Medium: AutoCAD, VRay, SketchUP, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign

Undergraduate Design Project 4B Term

The city of Cambridge, fueled by the Grand River, has been through numerous transformations from the industrial revolution to the car industry. Recently, like other cities in America, Cambridge has been susceptible to economic and manufacturing trends. The City seeks to revitalize the crumbling town centre and has seen a committed investment to the renewal and densification of the downtown community. The primary gesture of the proposed Canadian Textile Museum is to contribute & foster this vision. The museum links to the cultural and built heritage of Cambridge through its connection with green space, industrially scaled spaces and presence on the Grand River.  The new Canadian Textile Museum will make a significant contribution to the downtown community. The proposed building site is along the Grand River adjacent to the new Waterloo School of Architecture and the Horticultural Society Park and bisected by the Cambridge Regional Trail. It is sited at the current boundary between the city and the park. The proposed design is based on this context and the boundary of the site overlaps within the building; it transitions between the urban and the garden. The massing of the building imitates in scale and proportion the once Riverside silk mill (now the School of Architecture) adjacent. However, it is characteristically distinct by the use of material. The programme is arranged in bands. The gallery space is characterized by open and vast space allowing any variety of exhibition or installation to take place, the scale of the space is evocative of the silk mills. Whilst the functional programme is densely organized.