Wascana Centre

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Wascana Lake and the Regina central business district

Wascana Centre (formally established in 1962) is a 9.3 square kilometre (2,300 acre) park built around Wascana Lake in Regina, Saskatchewan. It brings together lands and buildings owned by the City of Regina, University of Regina, and Province of Saskatchewan, each of which is represented on the board of directors, and contains government, recreational, cultural, educational and environmental facilities.

It was designed by the Seattle architect Minoru Yamasaki—whose lasting fame lies in his design for the original World Trade Center in New York and whose lasting infamy lies in the now demolished and universally reviled Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St Louis, Missouri—in tandem with his plans for the Regina Campus of the University of Saskatchewan.^[1] His stark modernist plan for the University, which was from the outset a matter of contention as to its suitability for the featureless Regina plain, is evident in the first three buildings of the campus, the laboratory, classroom and library buildings, but the laboratory and library buildings have been substantially altered and the original master plan for the campus has been revamped over time.

[edit] History

The name "Wascana" is derived from the Cree word Oscana meaning "pile of bones" in reference to the plains bison bones scattered around Wascana Creek before the area was populated by non-indigenous people.

When it was decided to establish a new Regina campus for the University of Saskatchewan Minoru Yamasaki, later the architect of the original World Trade Center in New York, was commissioned in 1961 to prepare a 100-year master plan for Wascana Centre including the new university complex.^[2] Yamasaki's vision has largely been adhered to, notwithstanding some controversy over the years as to the suitablity of his stark modernist buildings for the featureless Regina plain.

Canoeing on Wascana Lake, pre-1905: Note farm buildings on the site of the provincial legislative building

Originally created in 1883 by damming Wascana Creek between Angus and Rae Streets, 1½ blocks west of the present Albert Street dam and bridge, to provide a "stock watering hole" — the rolling stock of the CPR, that is — Wascana Lake was soon turned to recreational use when in the spring of 1884 the reservoir filled and Reginans took to the lake for sailing and canoeing. Its size was slightly reduced in 1908 when a new dam and bridge were constructed in their present location.

The lake continued for a time to be used as a domestic water supply and for stock watering; it also supplied the new legislative building.^[3] A longer term effect resulted, however, when lake water was used to cool machinery in the power plant (now the Powerhouse Museum) that was built in the eastern sector. Heated water returned to the lake, causing that sector to remain ice-free through the winter, and several species of migratory birds made it their year-round habitat. The eastern sector of the lake is now a waterfowl sanctuary.

Wascana Lake drained in 1931 prior to the deepening of the bed. Note Regina College, the Normal School and the landscaped diagonal site of the never-built Anglican Cathedral on the corner of Broad St and College Avenue

Wascana Lake was drained and deepened in the 1930s as part of a government relief project; 2,100 men widened and dredged the lake bed and created two islands using only hand tools and horse-drawn wagons.^[4] During the fall and winter of 2003-2004, Wascana Lake was again drained and dredged to deepen it by about an average of 5 metres (16 ft), primarily to decrease aquatic weed growth, improve water quality, and allow more competitive and recreational canoeing and paddling during the summer months. The Big Dig, as it was known locally, also included the addition of a new island and general re-landscaping around the lake. The dredging was completed in mid-March 2004, in time for the spring runoff. The lake includes several small islands: Willow Island, Spruce Island, Pine Island, Goose Island and Tern island.

[edit] Statistics

Wascana Centre promotional literature touts it as being larger than New York City's Central Park at 843 acres (3.4 km²) and Vancouver's Stanley Park at 1,000 acres (4 km²) and as the third largest urban park in Canada.

[edit] Amenities

Trafalgar Fountain

Wascana Centre includes a Waterfowl Park that provides a refuge for geese, ducks and other birds, some of which do not fly south for the winter. Speakers' Corner on the north shore of Wascana Lake features gas lamps from London and birch trees from Runnymede Meadow where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215. To the immediate east of the legislative building is Trafalgar Fountain, one of a pair of fountains designed by Charles Barry that originally stood in Trafalgar Square in London, England from 1845 to 1939. The twin of this fountain is located in Confederation Park, Ottawa. This one has been dedicated to the 1882 founding of the North West Mounted Police Headquarters in Regina.

Wascana Centre with Regina Skyline in Background

Wascana Centre contains three museums, including the Royal Saskatchewan Museum; the Conexus Arts Centre concert hall and theatre complex; the Regina College campus of the University of Regina, the Regina Conservatory of Music (in the old girls' residence wing of the Regina College building) and the Darke Hall theatre and concert venue; the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery; the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage and the provincial Legislative Building.

Immediately to the east of the original Methodist Regina College complex is the former Anglican Diocesan property, which contains the former St Chad's Qu'Appelle Diocesan School (St Chad's high school operated parallel to the Methodist Regina College; St Chad's College, originally an Anglican theological seminary, formally vacated to the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon), the former Bishops Court and assorted ecclesiastical structures. These are now owned by the provincial Crown, though for the time being are leased back to the Anglican Church; in due course they may appropriately be added to the adjacent Regina College Campus of the university.

The Centre also contains attractive venues for cross country skiing and skating during winter and tennis, bicycling, running, and non-motorized water sports during summer. When Regina hosted the 2005 Canada Summer Games, the majority of the event venues as well as the athlete accommodations were located within the boundaries of the Wascana Centre.

[edit] References