Slag Art Gallery — DAO | Algorithmic & Timber Architecture

Slag Art Gallery
Sudbury, Ontario

Drawing from personal roots in Sudbury, Patrick’s thesis project focused on the establishment of a new building for the proposed Franklin Carmichael Art Gallery, dedicated in honour of the youngest original member of the Group of Seven. The relocation from a repurposed house in the historic residential district of downtown Sudbury to a place of prominence across the railroad tracks from the City’s Elgin Greenway proposal, the new gallery would also bridge the physical division of the site from the adjacent downtown core. With a depth of material research into slag, a byproduct of the local mining industries, the overall design seeks to celebrate slag’s resilience and offer a unique opportunity to spotlight viable local construction materials.

The gallery space was designed as a rectilinear form, with an accumulation of mass along the midline to create a dense sound barrier between the interior programming and the pervasive noise from the nearby Trans-Canada Railway. Cantilevered volumes extend over the central corridor and fluctuate in size, framing a variety of artwork along the long gallery wall. Glazing between columns faces out across the tracks to the market building, enticing visitors to traverse the underground passageway and discover enrichment within the gallery space. Everything is either constructed with or augmented by slag blocks, showcasing its myriad applications for both structural and aesthetic purposes, while grounding the design into the very fabric of the landscape.

PERIOD 2011 - 2012
STRUCTURE Slag Slabs
SCALE 3 stories

ARCHITECTURE Greg Johnson
Oliver Neumann
Patricia Patkau
Brian Rudy
CONSTRUCTION Dale Craddock
Jay Drew
GEOLOGY Betsy Friedlander
Daan Maijer
Michael Parsons
MINING Michael Danielson
Joseph Lawless
Ken Scholey
PAINTINGS Frank Danielson
FUNDING RAIC

SERVICES Feasibility Studies
Conceptual Design
Rendering Package

Danielson Architecture Office

Industrial Residential Public Algorithm Material Philosophy About