5/6 2016 CANADIAN INTERIORS

The Queen Elizabeth Atrium’s cascading staircase provides an active option for vertical circulation through the original Sun Life Building (1929) that now operates as Canada House’s working wing. By stepping out into the atrium’s tight space, it provides multiple platforms that serve as spaces for social interaction delightfully washed by eastern sunlight from a massive skylight.

An iconic home away from home gets a makeover

By Rhys Phillips

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43CANADIAN INTERIORS 5/6 2016 42

“We wanted to show Canada, not tell Canada,” is a line Canada’s High Commissioner to the U.K., Gordon Campbell, repeats several times as we tour Canada House, located on the western edge of London’s Trafalgar Square. His point is simple: the renovated and revitalized embassy is intended as a tour de force of contemporary Canadian design reflecting strong Canadian themes all deftly layered into an intricately restored Grade II heritage building. And such is its symbiotic interweaving of historic and Modern, that hard-to-please English Heritage, who monitored the project throughout, blessed the outcome as the best restoration in London at its opening. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Canada House’s almost classically balanced Trafalgar Square façade unites two buildings designed between 1823 and 1827 by British Na-tional Gallery architect Sir Robert Smirke. The Union Club component was purchased in 1923 with its conjoined twin, the Royal College of Physicians, added in 1963. Even though it was repaired after almost being sold in 1993, Canada House’s interior by 2012 was drab, rather shopworn and largely used only for occasional events. But with an en-thusiastic Campbell installed, a new British-centric Conservative gov-ernment in place and the adjacent Sun Life Assurance Building (1929) purchased, transformation was on order. Edmonton’s Stantec Architec-ture was handed the task of a complete makeover including consolidat-ing all 240 dispersed staff into the expanded Trafalgar Square location. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stantec’s mandate included a major infrastructure upgrade as well as inserting modern office spaces into Cockspur, indifferently renovated in the 1980s. Three connections through one-metre-thick walls separat-ing the new building from the heritage wing were required. Natural light was to be teased into the new complex along with improved transpar-ency from the square. An extensive heritage restoration of Canada House was demanded given what Campbell admits were highly destruc-tive earlier interventions. And finally, the new High Commission had to emerge as a seamlessly integrated showcase for Canadian art and mate-rials as well as manufactured and bespoke furniture and lighting design.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Return of Light - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Key to correcting Canada House’s dreary reputation involved first re-opening many lost windows. Not incidentally, the re-opening of numerous and generously-sized neo-classical windows opened views to and from the Square to ensure greater interactive transparency. They become “a really shining beacon of light, especially at night,” says Stantec’s Vancouver-based principal Noel Best. “You can really look right into the building and see it happening.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Second was the restoration of the building’s many original skylights including two delightful oculi in the Ontario and B.C. rooms. A raft of closely packed and unsightly “dog house” skylights were replaced by flat glazing, now integrated into the large roof deck terrace that over-looks Trafalgar Square and ensures an attractive “fifth” elevation from surrounding buildings. The skylights also bring light into the reintro-

Above Canada House’s original staircase, with its remarkably slim profile given its 1823 date of construction, has been meticulously restored. Omar Arbel of Bocci has contributed 57.157, a 14.5 metre, gossamer-like light fixture of thin wires and supporting glass globes that whim-sically reference snowflakes. Top right Originally the High Commis-sioner’s office, the Sir John A. MacDonald Room now serves as a grand reception space with its fireplace restored and neo-classical details highlighted in gild to showcase Canadian art work. Its competition win-ning carpet, Foothill, is designed by Saskatchewan artist Sean William Randal and translated into a carpet by Toronto’s Creative Matters. Right The cube-shaped B.C. Room is one of the 16 rooms named for Canada’s provinces, territories and oceans. Reflecting the use of regionally spe-cific bespoke carpets, furnishing, lighting and art: the round area carpet “Natural Vision” is by B.C. artist Leslie Robert Sam (LeslIE); the ash seating and coffee table/credenza by Vancouver’s Bombast Furniture and Brent Comber respectively; and the light fixture, Cumulus, by Pro-pellor. Art includes Stan Hunt’s mask Super Natural Raven and Gathie Falk’s painting Pieces of Water #8 P

