The Children’s Museum is a conversion of a century-old department store, which maximizes the original building’s structure of steel columns and beams and mill floor decking. This renovation is part of Kitchener’s urban design plan to rejuvenate the historic main street and marks a significant re-investment in public life on King Street.
The interior spaces are designed to support the theme of the museum, celebrating the historic and current economic and cultural identities of the region - technology and art. The building is landlocked on three sides, so an atrium was carved out of the building to provide light and visibility throughout all the floors. This space has become the dominant image for the museum. It is also the primary space, choreographing both vertical and horizontal circulation. It is a place of reverie, where curious volumes and planes float mysteriously in a kind of abstract symphony of forms pitched to the child’s imagination. The King Street elevation incorporates these motifs, giving glimpses of the life within.
View Original