Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics / Saucier + Perrotte architectes
Architects: Saucier + Perrotte architectes
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Principal in Charge: Gilles Saucier
Project Architect: André Perrotte
Project team: Trevor Davies, Andrew Butler, Dominique Dumais, Eric Majer, Pierre-Alexandre Rhéaume, Anna Bendix, Sudhir Suri, Christian Hébert, Laurence LeBeux, Quinlan Osborne, Jean-Louis Léger, Samantha Schneider, Nathalie Cloutier, Christine Levine, Jean-François Lagacé, Sergio Morales, Guillaume Sasseville, Maxime Gagné, Audrey Archambault
Civil Engineer: Stantec Consulting Ltd.
Structural Engineer: Blackwell Engineering Ltd.
Mechanical & Electrical engineer: Crossey Engineering Ltd.
Contractor: Eastern Construction
Landscape: Saucier + Perrotte architectes
Acoustics: Acoustics Engineering Ltd.
Constructed Area: 6,000 sqm
Design year: 2004-2006
Photographs: Marc Cramer
Riding the controversial line between public and private space, this research institute attempts to subvert the usual hard thresholds established by private enterprise in the public realm. The site is on the shore of Silver Lake, at the northern edge of Waterloo’s downtown core and the southern edge of the city’s central park. Adjacent to the primary pedestrian access between the university campus and the city center, the site is an urban wilderness between clearly defined worlds.
The design is takes inspiration from the wide-ranging, hard to define concepts that make up the subject matter of theoretical physics, at once micro- and macro-cosmic, rich in information and of indeterminate form and substance. Between city and park, the Perimeter Institute expands and inhabits the improbable space of the line separating the two. The building defines the secure zones of the Institute’s facilities within a series of parallel glass walls, embedded in an erupting ground plane that reveals a large reflecting pool. The north façade, facing the park across this pool, reveals the Institute as an organism, a microcosm of discrete elements. The south façade, facing the city across train tracks and the city’s main arterial road, presents the Institute as a unified but transforming entity, of enigmatic scale and content. Entry to the Institute is possible from both the north, along the reflecting pool, and the south, under the new ground plane.
The interior of the Institute is organized around two central spaces, the main hall on the ground floor and the garden on the first. Spaces for administration, meeting and seminar rooms, leisure and fitness spaces, and a multipurpose theatre for symposia and public presentations, have direct access to the main hall. The circulation corridors running east-west are positioned between the opalescent glass planes, which are occasionally punctured and shifted to reveal views across the interior space of the hall. Vertical circulation climbs these walls, tendrils of ground that run from the garden through the building. The garden – nature emerging from the vacuum – is crossed by three bridges that puncture all the planes, as well as the north and south façades. The bridges provide quick access to information, facilities and research colleagues. These conduits, which formally bind together the Institute, are routes crossing the improbable space between theoretical physics and everyday life.
-
- location plan
-
- level 01 plan
-
- level 02 plan
-
- level 03 plan
-
- level 04 plan
-
- north elevation
-
- south elevation
-
- section 01
-
- section 02
One of the my favourite projects of all times!! Saucier et Perrote, a really good team, and anybody knows, and heard about them!!Why??
Congratulations for the post, another really good post, a custom of Archdaily
this is a great project .. it was completed a while ago …
I think it was because they are Canadian :)
some of us from Australia have heard of them tho,
The building is spectacular to look at indeed but as always I do not read the article I look at the project and try to understand it visually and so far I am confused. Sorry if was not meant to be looked at that way.
Really stunning project, this is the first I have heard of it but thats what I like most about this blog, lots of interesting projects DAILY :).
Nya, I don’t necisarily understand the space/use well either. Maybe labeling would have helped, especially on the plans ;) I kind of like to make it up myself though too :)
Yup, really like this one, too!
Are the stacked pods shipping containers?
boring~~ stupid combinations!!
If you want to amuse yourself “sky”, go and watch a sci fi movie, or a chick flick, I don’t know. This building is just exquisite. It is so damn well detailed and constructed that it looks like a 3d model. Superb!
I’ve visited this building and had a tour around – it is quite impressive, with a lot of effort directed towards meeting the needs of the researchers and their varying working methods. There is the occasional oddity on the outside where some details may not have been thought out or executed thoroughly, but all in all quite refined.
I think that this project is really amazing! the way they use all of the materials and the solution, it’s as Sinse said an exquisite project, and Sky I respect your point of view, but I don’t share it, it’ll be good if you mention one project that you like.
Saucier + Perrotte architectes and excellent Job, i really enjoyed this article thanks Nico.
amazingly lovely NICE building!
They’ve spent a lot of time on this project-every detail is sharpened and detailed!To do a good looking building-its one thing-but to do a building (civical)thinking how it will look like not only from the outside,but from inside too-well done guys,well done-what else can I say?
…bravo!!!
that’s great amazing ….
Great building! Those windows in black wall are great!
7:26 AM Apr 12th
amazing project @ http://tinyurl.com/cy97cf