Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium

Model and Building information

Here is another building that I hope will find new life one day, although it's tough to know what that might be. The large windows overlooking Coronation Park would make a restaurant ideal, except that at only a few thousand square feet installing a commercial kitchen probably isn't feasible. Also, as wonderful as the setting is it has limited access and parking, and is undeniably out of the way. So realistically maybe a teahouse for special events, or a gallery or small museum? Right now it seems to be used for document storage, which is a shame.

The building is also in pretty bad shape, with damage to the concrete and tile, as well as the addition of a charming loading dock.




Groups like the Edmonton Design Committee have taken up the cause of the Planetarium, and hopefully it will not be forgotten.

TELUS World of Science - Edmonton

Model and Building information

The Space Sciences Centre with its early additions was certainly one of Edmonton's most unique structures. And then the latter addition went and turned it into a Spaceship towing a minimall.

Regardless, the model turned out well, although after it was nearly finished I realized that I had made a fairly major mistake. As you walk counterclockwise around the building from the south to the north, the elevation of the terrain increases significantly. The building matches this by having each of the radial segments slope up a few degrees, so that from the front to the back you gain 10 to 15'. It is similar to Wright's famous sloped galleries in the Guggenheim, although here the effect is less apparent.

The model doesn't have that sprial - partly because it would have made a complicated and polygon-heavy model significantly more complicated, partly because Google Earth doesn't actually include that change in terrain, and partly because I didn't think that anyone would notice.

Peter Hemingway Fitness and Leisure Centre

Model and Building information

A "favourite" building is a tough thing to define, but after a few years of mulling it over I am pretty sure that mine must be the former Coronation Pool. Walking around it on a beautiful day is almost a religious experience; it seems to float above the ground, but is held down by huge concrete tentpegs; 40 years of wear have just given its surface a nice patina; and probably most importantly, there is nothing else like it in Edmonton.

So if Coronation Pool is my favourite building, then it was also somewhat of my White Whale. I had originally started the model in September of 2007, along with the Telus World of Science and QEII Planetarium. TWOS and the Planetarium turned out fine, but I could not get Coronation to work. I tried a few more times over the years, but the geometry was just too confusing. I've certainly given up on other buildings before, but that was because of boredom or because I didn't like the photos I had, but with Coronation I just didn't know how to do it.

When I did successfully model it, I didn't really do anything differently. I still don't know how tall it is, or the radii of any of the curves. The model is built on cheating and guesswork, but I think it turned out pretty well.