Honored with a 2023 Global Future Design Awards’ gold winner for cultural architecture, La Place des Arts du Grand Sudbury celebrated its one-year anniversary of serving as Northern Ontario’s first multi-disciplinary art center focused on French-Canadian culture and community empowerment.

The three-story, 3,716-square-meter (40,000-square-foot) building’s varying heights, angular projections and accessible terraces bridge the natural and built environments, reaching beyond its interior boundaries and engaging with the community. The PdA’s glass and metal façade balances transparency and strength – inviting staff, visitors and passersby to see themselves inside while providing a sturdy framework to support the creative and cultural work taking place.

After nearly three years of construction and delays due to the pandemic, the Place des Arts opened its doors on April 29, 2022. During the facility’s first year of operation, it presented 125 shows and events, engaging 10,200 attendees and participants. Today, the PdA defines itself as “a centre of artistic and cultural excellence and a gathering place for Francophones and for the whole community.”