Our buildings are an expression of ourselves, the hard evidence of what we value, what we need, what we want to do. In this issue we take a look at 18 of the biggest projects in the North, the ones that will shape our activities and our environment for a lifetime. From Whitehorse’s new jail to an Inuit cultural centre in Clyde River to Yellowknife’s ugly but extremely welcome field house, we hope you enjoy this tour of what architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe called “the will of an epoch translated into space.”

1 Piqqusilirivvik (Nunavut Inuit Cultural School – Clyde River)
Cost: $23-million (construction only)
Builder: Kudlik Construction
Designers: FSC Architects & Engineers
Completion: January 2011
Size: 23,000 square feet

Rising from the rocky outcroppings of Clyde River, Piqqusilirivvik is a unique facility for Nunavummiut, specifically intended to focus on the teaching of traditional knowledge and land skills. “Students will be coming from all the communities of Nunavut to spend significant time there,” says Hugh Lloyd, project coordinator for the government of Nunavut, “although much of the time will be on the land – it’s not just sitting in a classroom.”

There will be programs focusing on traditional values, including everything from social structures and the way people used to organize family camps to practical, hands on skills like woodworking and the skinning and preparing of hides. What’s more, most of it will be taught in Inuktitut. “We have the benefit of Inuit instructors who have grown up in this environment,” says Lloyd. “Many of them are still unilingual Inuktitut speakers and so the language of instruction will be what the instructors bring with them.”

But it’s not all about the past. Students will return from the land having documented their trips on all manner of modern equipment: GPS, video and still cameras, and audio recorders. They will prepare trip reports, make maps and engage in other projects using an audio-video facility that will train them in modern skills of managing and editing digital files.
There will also be a chance to study traditional storytelling techniques. “These have never been formally instructed,” says Lloyd. “People just listen to them and copy but the opportunities to do that are disappearing.”
Piqqusilirivvik will have accommodations for 26 students and small apartments for two staff members.

2 Whitehorse Correctional Centre
Cost: $67-million
Builders: Dominion Const. and 42135 Yukon Inc. (a Kwanlin Dun First Nation company)
Designers: DGBK Architects / Kobayashi Zedda Architects
Subcontractors: Keith’s Plumbing and Heating, Dynamic Systems, Gray Wolf Contractors
Completion: December 2011
Size: 40,000 square feet

If we had to choose only one new building to go up in the Yukon this year, this would be it. The new correctional facility is the long-awaited replacement to the horribly undersized, poorly designed and outdated 44-year-old old jail. The existing facility was built in the 1960s to house up to 39 people. Although it has been renovated over the years, it’s now housing 70 to 90 people. “It’s overcrowded and it’s old and well past its lifespan,” says Yukon government project manager Peter Blum. “It’ll be a much more efficiently operated facility.”

Modern designs will provide humane but secure living quarters. It’s called a Generation Three design, which allows for a number of living units clustered together with one staff member in each unit. In the past, corrections officers remained at static posts out in the hallway. There’s a central control room with video communications and direct line of sight into each living unit. “It’s a more positive environment with an open yet secure type of design. There are separate cells with an open multi-use space for treatment,” says Blum. “This new design will really help make the operation efficient and accessible for the programming and treatment.” Of course, it’s still a jail, so there’s a lot of steel and concrete block going into the construction. Blum figures inmates will probably be moved into the new building in January of 2012.

3 Kluane Lake Research Station
Cost: $3.4-million
Builder: TBA (Tenders close this month)
Designer: FSC Architects and Engineers
Subcontractors: TBA (Tenders close this month)
Estimated completion date: March 2011
Size: 12,500 square feet

Significance: For nearly 50 years this important scientific facility has been an anchor for world-class Northern research, supporting a wide variety of projects ranging from glaciology, geology and ecology to climatology, high-altitude physiology, anthropology, and archaeology. Last fall, construction crews removed the old, decrepit buildings so ground can be broken for the new facility this spring. The new cluster of high-tech, state-of-the-art buildings will provide increased accommodation, storage, green energy capacities (wind and solar) and laboratory space at both the base site and associated field sites. “The buildings were extremely old, some predate the station itself. Many were essentially held together by duct tape,” says Dr. Benoit Beauchamp, executive director of the Arctic Institute of North America at the University of Calgary, which runs the research station. “We had world class science here but the infrastructure was lagging way behind.” Located at the southern tip of Kluane Lake, 220 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse, the new facility should comfortably accommodate the needs of research scientists for 50 years.

