National Ballet School design wins U.S. prize

Last Updated: Friday, January 12, 2007 | 3:56 PM ET

CBC Arts

The design for Canada's National Ballet School has won a prestigious U.S. architecture award for two Toronto architecture firms.

Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg and Goldsmith Borgal and Co. are behind the project, called Grand Jeté, which was among 11 winners of the Honor Award for Architecture from the American Institute of Architects announced Friday.

The ballet school in downtown Toronto is a campus that incorporates new structures with heritage buildings.
(Courtesy of Tom Arban)

The ballet school in downtown Toronto is a campus that incorporates new structures with heritage buildings, including a former girls' school and former studios of CBC Radio.

The campus stretches for almost a block along Jarvis Street, with classrooms, dance studios, administrative areas and a residence that will be completed later this year.

"This is a new kind of civic place with seamless integration of indoor and outdoor spaces that enhanced the neighbourhood.… the building activates the street," the AIA jury said.

"Students feel the building has not only informed the community about their art form, but enhanced their creativity."

A private condo and townhouse development were integrated into the $100-million NBS capital expansion, funded by three levels of government and private donations.

The school has more than 1,000 students, including youngsters from grades 6 to 12, and post-secondary students in intensive dance training. It also offers part-time dance and teacher training.

"The success of this project lies in the many years and countless hours devoted to careful planning and thoughtful consideration of the needs of a modern professional ballet school," Mavis Staines, NBS artistic director, said in a statement.

An architect at Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg won recognition last year for the redesign of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

About 450 projects from throughout the world competed for the Honor Award, and this is only the fourth time Canadian firms have won since its creation in 1949.

The other winners are:

• Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Eisenman Architects.
• Spencertown House, Spencertown, N.Y., Thomas Phifer and Partners.
• Meinel Optical Science Research Building, Tucson, Ariz., richärd + bauer architecture.
• World Birding Center Headquarters, Mission, Texas, Lake/Flato Architects.
• University of Michigan, Biomedical Science Research Building, Ann Arbor, Mich., Polshek Partnership Architects.
• Palo Verde Library/Maryvale Community Center, Phoenix, Ariz., Gould Evans Associates, L.C. + Wendell Burnette Architects.
• University of California, Merced Central Plant, Merced, Calif., Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
• Solar Umbrella, Venice, Calif., Pugh + Scarpa.
• Dr. Theodore T. Alexander Jr. Science Center School, Los Angeles, Morphosis.
• School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Steven Holl Architects, with Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture.