Conservatory Study

Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Client: N/A
Budget: N/A
Area: 3,400 sm
Category: Conceptual Study / Institutional
Date Completed: 2025

P23 explored the formal possibilities of a conservatory set within a city park, seeking to understand how simple geometry might shape the natural environment while creating an iconic form. A central question was how architecture transforms the ground upon which it sits. The design proposed an elongated A-frame glulam structure, its rhythm of timber and glass extending along the site.

The earth itself is incised, with the conservatory floor resting below grade and the enclosure rising from the ground. At the perimeter, a transparent ground level blurs the boundary between interior and exterior, establishing shifting views from above and below.

The A-frame roof tapers into smaller end conditions that lift from the ground to form overlooks and gathering terraces. Within, the volume remains continuous and layered rather than compartmentalized.

This conservatory is not a container of rooms but a continuum of space. Exhibits, classrooms, meeting places, and paths of circulation flow into and through one another, erasing divisions and generating encounter. Roof and ground fold into terraces for outlook and gathering, making the building both shelter and landscape. Architecture here is incision and extension, continuity and exchange—a living structure where the city, the park, and the human experience are bound together as one.

107 Carpathia

8489 Roblin Blvd

984 St. Mary's Affordable Housing

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