Place des Arts in Sudbury selected as a 2022 Queen’s Park Pick

Every year, the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) teams up with MPPs across the province to nominate structures for World Architect’s Day. An art facility in Sudbury was among nine buildings across the province being recognized for its design this year.

From wood used to rebuild after the Chicago fire to bricks from the first francophone school in the north, it’s the small details of Place des Arts that make it so unique.

“It’s a beautiful building, Place des Arts is a gem in Sudbury. Its something that we’re all very proud of as Sudburians,” said Sudbury MPP Jamie West.

West nominated the first multi-disciplinary art facility of its kind in the north for the annual Queen’s Park picks.

West said he hopes the recognition from the association will raise awareness about Place des Arts and what it has to offer.

“It’s really about the mandates of the OAA, which is to educate the public about architecture and for the architectural association to be educated by the public about what people like about architecture,” said Susan Speigel, president of the OAA, when explaining the selection criteria.

The association goes to the MPPs and asks for the most important piece of architecture in their riding and they adjudicate the list to pick nine.

Speigel said it leads to some great conversations with the MPPs and members of the senior jurors with the OAA who make the final selections.

This was the first time a building in Sudbury has been chosen for the Queen’s Park Picks.

“There was wood that originally came from Sudbury to help rebuild Chicago after the great Chicago fire. The bread pans are part of Theatre du Nouvel Ontario. Prior to that, it was a bakery, so they had those in there. You have bricks down the hall that are from institutions, like the first francophone school when you weren’t allowed to have people teaching in French and just that history and heritage, combined with the structure of the building and the wood and the cement and metal makes for an obvious choice,” West told CTV News.

West explained the centre began as a pipe dream 12 years ago and has now flourished into a tribute to past and present Francophones within the community. Within the short six months since its completion, locals say the Place des Arts is making its presence known in Greater Sudbury.

“The community has been extremely, how can I say, enthusiastic. And um, it’s not so much that we’ve made an incredible amount of effort but there’s such a level of expectation and I would say pent up demand for this level of caliber,” said Jean-Gilles Pelletier, the centre’s executive director.

Since opening its doors in April, the facility has seen an overwhelming response.

Pelletier said they have already sold 6,000.

“It’s incredible. So we’re very, very, very proud.”

The facility is set to house more amenities in the coming months.

“My wife is French and my kids are French, so having the French bookstore is going to be important because it was a struggle to find children’s books in French,” West added.