CANADIAN ARCHITECT 05/18
40
GOVERNOR GENERAL’S MEDAL WINNER
FORT MCMURRAY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Fort McMurray, Alberta omb architecture Ema Peter
LOCATION
ARCHITECTS PHOTOS
The new Fort McMurray International Airport Terminal creates a meaningful portal for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in the northern reaches of Alberta; a region characterized by its spectacular geography and the natural beauty of the boreal forest, the prairies, and the northern lights. Host to the national oil sands industry, the small community of Fort McMurray has been thrust onto the global stage, stimulating unprecedented growth and cultural diversification. The remote location coupled with rapid industrial development has severely diluted the availability of skilled building trades and inflated construction costs by 30-to-50 percent. As a result, conventional systems characterize the overwhelming majority of the local built environment, cost-driven to the lowest common denominator of basic steel and concrete structures and doing little for the human spirit. The boom-town ethos prevails, where cheap and fast buildings outnumber long-term quality at every turn.
The new terminal seeks an alternate path, leveraging local constraints into architectural opportunities that celebrate the unique qualities of the place and the spirit of its people. The architecture is purposefully succinct; material resources are used sparingly while also capitalizing on the qualitative advantages of off-site production and fabrication. The resultant building form relates to its green-field setting, respecting the language of the prairie landscape while simultaneously generating an iconic presence. A collection of robust volumes is deployed to express discrete programmatic functions, arranged to facilitate future expansion of the 15,000-square-metre facility. The low, linear, three-storey profile establishes itself with a sense of permanence, inspired by the durability of the native ecology and industry. Raw natural materials are used throughout, including weathering steel, bitumen-hued metal cladding, and exposed concrete. Inside, warm, wood framed spaces that provide direct physical and visual access
