Case Study Gallery: Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario

Terri Meyer Boake BES BArch MArch LEED AP
Professor :: School of Architecture :: University of Waterloo

Canadian War Museum

Moriyama and Teshima & Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects in Joint Venture

Ottawa, Ontario

Project Information:

Architects: Moriyama and Teshima & Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects in Joint Venture
Structural Engineers: Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Limited, Consulting Engineers
Engineer in Charge: Mike Allen P. Eng.
Project Engineer: Jon Turner, P. Eng.
Steel Fabrication and Erection: Walters Inc., Hamilton

The new Canadian War Museum was built to honour the memory of the many who served and died to protect the freedom of Canada. The museum opened in May 2005, just in time for the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of VE day. These images were taken on May 11, 2005, shortly after the opening.

The museum is situated within sight of the Parliament Buildings, on the Breton Flats. The building is comprised of a series of large rooms, each themed to represent a key event in Canada's engagement with war throughout history. The exterior of the building has been sited to allow the natural landscape to overgrow the building, via a very large intensive green roof. The natural grasses of the Le Breton Flats will eventually overgrow the roof. The bright copper cladding on the roof will take on the familiar greenish hue of the Parliaments buildings not so far in the distance.

article in Canadian Architect Magazine September 2005

the steel work | general interior | the exterior

Project Images:


River side entrance to the museum.	River side entrance to the museum.


View towards the green roof in its early stages of plant growth.	The walkway allows visitors to traverse over the top of the museum below.


Clerestory windows bring light into the spaces below.	A view over the green roof towards "Regeneration Hall" in the distance.


Public areas on the roof of the museum.	A view towards the Parliament Buildings, in the distance, through the dedicated space to the Unknown Soldier below.


The copper cladding on the roof of Regeneration Hall - the Parliament Buildings in the distance.	Fall protection barrier to support the window and skylight washing equipment.


Slotted window in the sloped concrete exterior wall.	Sloped clerestory window adjacent to ramp for pedestrian access to/from the roof.


The finished curtain wall cladding sytem uses pieces of pressure plate in lieu of a continuous closure strip.	Portions of the curtain wall pop out of plane.


Regeneration Hall forms a peak adjacent to the large glazed wall behind which sits the large hall that houses the tanks and airplanes.	Morse code dots the copper roof of the Regeneration Hall.


The copper cladding contrasts with the board formed concrete exterior walls.	The green roof slopes up to meet the concrete exterior walls.


Service entrance at the rear of the building.	A view out from the library to the war like landscape.