4 Staff residence and Health Services building at Whitehorse General Hospital
Cost: $16-million
Designer/Builder: TSL Contractors Ltd. with KMBR Architects Planners Inc.
Subcontractors: Duncan’s Ltd. and Arcrite Northern
completion: December 2010
Size: 40,000 square feet

This four-storey building perched on the side of the Yukon River just upstream from the Whitehorse hospital is replacing the ugly, outdated and inhospitable medical residence reluctantly used by students and visiting doctors since it was built in the ’70s. The top two floors of the new building will offer 34 attractive and modern living quarters for interns, student nurses and visiting medical specialists. The bottom two floors will be leased to the Yukon government’s health and social services department for administrative and auxiliary offices. “We need to attract more specialists to the territory,” says Yukon Hospital Corporation project manager Michael Kelper. “If they don’t have a nice place to stay, it’s not always advantageous to come here.” The existing residence, which is often referred to as “the gulag” due to its bleak and deteriorating condition, will be demolished once the new building is completed.

5 Yellowknife Field House
Cost: $16-million
Builder: Clark Builders
Designers: FSC Architects and Engineers
Subcontractors: Ryfan Electrical, JSL Mechanical
Completion: September 2010
Size: 66,300 square feet

Never mind that it’s not much too look at from the outside, the Yellowknife field house is a welcome addition to the community. “It won’t be just for the soccer players,” says Grant White, director of community services for the city. “It provides another venue for all-season use for all kinds of sports.” The field house, which sits beside the city’s other premier sporting venue – the Multiplex – will house two soccer fields (each about the same size as a hockey rink), a second-floor running track and a children’s play area. The fields will ease the strain on Yellowknife’s overstretched gyms, which receive far more requests for time from all manner of sports leagues – child and adult – than they can handle. “This will allow us to take some of the heat off the gyms and free them up for all the other groups to not only operate but expand their programs,” says White, “maybe longer seasons, that kind of thing. It will also allow fledgling sports like lacrosse, arena football and ultimate Frisbee to grow.”

The field house has gone up remarkably quickly, with ground broken just last spring. “We hustled to get the foundation in and building up to beat the weather,” says Dave Brothers, general manager with Clark Builders. “We got it closed in in about two months, before most of the bad weather came.”

6 Whitehorse airport expansion
Cost: $15.7-million (terminal), $3-million (parking lot)
Architects: FSC Architects & Engineers
Builder: Graham Const.; Parking lot: Challenger Const.
Subcontractors: Arcrite Northern, Norcope, King Kat Construction
Completion: June 2010
Size: 30,000 square feet

This relatively small extension to the airport has a rather big impact. The Eric Nielson airport is now officially “international” because of the new high-security waiting room and docking bays. And the renovations are coming in the nick of time.

German airline charter Condor Air threatened to discontinue its thrice-weekly flights into Whitehorse from Europe unless such renovations were made. The result is a new 230-seat lounge, high-tech security stations and new aircraft docking bays, all of which will meet international airport security requirements. The upgrade also ensure the airport retains its quirky title as one of the smallest international airports in the world.

“The Canadian Border Agency had to improvise before,” says Sheila Stockton, project manager. “It is international law for all people on international flights to disembark, even if they’re not getting off here. Right now they use a group of trailers. Now we’ll be able to house those people in a proper transit lounge on the main floor.”

The renovations also include extensive upgrades and flow-through redesigns of the cramped airport parking lot, which now provides 500 spaces. There’s only one downside to all this work: flyers will now have to pay for their parking. New automated pay parking controls charge $1.50 a day for use.