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duced two-story College of Physicians library space that now serves as open office space for the Trade Office and an upper mezzanine con-taining library space for Giller Prize winners and an Inuit art gallery. -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In Cockspur, a relatively tight but full-height skylight atrium was stripped of its non-functioning marble fountain and replaced with a grand “cascading” stair. Structured to step out into the space of the newly named Queen Elizabeth Atrium, each run of this scissor stair-case is washed with eastern sunlight turning it into warm platforms for social interaction. Stair treads and a massive feature wall are of rich hemlock, part of the strong wood theme employed throughout. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A Return to Grace - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Lost or compromised heritage details have been meticulously restored. Inelegant outdoor carpeting was stripped, exposing marble flooring that was brought back to its original sheen. Where required, new care-fully matched marble sourced from Canada was used, and Canadian Shield granite was introduced in Cockspur’s public lobby. As Canada is the world’s largest exporter of lumber, Campbell (not incidentally past-Premier of lumber-rich B.C.) wanted wood used at every oppor-tunity, says Stantec’s London-based principal, Aaron Taylor. Thus, domestic red oak flooring, detailed with intricate parquetry inlays and stained dark to match extant mahogany doors and handrails, was re-introduced along with maple and walnut in other locations. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Where neo-classical detailing had been destroyed, old photos and squeezes of remaining details were used to manufacture replicates. A rich, off-white pallet replaced light-sucking yellow, while friezes and other details were picked out in gold leaf to accent deeply coffered ceilings and panelled walls. Original and still-in-use brass door han-dles employing a maple leaf motif were recast to create approxi-mately 100 additional ones used elsewhere in the building, adds Cindy Rodych, Stantec’s project leader (now principal of Wnnipeg-based Rodych Integrated Design). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A Design Showcase - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Canada House’s light-intensive functional revitalization and rich heri-tage restoration stand on their own merits. But crucially, both work well to provide worthy galleries that showcase probably the largest out-of-country Canadian collection of historic and contemporary art, as well as domestically commissioned bespoke and manufactured fur-niture and lighting. To be inclusive, all of Canada House’s meeting rooms bear the names of Canada’s 10 provinces, three territories and three oceans. Major event rooms take their monikers from four promi-nent Prime Ministers: MacDonald; Laurier; Borden and Mackenzie King. The task was to populate each with art and furnishings that spoke to and came from their identified region. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In addition to their artistic merit, the selected artwork was carefully assessed and digitally mocked-up to ensure they responded well within each room’s physical characteristics. “We [were] very careful about where we have introduced art into the spaces, incorporating works even into the design of the friezes and the design of the mould-ings around the walls,” explains Taylor. Of 281 pieces, 91 were newly acquired, including 44 financed through donations (in order to side-step the $25,000 limit for single acquisitions). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Another favourite Campbell saying is “look down at every turn.” One downward glance and his meaning is obvious. With the return of wood floors, acoustics mandated area carpets, but not just any off-the-shelf rugs. Instead, arts communities in each province or territory were ap-proached for submissions. 29 designs from 16 artists where then con-verted into hand tufted wool carpets by Toronto’s Creative Matters for meeting and function rooms. This included four from Winnipeg-based multi-media artist Denise Préfontaine and two from P.E.I. painter Norma Jean Maclean, including her haunting early spring light on buildings in a coastal landscape for the P.E.I. room. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - With the carpets literally as a base, the team worked with the Depart-ment’s own design group to identify Canadian furniture manufacturers. Rodych reached out to Stantec’s many provincially-based interior design leaders to identify the best bespoke designers. This region-specific sourcing included chairs, tables, credenzas and lounges, al-though where boardroom-type chairs were not available, commercial furniture firms from Ontario and Quebec, including Teknion, Nien-kämper, Krug and Keilhauer, filled in. Through an intensive iterative process, multiple bespoke objects were commissioned that eloquent-ly reflected the climate, landscape, plants, wildlife and human arti-facts characteristic of the named room. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The same mix of manufactured and bespoke products was adopted for lighting. Canada has a strong reputation for its LED lighting industry, thus Cockspur’s offices and all the named rooms boast contemporary lighting fixtures manufactured in Canada and, where possible, manu-factured regionally, such as the Cumulus fixture by Vancouver-based Propellor hanging below the B.C. Room’s oculus. For some rooms, be-spoke fixtures were commissioned, including three by Toronto’s AM Studio Lighting in the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario rooms. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The most spectacular is by Omar Arbel of Bocci. His slim, chaotically entwined metal strands and glass globes (“snowflakes, although more amorphous,” says Rodych) cascade down through the core of the ul-tra-thin, gravity defying main staircase profile in Canada House’s el-egant main entrance. It is evocative in its own right but its “struc-tural quietness ensures it does not detract from the showcase stair,” adds Rodych. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - More than a sum of its parts - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -With typical Canadian modesty, Campbell finishes our tour by saying, “blend don’t brag.” Similarly, Best concludes, “Canada House is not about some sort of radical intervention, it is more about careful, incre-mental steps. We could call it “layering on,” but basically it was about always being ready to backtrack and reconsider. At the end of the day we made sure we were consistent in how we married the two.” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Notwithstanding its cohesive balance of old and new highlighted by optimistic colour and rich materiality, all washed by natural light and marked by transparency, Canada House emerges as both a striking showcase and a fitting home-away-from-home for Canadians. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - •

Left Highlighting Canada’s abundant wood is a theme carried throughout Canada House. The Queen Elizabeth Atrium boasts a feature wall of rich hemlock with the same wood used for the underside of the stairs. Above The credenza and feature wall in the Pacific Room are by Vancouver’s Hinterland and is constructed from B.C. lodge pole pine harvested from stands destroyed by the province’s devastating pine beetle infesta-tion. The wood is finished with hand-rubbed oil and clear wax. Below The adjacent Cockspur Building has been integrated with the original Canada House to consolidate all the High Commission’s employees and services into one central location. Reflecting state-of-the-art office design, its completely rebuilt interior introduces open, flexible work-ing spaces with lots of light and a generous mix of richly textured and coloured collaborative “nooks.”

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— For more on this project, read the full interviews with Aaron Taylor and Noel Best,

both from Stantec Architecture, and Cindy Rodych, principal, Rodych Integrate

Design Inc. canadianinteriors.com