The Trades Training Centre is a new 5,600 m2 facility located in the far north. The building provides workshops for the instruction of carpentry, welding, plumbing, millwright, and wind turbine technology, as well as student commons, classrooms, and offices.

This project seeks to provide a new model for northern trades college design, to create a sustainable, collaborative, educational environment for people, in addition to handling the complex technical requirements of the extensive shop equipment. The design subverts the sprawling pattern of the surrounding campus and community by framing positive public outdoor space at the main entry to the campus, and inverts the standard trades building typology to create a new type suited to a multi-disciplinary, interactive approach to trades education, tailored to the harsh northern climate.

Reflective of trades work, the design is practical and efficient in its orthogonal form: a carefully calibrated box which responds to functional needs – humanized by wood materials, colour and generous use of natural light. The exterior is clad in a continuous skin of metal shingles, to provide a coherent face whose visual interest increases as you approach. The east facing clerestory windows address the town, providing a new identity for the entire college with a dynamic display of stained glass and coloured LED lighting, inspired by the aurora borealis.

In September 2020 the Trades Training Centre was featured in Canadian Architect Magazine – Click Here

Related work: Featured Higher Education Wood Innovation