7 Kwanlin Dun First Nations Cultural 
Centre/Whitehorse Public Library
Cost: $21-million
Builder: David Nairne & Associates
Designers: Dominion Const. and 42135 Yukon Inc. 
(a Kwanlin Dun First Nation company)
Subcontractors: TBA (tenders close this month)
Completion: Spring 2012
Size: 400,000 square feet

The Whitehorse waterfront has been neglected since the last of the sternwheelers burned down in 1974. Despite good efforts in the past few years by planners and developers, this is the first significant construction project underway. And significant it is. Not only does it spearhead waterfront rejuvenation, it heralds the return of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation to the Yukon River – their name, after all, translates to “the people of the rapids.” This huge, gorgeous downtown landmark modeled after a traditional longhouse will provide a 1,200-seat performance centre, a state-of-the-art catering kitchen, cultural displays, artists residences and workshops, and an arts and crafts gift shop. “I’m totally excited about it,” says Gary Bailey, project manager with KDFN. “It’s about reclaiming our identity and taking pride in who we are. I think this project is going to do that.”

The two-storey Whitehorse Public Library, built to resemble the clay cliffs, will connect off the side of the one-storey longhouse. KDFN will own the library but lease it to the Yukon government. Not only will this provide needed revenue to the cultural centre, Whitehorse will get a spacious and scenic new library to replace the cramped old one. The Yukon government provided funding for the building and completed extensive soil remediation at the site to remove hydrocarbon pollution. Bailey says the building footprint is ready so foundations, mechanical, plumbing and electrical can start in April, with the superstructure completed in time for a winter of finishing the indoors. “It’s more than just a building,” he says. “It’s going to bring life back to the waterfront.”

8 City of Whitehorse Public 
Safety building
Cost: $10-million
Architect: Charles McLaren
Contractor: Ketza Construction
Subcontractors: Keith’s Plumbing and Heating, Arcrite Northern
Completion: November 2010
Size: 28,000 square feet

This formidable new building situated at the crest of Two-Mile hill replaces a grossly outdated fire hall and a cramped and under-equipped bylaw services facility. It’s also built to post-disaster standards and is set to serve as an emergency operations centre in the event of something major: All key equipment and personnel will be safe and sound. “It’s built to be the last building standing,” says George White, manager of maintenance and safety services at the City of Whitehorse. “Right now everything’s downtown, which doesn’t make any sense because downtown’s on a flood plain, right?” A huge new apparatus bay for fire equipment plus a two-storey administration building will please city firefighters and bylaw staff equally. The old fire hall was built in the 1950s by the military. Bylaw has been cramped into a tiny wing of the municipal services building downtown. The new building provides more than just a central location, spacious new offices, scenic window views for all, and modern firefighting infrastructure: It’s designed to easily expand, if Whitehorse grows significantly and is ready for a third storey when and if the need arises.

9 St. Joseph’s School (Yellowknife)
Cost: $28-million
Builder: Clark Builders
Designer: FSC Architects and Engineers
Subcontractors: Ryfan Electrical, J&R Mechanical, Diamond Glass
Completion: Spring 2010
Size: 72,000 square feet

The poor kids at St. Joe’s school in Yellowknife have been shuffled off to temporary facilities at other schools and housed in portables for years. But no longer, at least once the retrofit is completed this spring. The project has seen two additions made to the building – a mini gym/main entrance and a kindergarten area – and a full retrofit of the building’s electrical and mechanical systems, including a new insulation envelope. The project has also seen a pellet boiler installed, which should save on fuel costs.

Working in an operating school brings with it some challenges. “Logistics-wise there are barriers to keep the kids away from the construction areas and fire walls to keep them safe,” says Dave Brothers, general manager of Clark Builders, “but it’s not the first time we’ve done it. We did Sir John’s High School a few years ago and that was a bigger building.”

10 RCMP ‘V’ Division Headquarters and Iqaluit Detachment
Cost: $22.2-million
Builder: Almiq Contracting Limited
Designer: FSC Architects and Engineers
Completion: March 31, 2010 (phase 1)
Size: 37,000 square feet

It’s not hard to figure out why RCMP was gunning for this one: Just look at the old detachment. “What’s there is outdated,” says Randy Komhyr, RCMP project manager. “It’s from the early ’60s. It’s gone through its life cycle and it’s no longer working for our needs.” Plus, it’s kind of ugly. The new detachment, however, “is a very good looking building,” says Komhyr. “It’s something the community will be proud of.” And something RCMP members will be proud to work in. FSC has designed the building to mirror the Arctic’s landscape, arranging the building around “protruding glass wedges” to remind viewers of snowcaps or icebergs.

