The Niagara Region has announced Niagara Parks Power Station among the 11 Biennial Design Award winners. Designed by +VG Architects, ELLIS Engineering Inc., FORREC, Lord Cultural Resources, Science North, Stantec, and Thinkwell Montreal, the installation received the “Grand prize – Interior public space” award.
Submissions for the bi-annual program were chosen by a panel of design professionals. The awards were open to owners, developers, architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, engineers, interior designers, artists and students.
Currents: Niagara’s Power Transformed, is an interactive sound and light experience that radiates the historic facility. The former “Canadian Niagara Power Company generating station” harnessed the energy of the Horseshoe Falls and turned it into a source of electricity for over 100 years. Today, the landmark attraction highlights the history and architectural features of this structure.
The interior showcases restored artifacts and interactive exhibits, and preserves cultural heritage. The design team seamlessly integrated retail space, offices, and washroom facilities in the 115-year-old station.
The tail race tunnel brings guests down 55 metres in a glass-paneled elevator to a new observation deck at the river’s edge. The expansive generator hall with its gabled ceiling and exposed steel supports was maintained along with the generators.
“This magnificent project received a Grand Prize for its approach to adaptive reuse. It is like no other project submitted and is beautifully executed. The project displays the archaeology of modern tools and is a cultural heritage artifact of the pioneering electrical era. The roots of Niagara’s electrical power generation over the past century are skillfully captured in the design. It represents an incredible investment and the will of executing a project to such a high quality,” says the Jury.
Niagara Parks Power Station presents an interactive sound and light experience