It will probably be another five years before the new New Brunswick Museum is built and open to the public, but we are getting an idea what it might look like.
The preliminary design was unveiled at the current museum on Tuesday night and the public had the chance to say what they thought of it.
Some described it as spectacular and contemporary, among other things, and Malcolm Boyd of Murdock and Boyd Architects told our newsroom they really wanted to open up the views to the harbour.
“It’s a curve,” said Boyd. “It curves not only horizontally but vertically out, so each floor gets successively wider as you go up the building.”
Quite a large turnout at the New Brunswick Museum as we get a look at what the proposed new museum will look like. pic.twitter.com/Y4eNCeBp7R
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) July 31, 2018
Boyd said the curved design is based on museum artifacts and a lot of New Brunswick’s history.
“The skeletons of the whale bones within the museum, if you look inside of a whale, you’ll get the curved ribs,” he said. “Shipbuilding in Saint John, if you look at the ribs and how ships were built, they had these ribs.”
Shannon Merrifield, chair of the museum’s board of directors, said she loves the curved design of the building.
“The comments that I’ve heard have been very thoughtful,” says Merrifield. “People are excited about the project, they’re enthused with the design.”
Iconic, beautiful, contemporary, momentum building, inspiring, catalyst, all words to describe the design for the new NB museum. The @cityofsaintjohn has awarded tender for demolition of shops building on coast guard site. Looking forward to commencement of construction. #growsj pic.twitter.com/YykF0Rh2vo
— Don Darling (@dondarlingSJ) July 31, 2018
Officials will hold more open houses across New Brunswick in the coming weeks to gather more feedback.
