Research 2006
Art and Architecture:
UWinnipeg’s Centennial Hall
Serena Keshavjee
Assistant Professor & Coordinator of Art History
Not many are fortunate enough to work within a piece of art, but to Serena Keshavjee it’s a daily pleasure.
Well-known amongst aficionados of architecture as a landmark building of the modernist style, Centennial Hall is a proud centerpiece of The University of Winnipeg. Keshavjee describes it as a living and functioning piece of practical art, a vitally important example of its period. “I think Centennial Hall is one of the most important buildings in Winnipeg,” says Serena Keshavjee, praising the building that acts as a hub for the UWinnipeg campus.
In its original conception, Centennial Hall looked like a glass-walled warehouse. “You were meant to see from the street what was going on inside,” says Keshavjee, describing the exposed and vibrantly painted ventilation system and trusses. “Centennial Hall is a thriving miniature city within a city,” says Keshavjee. “The corridors were called streets.” Sections of Centennial Hall have been filled in to accommodate a growing student body, but its unique style and prominent features—such as its well-known spiral staircases, artworks unto themselves—are still to be seen.
Keshavjee’s research into Centennial Hall will soon be published as part of a book on Manitoba Modernist architecture she is co-editing with an architecture professor from another institution (Herbet Enns, Director, School of New Media Studies, University of Manitoba). “Look at the shapes, these pure modernist forms,” she says while showing off pictures of buildings that will be included in the upcoming book. “Modern architecture did away with columns and pediments—it’s all very plain with a lot of steel and glass—and it started making use of new technologies and new industrial products.”
In Winnipeg, Modern architecture found a great outlet during a flurry of construction that took place in the 1960s. “When I came to Winnipeg 10 years ago from Toronto I knew Winnipeg had historical architecture in the Exchange District, but no one had told me about the Modernist architecture. I was floored by the quality and quantity of it,” says Keshavjee.
With a goal of preservation, Keshavjee says public input and awareness are keys to her work. “As Winnipeg enters its next building boom, we are starting to knock down important buildings,” she says. “The Red Cross building on Osborne Street was part of an ensemble that was the longest set of Modernist buildings left in a row in North America,” says Keshavjee, describing an edifice now renovated. “Every period has examples of good and poor quality design, now that Modernism is part of our architectural heritage, we need to decide what we’re going to preserve and what we’re not of Modernist buildings.”
To learn more about her research on Modernist architecture, contact University of Winnipeg faculty member Serena Keshavjee at s.keshavjee@uwinnipeg.ca