{"id":21005,"date":"2018-06-28T09:53:39","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T13:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21005"},"modified":"2018-07-04T12:39:31","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T16:39:31","slug":"theatre-studio-space-planned-for-library-square-addition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/theatre-studio-space-planned-for-library-square-addition\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre, studio space planned for Library Square addition"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

The future of Library Square could take a step forward this week with the approval of a three-storey addition to the Church Street School.
\nTentatively approved by Council members at the Committee level last Tuesday, the modern addition, which would contrast with the heritage attributes of the historic downtown landmark, would include a new atrium, ample studio space, and a flexible \u201cblack box\u201d theatre with seating for 250.
\nShould the Committee\u2019s decision be ratified this week, work will begin on a new laneway and other components of Library Square to provide connectivity between the area\u2019s two anchor buildings \u2013 the Aurora Public Library and the Church Street School, home to the Aurora Cultural Centre and Aurora Museum & Archives \u2013 and commit funding for the addition, which will spur the design process.
\nFinal costs for the addition will become clear after the design process, at which time Council will make a firm commitment on how much money to allocate to the project, but architects estimate that a full-blown three storey addition and theatre could cost between $14 million and $17 million.
\nAccording to a presentation made last week by David Leinster of The Planning Partnership and architect Roland Rom Colthoff, the proposed final design includes a number of tweaks from original concepts presented to Council earlier this year.
\nAmong these changes, the Aurora Public Library has agreed to move deliveries from the main entrance down to Church Street to facilitate the growth of Library Square, a restored \u201cdrop-off\u201d area to the Library, and a reconfiguration of accessible parking spaces.
\nOn the Square itself, principals are proposing a design that has \u201cthe right dignity\u201d that corresponds with the surrounding buildings. They likened the modern addition to the Church Street School to similar additions to landmarks such as Toronto\u2019s Royal Conservatory of Music, which has become a landmark in and of itself.
\nWhile the complete package would cost upwards of $17 million, smaller scale options were also on the table, including an addition for just a theatre and basement concept with an upset estimate of $11 million, and an addition with just programmable space at a \u201cvery rough\u201d estimate between $7 million and $8 million.
\nLooking over the designs, Mayor Geoff Dawe said he thought the look of the new building was both \u201ccomplimentary\u201d and \u201csubstantially different\u201d from what is there.
\n\u201cWhat you have shown here is fabulous,\u201d he said. \u201cI am very much in favour of the three-storey building. It is a Council decision, but I think the three-storey building gives us the most opportunity and the most flexibility in the long run.\u201d
\nAdded Councillor Tom Mrakas: \u201cI think it is a fabulous idea and you have done an incredible amount of work [with] the residents and this Council, stakeholders, and I think you have come up with something everyone can be happy with and\u2026this is an exciting opportunity.\u201d
\nCouncillor Sandra Humfryes was similarly enthusiastic.
\n\u201cI can understand the challenge of [tweaking designs to fit into a heritage area], but this is absolutely going in the right direction,\u201d she said. \u201cThe key here was to create an attraction. It will absolutely create that and I am excited about all the potential programming space that we can have in the area. I think it is incredible.\u201d
\nOthers, however, showed a degree of skepticism when it came to integrating this modern element into an area largely defined by its heritage. Among those members was Councillor Jeff Thom who cited recent moves to put a modern addition onto Ottawa\u2019s landmark Chateau Laurier, a plan which has garnered no small degree of criticism and controversy.
\n\u201cOur Church Street School is not the Chateau Laurier, but certainly it is the same kind of concept [of] how do we respectfully and tastefully put an addition onto an existing heritage building?\u201d Councillor Thom said to the planners. \u201cObviously, we\u2019re in the early stages and by no means is what you presented the final design, but you\u2019re well aware of the situation. Moving forward, perhaps I would like to see a design that is a bit more complimentary to the heritage attributes.\u201d
\nAlthough Councillor Wendy Gaertner agreed the proposal was \u201cexciting,\u201d she went a step further and called it an \u201cexciting work in progress,\u201d asking for guarantees that the addition would not be higher than the existing Church Street School.
\nPlanners told Councillor Gaertner that they could not necessarily guarantee that height at this point until all the mechanical elements were fully investigated.
\n\u201cOur intention and the intention of the entire project team is that it not be taller than the rooftop, the widow\u2019s walk element of the existing schoolhouse,\u201d said Mr. Colthoff. \u201cHowever, there are very large mechanical systems requirements for these buildings. They have 250 people in one room (the proposed theatre) and there is a lot of air to move back and forth. Right now, I cannot guarantee [the height] because we have only just started with the mechanical engineers.\u201d
\nThis, however, gave Councillor Gaertner pause.
\n\u201cI would say that [height restriction] is a requirement that it doesn\u2019t in any way overshadow the heritage building,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The future of Library Square could take a step forward this week with the approval of a three-storey addition to the Church Street School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5sN","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 21:17:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}