FACILITIES GUIDE

Robert Steven, Executive Director/Curatorrsteven@aggp.ca

Susan Bibby, Bookkeeperaccounting@aggp.ca

Melanie Jenner, Marketing & Online Experience Managermelanie@aggp.ca

Todd Schaber, Alberta Foundation for the Arts Travelling Exhibition Manager/Curatortodd@aggp.ca

Sabine Schneider, Community Experience Managersabine@aggp.ca

Rob Swanston, Preparatorrob@aggp.ca

T 780.532.8111 | F 780.539.9522 | E info@aggp.ca | www.aggp.ca

#103, 9839–103 Avenue | Grande Prairie, Alberta | T8V 6M7

GALLERY HOURS

10 AM to 9 PM | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10 AM to 6 PM | Friday10 AM to 5 PM | Saturday 1 PM to 5 PM | Sunday

Photographs courtesy of Teeple Architects Inc.

Installation views of the exhibitions include:

Bill Burns: Bird Radio and the Eames Chair Lounge (Galleries 1 and 2)Journey 2012: a collection of work Carmen Haakstad and Jim Stokes (Galleries 3 and 4)

Guide layout and design

Studies have shown that many people feel that there are barriers between them and the art museum. We are trying to identify those barriers and reduce them.

The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie is a new three-storey gallery fit within the two-storey masonry shell of the former Grande Prairie High School– a building within a building. The project expands the existing art gallery built within the Prairie Design Award-winning Montrose Cultural Centre, designed and completed by Teeple Architects in 2009. With the new expansion, the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie becomes the second largest art gallery in the province and is the key cultural focal point within the city’s growing civic precinct.

The gallery is conceived of as a sequence of architectural experiences, creating a rich variety of curatorial opportunities and new and dramatic ways of exhibiting and viewing art. Seven galleries, varying from very small and intimate to large and expansive, follow each other in a sequence through which visitors are naturally drawn. Visual interconnectivity of spaces creates a richness of experience, allows glimpses of future moments in the sequence and allows objects in the collection to be perceived from multiple points of view.

The new gallery connects to the existing with a glass bridge suspended within a double height gallery, spanning what was previously the gap between the old school building and the Montrose Cultural Centre. The new three-storey structure is held twelve feet back from the existing masonry walls, creating a tall, naturally lit gallery in the interstitial space between the new and existing structures.

Diffuse natural light is brought into the galleries through angled light monitors that reflect clerestory light into the galleries while concealing the source of the light. This carefully orchestrated daylighting strategy is combined with sensitive environmental design to satisfy the strict requirements of Canadian Cultural Property standards.

The gallery achieves a new level of openness by bringing the traditional back-of-house functions of education, research, archival storage, and even the workshop into the visitor experience to maximize educational opportunities.

Flexibility and functionality are top priorities of the design. The role of the architecture is to enhance the experience of the art and to create opportunities for the artists and curators.

Gallery1

East wall West wall

North wall

N

Main Entrance

4.85 m

Stairs to Gallery 7

3.2 m5.8 m

O�ces

Reception Desk

5.1 m

3.2 m

2.95 m

4.85 m

4.5 m

1.1 m

0.75 m

0.6 m

2.95 m

5.8 m

As we enter Gallery 1, we see that it is a very small introductory space that adjoins with Gallery 2 and it can be made into it’s own separate gallery with our mobile walls, the Mila Wall System, which can be installed for any temporary exhibition.

The floor is all structural slab construction over the parkade below and flooring finish is gray porcelain tile, 24 x 48 inches. There are, at numerous points throughout the floor and all around the base boards and occasionally in the ceilings, receptacles for both power and data. The data jacks allow us to transport almost any kind of signal to reduce the use of exposed wiring in exhibitions.

2Gallery

East wall

South wall

North wall

West wall

N

Shipping/receiving

Elevator

To Gallery 3

To o�cesStairs to Gallery 7

23.4 m

16 m

9.9 m

2.41 m

2.3 m

9.9 m

7.0 m

2.95 m

4.05 mWallextends into Gallery 1 1.4 m

Tall narro

w o

pe

nin

g

23.4 m

16.0 m

23.4 m

7.0 m

7.4 m

2.96 m To o�ces

7.0 m

9.9 m

3.0 m

4.4 m

2.3 m

2.41 m

To Gallery 3

Shipping/Receiving

4.0 m

3.2 m

The highlight of Gallery 2 is its size—23 foot ceilings and the largest floor area of any of our exhibition spaces. In the ceiling are 32 separately dimmable circuits for the purpose of lighting. The Lutron dimming system and LSI track give us maximum lighting flexibility. It can even produce scenic effects over time, where the system can be programmed to flash lights on and off, or dim lights up and down over periods of time and repeat as needed.

