Reimagining Winnipeg: What these fearless architects can teach the rest of Canada

The Table for 1200 on Esplanade Riel (Jacqueline Young)

It was Saturday night, and 1,200 people were dressed in white and sitting down to dinner on the Esplanade Riel above the Red River, where 150 tables showcased food from the citys top chefs. The people behind the event, a group of architects who call themselves 5468796, were there, too each hosting a table, and drinking in the atmosphere of a city thats come alive in recent years. Johanna Hurme, a partner in 5468796, was sporting big purple sunglasses and mingling with out-of-town architects. It really was a success, she says. It felt like the true spirit of Winnipeg came out.

Many Canadians, even some Winnipeggers, might be surprised at that cultured confidence. But 5468796 is leading a new generation of local architects to invent a new city, and perhaps a new Canada, that gives innovative architecture a seat at the table. Manitobas capital city, after decades of stasis, is seeing an architectural rebirth, and 5468796 is at the centre of it. The firm is just seven years old, and its three partners relatively young: the Finnish-born Hurme is 38; the Bosnian-born Sasa Radulovic, 41; and Colin Neufeld, 38.

Yet theyve managed to realize a remarkable set of projects. Among them are a condo building with units that fit together like a 3-D puzzle.

As well, theres been a renovation that added sleek steel balconies to a historic facade on Portage Avenue, and a bandshell with walls made from 20,000 pieces of aluminum chain mail. Theyve won Canadian and international architecture awards, consistent attention from design blogs, and a partnership with a New York think tank.

And theyve done so while smashing preconceptions about what is possible for their city and their profession. I think were a bit naive, says Radulovic, and we work not to let go of that. If the answer is No, we ask, Why not?

The Avenue on Portage (James Brittain)

If you are a young English-Canadian architect with ambitions to design innovative buildings, the route to success can be long and circuitous. After working in the right offices and completing an arduous licensing process, you may teach, and take whatever work you can get renovating kitchens and houses. By then, you are probably pushing 40. Next, you seek out meaningful work, where you can control the details and the materials to realize your vision. This usually means homes for affluent and engaged clients, and then public buildings if you can beat your more experienced peers for the job. Then, you retire.

This is why too many Canadian architects are stuck in a prison of polished concrete, making beautiful buildings for the very few. The three partners of 5468796 have demolished that model.

They met as students at the University of Manitobas well-regarded architecture school. Radulovic was a Sarajevo native who had landed in Canada as a refugee in his 20s; Hurme had come to a small Manitoba town as a high-school exchange student from Helsinki. The two formed an intellectual partnership, both outsiders by birth and equally outspoken. That status, Hurme says, helps in questioning your context and not taking things for granted.

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Reimagining Winnipeg: What these fearless architects can teach the rest of Canada