Consultation Process

Current Status

As of spring 2021, the planning team has completed a comprehensive review of the Centennial Hall infrastructure and preliminary schematic design, and work has begun work on detailing the interior and exterior spaces.

Dialogue with campus stakeholders will continue throughout, and includes planned touchpoints with students, faculty, staff, administration, and members of the community.

Background

Constructed in 1972, Centennial Hall has served the UWinnipeg community for almost fifty years. In that time, the building has aged, the student population has quadrupled, and the digital age has significantly changed the course of pedagogy, research, and library practice. The path toward renewal began in 2015 when Dr. Annette Trimbee, in her first State of the University speech, called upon the UW community to “ensure that our library, as the heart and soul of our academy, continues to be a hub for research, collaboration, and learning.”

The UWinnipeg community echoed this call to action in both the Integrated Academic & Research Plan (2016) and Asset & Campus Enhancement (2017) consultations, which identified the Library as a priority area.

In late 2017, an internal team was formed to explore approaches to defining a vision and pathway forward for a UWinnipeg Library of the 21st Century. The Indigenous Design Studio at Brook McIlroy Inc was selected to help lead the process.

Since 2018, the planning team engaged with over 100 faculty, students, and staff to examine the current and projected activities, spaces, and collections in the Library, Art Gallery, and the Archives.

These assumptions were tested against building, cost, and programming constraints, and it was determined that a redeveloped Centennial Hall could meet program needs while being a responsible, sustainable form of campus development; as a centralized megastructure on a dense urban site, the building is the inexorable heart of campus and accounts for the largest portion of the institution’s deferred maintenance.

The pandemic has only highlighted the need for modern teaching and learning supports, as well as the necessity of a campus facility that offers flexible, layered levels of security and access. Making Space for the Library is not simply about updating the library space; it is an essential element in supporting UWinnipeg’s particular brand of success for the next fifty years.

Feedback

If you have questions or comments about this project, please contact communications@uwinnipeg.ca.