Freshwater Institute Freshwater Institute

Freshwater Institute

The Freshwater Institute is the headquarters in Canada's central region for the activities of the Fisheries and Marine Service of the federal Department of the Environment. Here, the federal Fisheries and Marine Service conducts supporting research and carries out fisheries product inspection for Canada's four inland provinces as well as the Northwest Territories

In April 1970, construction started on the complex, which was designed by the Winnipeg architectural firm of Green Blankstein Russell Associates. It offically opened in December of 1972. The low foreground building to the left of the main entrance is the administrative wing. It provides office accomodation for staff associated with the direction, co-ordination, and support of the programs conducted in numerous district and field units. The small block to the right of the entry is an auditorium. The separate five-story structure behind is almost exclusively devoted to laboratory and research facilities and accommodations for scientific and technical personnel. Related branch offices and laboratories of other service units of the federal Department of the Environment are also located in this building, The foyer's steep roof shooting upward from the entry links the buildings together. The entry itself is distinguished by a glass-enclosed fountain sculpture by George Norris. Instead of water, the fountain recycles glycol.

Inside, the foyer itself is dominated by a spectacular floating staircase in the soaring four-story entry space. Here, one becomes immediately aware of a strong expression of the building's materials. The vertically raked, precast concrete panels, exposed poured concrete, and quarry tile pavers have been carried from the exterior into the interior. The addition of heavy oak railings and fittings gives the interior a feeling of warmth. The art in the foyer is unique to the building's function. Great circular forms simulating colorful microscopic organisms (in petri dishes) by Winnipeg's Tony Tascona are freely suspended in the space. The expression of structure and materials in the foyer is representative of the design idiom of the entire complex. The architects have worked with considerable refinement within the stylistic context of Brutalism, an architectural movement which originated in the fifties in England with the work of Peter and Alison Smithson. Brutalism is so called because of the emphasis it places on the unconcealed use of materials in modern building, by its aim of giving clear expression of structure and services, and by its insistence on the use of materials "as found".