National Gallery for the Arts

National  Gallery for the Arts  Canada   Ottawa   1975

Giuliano Fiorenzoli in 1975 is hired as Chief Designer for the project by the canadian
architectural firm Marani Partners in Toronto. The team under G.Fiorenzoli guidance
participates to the National Gallery for the Arts of Canada national competition .

The largest and most ambitious effort made by the Canadian Government to place
under one single Institution and building all the scattered art works , private and public
art collections of the country’s history as a nation..
It is an almost impossible task and moral obligation to conceive a new National
Gallery where the entire Canadian cultural heritage, the entire national craft and artistic
production since the first formation of the country and its origins could be finally put on
a public display in an organized manner.
The program is endless , full of requirements .There are galleries of any kind, size and
content and a flood like of paintings, sculptures , native’s artifacts , collected items, all in
need to be carefully stored and exhibited in a meaningful intelligent way.
Certainly the most important and culturally ambitious architectural event of the eighties
in Canada.

The site of the new building is the same of that one of the Canadian Parliament in
Ottawa. Fiorenzoli’s team proposed building reflects the complexity of the extensive ,
well detailed program given to all participants and prepared by a team of government
officials.
The proposed massive steel and glass structure resembles a man made extension and
transformation of the natural cliff of Parliament Hill. An immense curtain wall full of
light and transparency hangs over the nearby river with elegance and authority.

Location
Ottawa Canada
Competition
1975
Scope of Services
Chief Designer
Construction Cost
N/A
Gross Floor Area
N/A