Creative arts students laud ‘inspiring’ Armouries
It’s unusual to see students get this excited over the first day of school.
Thursday was the first day of class for University of Windsor’s creative arts students in the renovated Windsor Armouries. It wasn’t long before they were singing its praises.
“Being in a space that has a lot of history, it’s very beautiful, it’s very inspiring,” said Jude Abu Zaineh, a master of fine arts student.
“It just feels like it was a labour of love. They did a really great job incorporating a lot great materials that speak to one another, between the original brick and the metal and the exposed beams.
“It’s just a really nice melody of different materials that they have used so beautifully.”
The School of Creative Arts, housing students of music, architecture and design, visual arts, and film, brings approximately 500 people downtown.
Work has been underway at the 100-year-old Windsor Armouries, the university’s second phase of its push into downtown, for the past four years.
The building is an artistic and architectural showpiece that offers a striking combination of modern steel and glass fused with the exposed original brick and spiral staircase hanging overhead as an art installation.
There are actually two buildings that make up the $32.6-million project. There is the 66,000-square-foot drill hall of the former armouries, along with the new 20,000-square-foot Freedom Way building where Tunnel Bar-B-Q used to be.
Crews actually expanded the armouries by lowering the floor and building a new foundation to create a full basement. A section of the original foundation has been left exposed to be used as display for documenting the building’s history.
Abu Zaineh remembers watching that work in progress.
“It was mind-blowing because you’re doing something to a building that it’s not intended to do,” she said. “You’re really pushing the boundaries of the infrastructure to create this amazing facility that’s going to house a whole load of opportunities, not just for the school, but also the downtown. This is an exciting time for the arts in Windsor as a whole because we now have this extra space downtown where artists can come and be creative.”
On the ground floor, the ceiling towers high above with a second level hovering over a gallery in the middle that will host student and public art displays.
“All of the collaborative and creative spaces have large open views to all the other spaces, so there’s a lot of chance to see what other people are up to, and feel like you’re a part of something bigger than you,” said Vincent Georgie, the school’s director.
The building also contains 12 music rooms, more than 30 pianos, photography and painting studios, a library, a computer lab, an architecture and design studio and a 130-seat music hall. There’s so much space that some students are working on canvasses that are 17 feet tall.
Music student Niklas Pizzolitto said the new building is a “drastic” improvement over previous facilities, from the space and acoustics to the bright and airy atmosphere.
“Having an actual soundproof practice room, it makes you want to get in and practice, unlike going into an old bowling alley that’s been decrepit for 50 years,” said Pizzolitto, also president of the creative arts undergraduate society. “This is actually some place that’s nice and bright and vibrant and you want to do something with it.”
The Freedom Way building across the street contains facilities for wood and metal working, three-dimensional printing, sculpture, film production, editing suites, a multimedia room and a sonic art studio.
But Georgie said having all that technology and industry standard equipment means more than bragging about being the best creative arts school in Canada.
“It also makes everybody — students, faculty and staff — proud and also want to do their best,” he said. “I can see everybody is standing a bit differently with a greater sense of pride.”