But it’s more than just pretty. The building also incorporates top security standards, housing three facilities under one roof: The “V” Division headquarters (together with forensics and enforcements units); the detachment (including detention cell blocks and secure garage bays); and a new regional training centre, complete with a firing range and simulator facilities. “The building itself will be safer and better equipped for members,” says Komhyr. It will also bring staff together to one central downtown location – the RCMP is currently housed in three buildings across town – making things a little easier for community members.

11 Combined Inuvik School
Cost: $92.3-million (construction only)
Builder: Dowland Contracting
Designer: Pin/Taylor Architects
Subcontractors: Ryfan Electrical, Arctic Canada Construction
Completion: late 2012
Size: 129,000 square feet

If any place needed a new school, it was Inuvik, and it needed three of them. So came the idea for the “Inuvik super school,” a massive undertaking that will replace the elementary, junior and high schools and place them all in one very large facility. “[The old schools] were falling apart,” says Patrick McGuinness, CEO of Dowland Contracting. “It’s a desperately needed project. The existing schools are exceptionally old and this new school will bring standards right up to current requirements.”

The super school is one of the biggest projects the NWT government has ever commissioned. It required more than 550 pilings alone. There will be a central gym, library and administration area, with the high school in one wing and the junior schools in the other.

McGuinness says the new school will also be an architectural gem. “Pin/Taylor has a reputation of looking at architectural details and at the end of the day this will be a fantastic building for Inuvik,” says McGuinnes. “It will be an iconic building and we’re just really happy that we’re doing it.”

12 Nunavut Trades Training Centre (Rankin Inlet)
Cost: $10-million
Builder: NDL Construction
Designer: FSC Architects and Engineers
Completion: End of April, 2010
Size: 20,000 square feet

This is one school teens actually want to see open – and fast. “A lot of kids are looking forward to applying and getting into the trades programs,” says Wayne Thistle, project officer for the Nunavut government. That’s smart. Demand for trades apprentices and journeymen in Nunavut is growing and Nunavummiut should be getting a piece of the job pie.

The training centre is designed to provide a forum where Nunavummiut can master the skills that will allow them to compete – and get hired. Proponents of the school are also hoping its Rankin Inlet location will encourage more students to stick with the program. “[Going to a school down south] is just too much of a big culture shock for a lot of people from a small community,” says Thistle. “They go to a big city like Winnipeg and just get lost in the crowd.” People are overjoyed to see a high-quality centre in Nunavut, he adds, because it means they can “keep their young people here and get them trained locally.”

Plus, they’ll get to study in a truly neat building. Constructed as a learning tool, the building itself functions as a lesson. For example: Much of the Centre’s steel structuring is exposed so students can see how things are welded and put together. Programs include carpentry, plumping, electrical and oil burner mechanics.

13 Chief T’selehye School (Fort Good Hope)
Cost: $20-million
Builder: Dowland Contracting
Designer: FSC Architects and Engineers
Subcontractors: Ryfan Electrical, Rocky’s Plumbing
Completion: late 2010
Size: 30,000 square feet in four buildings

The new Chief T’selehye School in Fort Good Hope, NWT will replace the existing school in the small community (population 800) and serve the 140 students in the community from kindergarten to Grade 12. “Their current facility is old and this is more than required,” says Patrick McGuinness, CEO of Dowland Contracting. “This building will be able to serve a lot of the community needs and it’s built to last a lifetime.”

It is expected that the school will be ready for classes late in 2010.

14 GNWT Data Centre (Yellowknife)
Cost: $11-million
Builder: Clark Builders
Designer: FSC Architects and Engineers
Subcontractors: Ryfan Electrical, J&R Mechanical
Completion: August 2010
Size: 16,000 square feet

As future home to the NWT government’s mainframe computers and servers, this nondescript building will hold all the lovely secrets we at UHB are dying to get our hands on.

It may look plain, but the data centre needs elaborate mechanical and electrical systems, since mainframes and racks of servers can get as hot as a seven-foot tower of toaster ovens.

“There are four CRAC (computer room air conditioning) units that use refrigeration and blow air down through the floor,” says Joe Chorostkowski, whose company, J&R Mechanical, is hired to ensure nothing overheats. “Holes underneath the computers allow the cool air to rise up through the units.” Each CRAC is eleven-by-six-by-three feet, and there’s space for three more. “This building is designed for 20 years and there has to be room for future cooling units when they get more computers in,” says Chorostkowski.

On the plus side, the building doesn’t need a boiler. Right now, it’s warmed by heat drawn from the warehouse next door. Once the centre is operating, the flow will be reversed and the computers will heat the warehouse.

15 Watson Lake Hospital
Cost: $25-million
Project Manager: Yukon Hospital Corporation
Builder: TBA (Tenders close this month)
Designer: DGBK/Koboyashi Zedda Architects
Completion: December 2011
Size: 25,500 square feet

The Yukon Hospital Corporation is taking over responsibility for the Watson Lake hospital. It’s first step: renovate and expand by taking over the half-built seniors’ care facility and integrating it into the designs for the new hospital. “We’ve hired a planner to come in and do a functional program,” says CEO Joe MacGillivray. “It’s going to be more than just a hospital.” There are two tenders: one to renovate the current structure and one to complete the shell. The two new regional hospitals will service outlying areas, reducing dependence on Whitehorse General.

16 Larga Kitikmeot (Yellowknife)
Cost: $4.5-million
Builder: Clark Builders
Designer: David Wong Architects
Subcontractors: Global Tech, JSL Mechanical
Completion: December 2009
Size: 13,000 square feet

On the edge of downtown Yellowknife now stands the Larga Kitikmeot, the medical boarding home that will give the people of Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region the same welcome feeling as similar homes in Ottawa (for Nunavut’s Baffin region) and Winnipeg (for Nunavut’s Kivalliq region) when they have to come to Yellowknife for medical or dental care. Indeed, barring early protest from nearby condo residents, Larga is a welcome addition to Yellowknife.“It’s important to any patient coming down, but especially to people who have to come down for months at a time,” says manager Casey Adlem. “They don’t choose to leave their community, so when they come they want to be somewhere that they feel safe and comfortable.”

The home can hold up to 56 patients, mostly in two-person rooms, although there are also some family suites. The Larga has already proven its worth: on opening day in December, 44 of the beds were filled, and it was over capacity later in the month. On the menu in the cafeteria? Lots of country food.

17 Dawson City Hospital
Cost: $25-million
Project Manager: Yukon Hospital Corp.
Builder: TBA (tenders close this month)
Designer: Stantec/Kobayashi Zedda Architects
Subcontractors: TBA
Completion: Summer 2012
Size: 24,000 square feet

A new hospital will replace the old Dawson City nursing station, providing a broader range of health services to the Klondike and North Yukon region. Some residents are annoyed that the new facility is being built over the historic Minto Park, but generally, people welcome the hospital. “Government has requested the hospital corporation construct a new hospital and operate it once it’s complete,” says Joe MacGillivray, CEO of the Yukon Hospital Corporation. “We are starting with an empty lot and moving from there, to provide hospital and health services in one building.” Their concept is to have Whitehorse General in the middle of the territory with two smaller regional hospitals serving the Northwest in Dawson City and the Southeast in Watson Lake. Excavation and preparation work will start in May of this year and a general tender will open mid-summer to complete the rest of the project.

18 Whitehorse Affordable 
Family Housing Project
Cost: $9-million
Builder: NGC Builders Ltd.
Architecture:True Scale Design and Consulting Ltd.
Mechanical/electrical engineering:FSC Architects & Engineers, Quest Engineering
Completion: November 2010
Size: 40,000 square feet in four buildings

This much-needed housing project will provide homes for up to 32 lone-parent families, the most vulnerable population experiencing housing insecurity in the Yukon. Situated in the Riverdale neighbourhood of Whitehorse, it is close to downtown, grocery stores, schools and public transportation. The four two-storey buildings are also built to Yukon Housing Corporation’s Super-Green standards, ensuring comfort and efficiency for the tenants. “The Whitehorse Affordable Family Housing Project is the first purpose-built community to offer secure and affordable housing to lone-parent families in Yukon, the majority of whom are headed by women,” says Brenda Barnes of the territorial women’s directorate, one of the leaders of the project. “Housing security is strongly linked to advancing women’s equality in the North, which is also a priority of this government.” Tenants for the new buildings will be selected from a long waitlist based on criteria around need.