The new Kitchener City Hall is the winning submission in a national design competition held in 1989. Located on a full city block fronting onto King Street, the city’s main street, the City Hall and Civic Square are strategic elements in the City’s downtown revitalization strategy.

The design is conceived as an ensemble of spaces and volumes to express the importance of location, topography, program and context in clear architectural terms and to create a public terrain for assembly and movement through the site.

The principal formal elements are the U-shaped Civic Walls – two storeys at Duke Street and elevated to three storeys at King Street – which define the street edges and contain the program for the City Hall and Civic Square.

The major functions of the City Hall are accommodated within three principal volumes: the Council Chamber, the Civic Rotunda and the Administrative Office Tower. The Council Chamber is associated with the offices of the Mayor and Councillors. The Civic Rotunda is a place of public assembly. The Civic Tower houses the administrative departments and provides a public observation deck under its cubic top. The tower’s spire is an illuminated weather beacon that is visible from all parts of the downtown area.

The forms of the City Hall are proportionally and materially designed to both work within and stand apart from the existing urban fabric. Civic precedents – agora, amphitheatre, plaza and tower – are evoked. Both old and new, monumental and informal, the City Hall is referenced to the history and the languages of architecture.

Site
200 King Street West, Kitchener, Ontario

Client
City of Kitchener

Construction Cost
$43.4 million

Project Team
Bruce Kuwabara (partner-in-charge), Marianne McKenna, Luigi LaRocca (associate-in-charge), David Pontarini, Howard Sutcliffe, Evan Webber, Mike Poitras, Judith Taylor, John Allen, Andrew Dyke, Mitchell Hall, Larry Chow, Birgit Siber, Bill Colaco, Glenn MacMullin

Consultants
Yolles Partnership Inc. (structural), Merber Corporation (mechanical), Mulvey & Banani International Inc. (electrical engineers), Milus Bollenberghe Topps Watchorn (landscape), James F. Vermeulen Cost Consultant Ltd. (costing), Tudhope Associates (signage/graphics), Leber/Rubes (fire and life safety)

• 1998 City of Kitchener Urban Design Awards, Honorary Award of Distinction
• 1997 Ontario Association of Architects Award of Excellence
• 1996 Pan American Biennale, Honorable Mention
• 1994 Governor General's Award
• 1990 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence
• 1989 Winning scheme in an open national design competition