The ceiling in Gallery 2 is drywall, but there are two rows of nine eye bolts that are attached to the building structure running through the ceiling, each of which will allow us to suspend objects weighing up to 500 pounds.

3Gallery

East wall

South wallNorth wall

West wall

N

6.85 m

2.63 m

4.4 m

To Gallery 2and elevator

To Gallery 4 Glass bridge overhead1.5 m

2.63 m

7.5 m

6.85 m

2.4 m To Gallery 2

5.1 m

7.5 m

2.9 m

1.0 m

1.2 m

2.63 m 1.6 m 2.63 m

West wall

Doorway to Gallery 6

Doorway to Gallery 4

5.1 m

7.5 m

2.4 m

2.9 m

2.3 m

4.4 m

Door to Gallery 2

Doorway to Gallery 7

East wall

South wall

7.5 m

6.85 m

Gallery 3 is nearly a cube, approximately 22 feet by 22 feet by 24 feet high. People often ask why there are so many registers in the floor. These are diffusers and the reason for that is the displacement ventilation system which is meant to be highly energy efficient. Having so many penetrations through

the slab for the air to pass allows the air to be partially carried by its own convection currents rather than exclusively by fans. There is a fan that is used to move air through the building, but it is considerably smaller and more energy efficient than in a conventional building.

The highlight of Gallery 3 is the glass bridge that walks through it on the second floor level. Every wall, every ceiling, every angled reflector for the skylights is lined with ¾ inch plywood so that we can hang heavy objects anywhere that we want to without fear of lack of support for them.

4GalleryMany themes run through the architecture of the gallery—transparency, transcendence, exploration, accountability. Glass partitions and windows in different areas (classroom, workshop, print storage) gives access to the public like never before. The Art Gallery of Grande Prairie is dedicated to being open, responsible, and responsive to the public interest. This is YOUR gallery and the staff has been given the task to protect and present the collection (close to 600 works as of 2012) and every new exhibition that passes through the doors.

East wall

South wall

North wall

West wall

N

17.5 m

Ceiling Height 7.6 m

Ceiling Height 3.1 m

6.6 m 6.6 m

1.6 m

1.5 m

1.78

m

1.6 m1.5 m 7.1 m5.8 m

To Gallery 3

Stairs to Gallery 6

To Gallery 5 To Gallery 5

To Vestibule

1.6 m 1.6 m9.1 m

5.8 m

6.8 m

4.5 m

7.1 m

2.4

m

2.4

m

1.5 m

To Gallery 3

To Vestibule

To Gallery 5

To Gallery 5

8.7 m

6.6 m

4.3 m

7.5 m

3.0

m

1.78 m

Stairway to Gallery 6

8.7 m

6.6 m

3.0 m2.3 m

0.7

m

Gallery 5 South

10.7 m

17.5 m

1.6 m

6.8 m

5.2 m

3.1 m 2.4 m

Continuous wall(through to Gallery 6)

Stairway to Gallery 6

Gallery 4 has two different ceiling heights with the lower ceiling suspended not quite in the middle, even though it is open on both sides. One reason to have a variety of ceiling heights in the building is to provide a comfortable and architecturally appropriate presentation for works of art, regardless of their size.

There are many artists working in the Peace Country on a smaller scale, and of course, the scale of Gallery 2 is not necessarily appropriate for every kind of work. And we don’t want any works of art or any artists to be left out of the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie.

We want there to be the opportunity to show almost anything to its best advantage. Visitors have the opportunity to look down into this space from several locations above. That has a lot to do with the fact that just as art can change your perspective on life or change your perspective on the world, the architect has created the opportunity to change your physical perspective on the art that we display.

5GalleryThe façade which once was the Grande Prairie High School, built in 1929, has been meticulously recreated using the original historic bricks. Longtime visitors to the gallery may recognize the West exterior, but on the inside a completely new structure has been constructed, giving the gallery a third level.

South wall

North wall

N13

.25

m

13.2

5 m

8.8

m

8.0 m1.64

m7.0

m

7.8 m

2.7 m3.28 m

2.64 m

Stairs to Lower levelGlassed area

To Gallery 4

To Gallery 4

Windows Windows

= highest elevation

= lowest elevation

5.5 m

13.25 m

4.9 m

5.5 m

13.25 m

4.9 m

Now we enter Gallery 5. Through Galleries 3 and 4 it was virtually impossible for anyone to guess that they were inside one of the oldest buildings in Grande Prairie.

There are no hints until you come into Gallery 5 and you see that you are in the historic 1929 Grande Prairie High School building.

You get this new perspective, again, on the nature, size, and volume of that building with the ceiling in here being approximately the height of the ceiling in the old building.

