Grace Church, St. Giles was a smaller church designed for a congregation of 200. The glass wall facing the street was screened with “a vertical grille of laminated wood slabs perpendicular to the glass.” At some angles, the wall looked solid; at others, the light streamed in.

The firm of Blackwell and Craig did a major addition at St. John’s Anglican Church in Peterborough, 1956-1958, that presented several difficulties. As in Lakefield, the stones removed from one wall were used in building the joining walls between the 1835 church and the 1878 parish hall (which had been expanded by William Blackwell in 1900 and 1926).

St. John’s Anglican Church

Zeidler only mentions this project in his chronology of selected works. However, as archivist-historian at St. John’s since 1976, I have often had to give guided tours of this remarkable Peterborough landmark. The plan was well-executed particularly as it dealt with enclosing the space between the church and the hall and extending the parish hall north on two levels.

However, it continues to bother me that when the new chapel was joined to the nave, a huge hole was carved in the wall of the nave, and two large stained glass windows were cut in half. I always begin my tour of the church standing in this hole and looking at the magnificent vertical lines of the neo-Gothic church that captures all the major ideas of neo-Gothic architecture in the Victorian era.

During the 1950s, Zeidler worked on additions to other local churches such as St. James United, Park Street Baptist and Mark Street United. During the 1950s, churches in the area were adding rooms for Sunday School classes, and the increased space has been easily used for other purposes since then. He did renovations at George Street United and St. George’s Anglican Church.  

In 1959, Zeidler designed the new parish hall for what became St. Barnabas Church; as it turned out, the parish hall did double duty so well that a proposed church was never constructed, and the reserved property was used for housing. That same year, Bridgenorth United Church was built. During the 1960s, he did an addition at Fairview United in Smith Township (now Selwyn), and churches in Norwood, Campbellford.

Zeidler worked on the new Beth Israel Synagogue during 1963-64, and it was quickly recognized as outstanding, and was featured in Peterborough: Land of Shining Waters (1966). He worked closely with the rabbi about interpreting the Jewish faith in this building. It took many years for the congregation of about 60 to raise the necessary funds. Rabbi Rosenberg spoke at the opening of the synagogue and gave what Zeidler considered a “rousing speech.”

Rosenberg compared the building to the Lion of Judah: “the powerful body hovering in quiet anticipation with its two paws outstretched to protect its faithful.” The front was defined by a colonnade and Zeidler had created an entrance to the synagogue through a courtyard that was flanked by two classrooms. On reflection, Zeidler thought Rabbi Rosenberg was correct: “it was a small temple that sat like a lion brooding at the edge of a hill, part of the landscape, visible and yet not intruding."

Zeidler’s success with religious buildings was well-established. His first churches showed that even with tight budgets, a great architect could produce stunning results. He built numerous churches, even as late as 1985.

In 2009, he said he considered his first architectural projects to be the Richard Hamilton home in Peterborough and Grace United Church, “both built with some influences from Germany.” However, quite early, his work was also sensitive to the particular sites and the problems to overcome. People had emotional responses to each of his buildings.

—guest column by Peterborough historian Elwood H. Jones. Photos by Evan Holt.

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat (ptbo_canada). Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for PTBOBuzz newsletter here. Watch our PTBOCanada Love video here.

Here Are Drawings Of The New Park That Will Replace Old Peterborough County Jail

The old decrepit jail at Peterborough County Courthouse on Water Street is partially being demolished, and the plan is to convert the site into a park.

A peek at the plans from Peterborough's Lett Architects reveals many walls will be left standing, giving the impression of beautiful garden walls.

Lett Architect drawing

The County is preserving what it can of the old building, and will "then honour the history of the location with interpretive panels throughout the park that tell the stories of the site."

The park project is slated to begin in early Spring, and it looks impressive and picturesque.

Lett Architect drawing

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com   

heneghan peng Architects Announced As Winning Design For New Canoe Museum

After working through 97 high quality Stage 1 submissions from leading firms located all over the world, the Canadian Canoe Museum announced on Thursday (January 21st) Ireland-based heneghan peng and Toronto-based Kearns Mancini as the designers of the new Canadian Canoe Museum at the Peterborough Lift Lock. One of the reasons why their design won is that their design worked organically with the land rather than overwhelming it.

"The organically-shaped volume banded on its top edge with local hardwood is embedded within the site’s drumlins, allowing the museum’s light-sensitive collections of historic birch bark canoes that date back to the 1780s and aboriginal artefacts to enjoy energy-passive, naturally dark spaces. The museum’s stunning two-acre green roof will provide the community with the possibility of creating edible gardens, native flower pollinators and aboriginal three sister plantings while facilitating efficient management of storm water and fantastic views to the Lift Lock."

The design includes:

• 17,000 sq ft of exhibition

• 20,000 sq ft of high bay storage that will be accessible to the public

• 250-seat multi-purpose room available for events and weddings

• Eastern door for aboriginal sunrise ceremonies

• Restaurant, café; local food

• Gift shop

• Toddler play area

• Trent-Severn Canal Exhibition, Parks Canada

• Artisanal workshops

• On-canal programming, canoe skills for all ages, winter and summer

• Citizenship ceremonies in canoes, next to the museum

• Connections to Trent-Severn bike path, in front of the museum

• Outdoor terrace and public space for yoga, food festivals 

“The design looks forward to the importance of sustainability, respect and responsibility as we move forward as a Nation to the Sesquicentennial in 2017, and beyond,” says Richard Tucker, executive director of the Canadian Canoe Museum.

“The design speaks to the importance of the contents, programming and messages conveyed by the Canadian Canoe Museum and its craft to all Canadians,” Tucker adds.

White-model of #thenewcanoemuseum the museum embraces aboriginal wisdom to live and build lightly on the land. pic.twitter.com/tgDzrj32hE

— Canoe Museum (@CndnCanoeMuseum) January 22, 2016

Learn more over at the Canadian Canoe Museum's website.

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com.

242 Hunter St. Building Is Completed In Downtown Peterborough

Ashburnham Realty has completed their beautiful new commercial/residential building at 242 Hunter St. (Hunter/Aylmer) in downtown Peterborough. 

242 Hunter St.

"We are very excited that 242 Hunter St. is now complete," Ashburnham Realty co-founder Paul Bennett tells PTBOCanada. "This is the 3rd and final building addition to our Fleming Place block."

Inside 242 residential suite

"All of the commercial business are operating and experiencing great success," adds Bennett. "All of the residential tenants have settled into their cool new homes. More reasons to come downtown Peterborough to shop or live!"

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com.