Hallway conversations

Two women deep in conversation traverse the long corridor towards the Scotiabank Grand Hall of the National Gallery of Canada. As many know, hallway conversations are often the best conversations… Perhaps they’re discussing world affairs, or simply which wine to enjoy over lunch at “7 Wine Bar and Worldly Tapas”, the restaurant in the Grand Hall which overlooks the Parliament buildings.

Tadoussac variegated rose granite has been used for the floors and walls in this long hallway, their soft warmth, coupled with the natural light from the skylights overhead, casts a soft hue throughout the long hallway.

The citation below comes from an article written by Moshe Safdie, the architect who designed this iconic gallery.

“When in 1982 the dual competition for new buildings for the National Gallery of Canada and the Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History) was announced by the Government of Canada, I chose to participate in the latter. The selection committee, however, decided to entrust us with the design of the National Gallery. I found myself suddenly facing a blank slate. [note: Douglas Cardinal was later selected as the architect for the Museum of Civilization].

An art museum is primarily about galleries, places for the display of art. One of the dominant themes of the project was the provision of daylight for the enjoyment of viewing the art. It needed to be daylight that nevertheless could be controlled to meet conservation demands. It became clear that in order to accommodate the program on the site, we would stack two levels of galleries, one atop the other. It seemed appropriate that the Canadian collection would be at the level of the Great Hall, the piano nobile, with the European and American collections located on the floor above. Traditional museums have always provided generous skylights to the upper floor, depriving the lower floor of any daylight. But as Jean Sutherland Boggs, Chairman of the Canada Museums Construction Corporation, put it, in a challenging tone, “how could we possibly provide daylight for the European and American collection and not the Canadian?”

We set out on two tasks: first, invent a system to provide daylight for both levels of the galleries, and second, design the galleries so that they would respond, specifically, to different parts of the collection. After some search, the concept evolved of having shafts penetrate through the upper floor, lined with mirrored surfaces, carrying the daylight from skylights on the roof all the way to the Canadian galleries at ground level. “

Source: Moshe Safdie, Architectural Vision: Celebrating Thirty Years, 28 May 2018.