With all of the windows from the old building being visible as you come around the corner you get a view of Gallery 5 and the entire length of the building as if it were hollowed out.

You can also see here where the natural light gets in from the clerestory windows on the North side and that light reflects down into Gallery 5.

6Gallery

Teeple Architects, designers of the gallery, have incorporated many remarkable and thoughtful elements. When you enter the gallery spaces, starting in Gallery 1 and proceeding in numerical order through to Gallery 7, you may notice that each space and level becomes progressively lighter (both in actual light and materials used). The main level has dark porcelain floor tiles and expansive heights. Moving through Gallery 5 and rising up the staircase to Galleries 6 and the Children’s Gallery the visitor is exposed to more windows, lighter floor materials and more intimate spaces. Finally, as you exit Gallery 6, crossing over the Glass Bridge above Gallery 3, you experience the full height and intensity of Gallery 7 with windows at child height to the South and windows on both the North and South sides allowing light to flood the space.

East wall

South wallNorth wall

West wall

N

7.0 m

1.5

m

1.5

m

1.5 m

1.5 m

6.97 m

5.88 m9.2 m

Stai

rway

to

Gal

lery

5

View to Gallery 4

Gallery 4 below

To Children’s Gallery

Bridge to Gallery 7

Bridge over Gallery 3 to Gallery 7

To Children’s Gallery

East wall

5.85 m

8.7 m

2.9 m

1.5 m

0.3 m 0.9 m

2.38 m

View of Gallery 4

Glass guard

7.0 m

3.28 m2.0 m

1.25 m

Passage to stairway and Gallery 5

7.0 m

3.28 m

1.5 m

Continuous wall through to Gallery 4

Passage to stairway and Gallery 5

9.2 m

10.7 m1.0 m

2.4 m

As we go upstairs we are presented with other themes –exploration and transcendence. If you recall when we were in Gallery 5 we could see from the side that there was a staircase but we had already been in Gallery 4 and not necessarily seen into the entry of the staircase.

This is Gallery 6.

This is an example of what the architect has done to encourage exploration throughout the building. At various points–and most of them upstairs–he gives you sight lines towards interesting views, places he hopes you would be interested in seeing but he does not make it obvious how to get to those places.

In Gallery 6 that experience of rising up into the sky starts to get even more developed with this large space filled with natural light above, the natural light reflecting off various surfaces down into this space. These shaped skylights are meant to bring natural light into the gallery, and they also mitigate all the hazards relating to it.

The architect is also trying to lighten the feeling of the building as you rise upward; making it seem more open, trying to make it seem that you are further away from the earth, further away from daily troubles, daily thoughts, and that you ascend to this transcendent place–you are ascending to this other level of contemplation and experience that is a metaphor for what the experience of art can be like.

There is also a lookout point back down to Gallery 4 and we can see the enormous display wall in Gallery 4 from a different perspective.

7GalleryMany areas of the gallery give both the visitor inside and the observer outside different and compelling views of the space. If you are in the Children’s Gallery, for example, you can see through multiple spaces into the Children’s Library section at the other end of the complex. If an observer were in the Teresa Sargent Hall, they could look up and see artwork and visitors interacting in Gallery 7, physically breaking down the barriers between the exterior and the interior.

South wall

North wall

N27.5 m

23.3 m

1.3

4 m

1.5

7 m

5.2

8 m

2.7 m 2.8 m

2.38 m

0.86 m

Stai

rway

to

Gal

lery

1

and

Mai

n e

ntr

ance

Elevator from Main floor

Windows overlooking hall

Stairway to elevator

bridge to vestibule

Bridge to Gallery 6

28.8 m

7.2 m

6.3

3 m

.46 m

.3 m1.38 m

2.0 m

3.5 m

wall to bridge

windows

windows

23.3 m

7.2 m

6.3

3 m

1.9 m

5.3

m1.9

m

4.4

3 m

stairway to elevator

windows

North wall

As we arrive back in Gallery 3 on the bridge that we saw from below, we stand on the sandblasted glass surface that allows light to pass through it from the reflector above that is angled to reflect light straight down through the glass to give the impression that the bridge is glowing.

This is where the story of rising up into the clouds really comes to its peak. Now you are standing here without visible means of support around you with complete visibility down to the exhibition spaces below. What you are standing on might appear to be a cloud, the colour of the sky reflecting on the ceiling above.

Gallery 7 ramps gently downwards through a very tall, light filled space that looks out over the Teresa Sargent Hall, where the community gathers to celebrate its most significant moments and through Gallery 7’s windows, we share the art experience in the civic life of Grande Prairie.

T 780.532.8111 | F 780.539.9522 | E info@aggp.ca | www.aggp.ca

#103, 9839–103 Avenue | Grande Prairie, Alberta | T8V 6M7