Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

This competition, launched in 1989, aimed at providing the city of Kitchener with a New City Hall. The former City Hall, destroyed in 1973, was considered both inadequate in size and in its capacity to accommodate public activities symbolizing the communitarian aspirations of this southern Ontario city of 160,000 inhabitants.

The new building was to house various civic and administrative activities as well as create a new urban centre for public gatherings. The City wished that the new building be a catalyst, as an integral component of the city centre. Furthermore, the project was to be appropriate in scale and character to Kitchener's downtown area, while encouraging and anticipating the redevelopment of this district. Workspaces within the new building were to be designed with particular attention to views and natural lighting. The new facility was also to provide both interior and exterior spaces for planned and spontaneous ceremonial activities. Finally, the New City Hall was to be a symbol of Kitchener; a city renowned for its multiculturalism, dynamic economic activity, stability, historic pride and confidence in the future.

This competition provided the material for a follow-up publication by The Melting Press with the collaboration of Larry Richards, George Baird, Tom McKay, Detlef Mertins, Douglas Shadbolt and Brigitte Shim. This publication contains general essays relating to the question of architectural competitions with specific attention to the Canadian context. It also includes the history of Kitchener's New City Hall, from the programme, the jury and the jury's report of the competition. Descriptions of the winning project, the finalists and other entries having received an honourable mention, are also included.

(Program excerpt)