St Lawrence Centre for the Arts

STLC NEXT is a place for community and the arts to thrive—both necessary ingredients for the enrichment of humanity. Having served the community well for the past 50 years, in its next chapter the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts rises strongly from its honoured heritage foundation with a transformative organizational approach to propel it into the next 50 years.

It is reimagined as an attractive, inviting living room and urban condenser where diversity, equity, and inclusion are prioritized to nurture belonging and authenticity for maximum creative expression. Supported by the unified approach to the built and natural environments, the diversity and vivacity of the performing arts—from its myriad styles to its creators, supporters, and audiences—emanate from within the revitalized STLC to the historic neighbourhood, multicultural city, and interconnected world beyond.

Envisioned as an embrace of culture, a high-performance transparent façade wraps the existing structure along the north (Front St. East) and west (Scott St. Plaza) to include the new bridge. Like a dynamic and shimmering curtain—a prelude to the performances taking place within—glazing grabs the north light and vertical frit emphasizes the curtain-like texture along with a shading structure of shimmering mesh that modulates the west façade. Its transparency also affords porosity with views inside of wood vertical fins (providing light control and an inviting atmosphere), playful pops of colour in STLC NEXT’s palette (to accentuate the diversity of people, program, and place), and the lively activities taking place. Woven together, the multi-layered façade system joins these exterior faces while adding a sense of lightness to counterbalance the heritage concrete.