The project is a new city hall for the city of Lethbridge, Alberta, intended to replace the
current building which was outgrown over twenty years ago, forcing several departments and
city council to be housed in separate buildings. Past proposals for a new city hall have been
confined to the current location in the Civic Centre, located on the periphery of the central
business district. The primary objective of this project, however, was to create a city hall that
was a successful public building, functioning not only as a setting for civic functions and
ceremonies, but also as a place of everyday gatherings and activities that would contribute to the
vitality of the city. For this reason a site was chosen downtown, on a block across from Gait
Gardens, a park that at one time was the early coal mining settlement's town square.
Once the commercial centre of the city, the blocks around Gait Gardens contain many
heritage buildings, including the original city hall building. As retail activity moved to other
locations the area and the park went into general decline. The block chosen as the site was
cleared in 1965 and is currently occupied by a supermarket and a parking lot. In recent years the
City of Lethbridge has made plans to reestablish Gait Gardens as the heart of the downtown area.
Part of this strategy includes a radical redesign of the park itself which destroys much of its
original formal plan.
Locating an important public building, like City Hall, adjacent to the park would be a
positive contribution to the revival of the area. City offices wrap around a wind-sheltered
courtyard and large interior public space in order to fill up the block and to allow the building to
come out to the street. The original twenty-five foot lot lines that ran east-west across the site
govern the location and dimensions of major building elements. A tower, housing chimes and
wind driven panels, marks the ceremonial entrance facing the park. A restaurant and small retail
outlet are located along the west side of the building to support activity outside city hall hours.
The southeast corner of Gait Gardens is redesigned to become a public plaza. Its main feature is
a square reflecting pool and skating rink that corresponds exactly to the dimensions of the city
hall courtyard. The park otherwise retains its original character and layout. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/3832 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Kimber, Russell Alan |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 2477137 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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