Francis Winspear Centre for Music

Hearing the Pin Drop

A community comes together to create an acoustic masterpiece

Edmonton, Alberta

Arrangement

The project grew out of the community's love for music and is largely a reality because of the strong sense of purpose that was present with all of the partners involved. Ultimately, it was developed under a fixed price development approach in response to the owner’s performance specifications and identified design and construction budget. The results far exceed the budget.

Keeping time

The Centre, featuring a 1,900 seat auditorium, opened on schedule and without a single change to the price. It remains central to the downtown arts and social scenes.

Reverberation

The walls of the performance chamber are micro-textured to create outstanding reverberance and clarity, which has resulted in a global reputation for acoustic excellence.

Local leaf

The chamber walls feature five undulating lines representing the staff of music and the North Saskatchewan River, which runs through the city, along with leaf impressions collected by those working on the project from around the River Valley.

Project facts

Cost: $31.2 Million
Size: 15,320 sq. m.
Completion: 1997
Collaborators: Hemisphere Engineering, Artec
Builder: PCL/ Maxam
Client: Edmonton Concert Hall Foundation