Manitou a bi Bii daziigae - Where the Creator Sits / Brings Light

Manitou a bi Bii daziigae translated from the Anishinaabemowin language to English means “Where the Creator sits – Brings light” and is the name of the newest addition to Red River College Polytech’s downtown Winnipeg Campus.

Iconic artwork by Indigenous artist Jackie Traverse spans the entire top floor of the City Room interior ceiling carrying through to outside along the soffit surface. Our directive was to uniformly light the interior and exterior surfaces so that the colourful artwork reads as one expansive piece.

Utilizing several lighting models as well as full-scale mock-up helped us to perfect our design. This method also ensured proper and accurate rendering and was invaluable in finalizing the colour temperature which we based on the specific colours in the artwork.

See below the process of perfecting our design:

A careful combination of two separate linear up-lighting and a flood lighting application allows the artwork to be the focus of this southeast corner. Among the biggest challenges of this design brief was where to locate the light sources so that it would not visually compete with the artwork.

The solution involved linear up-lighting between the window mullions and along the base of the soffit. This seamless application allows the eye to be drawn from the interior ceiling out to the surface of the soffit where additional linear up-lighting is installed along the façade base. To define the crisp, exaggerated soffit angle we applied flood lighting installed along the rooftop.

Our directive was to uniformly light the interior and exterior surfaces so that the colourful artwork reads as one expansive piece.

We were able to successfully conceal the sources of light and showcase both the intricacy of the artwork and the exaggerated architectural design supporting the architect’s vision of transparency and further enhancing the facility’s spirit of ‘bringing light’.