Library architects win Governor General’s Medal
George Cotaras (BSc’76, BEDS (TUNS)’79, BArch (TUNS)’81) is part of the award-winning team behind the Halifax Central Library.
The architects at Fowler, Bauld & Mitchell will receive a Governor General’s Medal in Architecture. They are among 12 recipients of the 2016 awards.
The Central Library opened in December, 2014 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Cotaras credits much of the building’s success to the public’s involvement in the design process.
“They knew what it was going to be like but they had never been able to see inside,” he says. ” And when they came in they went, ‘Wow,’ and people were going around saying ‘Wow, that was my idea. I suggested that.’
“And it’s true. People can say that that was their building by just parts of it that they had influence on.”
The competition jury also gave Fowler, Bauld & Mitchell high marks for user engagement, noting that the “building is a community gathering place that responds to the diversity of its users, accommodating many more activities than the traditional library.”
Read more in “Halifax Central Library architects win Governor General architecture medal” on cbc.ca.
Photo: Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan