and inspire its community” – and while it’s “simple, very economical, and very efficient,” he says it still has “bold architectural ambitions looking forward to the future.” For Kyle, what made it special was the combination of library and museum. He praises the county for having the idea to co-locate the two facilities in one building, and he says the challenge of combining them was very rewarding. “A library in and of itself is a super-interesting building type that we love to work on,” he says, “but adding that heritage museum component charged the whole building that much more. We were able to program it and create a layout such that these two different elements would fit together under one roof. People could brush up against the museum element when they were there to visit the library and vice versa.” “That was exciting,” he adds. “There were some fun nice opportunities to do some interesting things. We really embraced that.” Then there was the Haldimand County Central Administration Building – a 43,000-squarefoot, three-story building that functions as the ‘town hall’ for the county. Bill describes that project as “sensitively scaled and massed to ensure the contextual fit in a small town with adjacent single family dwellings.” He calls the building itself “simple and economical, reflecting the small town ethos of cost restraint.” “However, attention to detail and design quality elevate the building: careful planning to break down the scale inside and out, selective use of rich, natural materials at highprofile locations and strategic use of a broad colour palette to add warmth all work to avoid the usual banal character of government offices.” Taken together, both those projects have a “big psychological impact on the community,” Bill believes. “Having that admin building there, and having that shiny new library-museum downtown, makes an impact,” he says. “Their downtown has been stagnant for a while, and these are great symbols of revitalization.” “Things are changing in the county,” he adds. “I think these buildings reflect the ambitions of the people that are running the county. They wanted to illustrate the new values of the county and the new spirit they’ve got going. That’s been a pretty exciting thing to be a part of.” THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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