The Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre is in the heart of the Ancaster Heritage Village. Formed in 1793, the Village of Ancaster is the third oldest community in Ontario. The Ancaster Memorial School, built in the mid-1940s, occupies a special place in the hearts of many residents. While the idea of turning the redundant old school site into an arts and cultural centre enjoyed universal support, there was a heated debate about whether to renovate or demolish and build anew. The challenges of renovation include a highly irregular site boundary with a 3-metre drop in grade from front to back of the existing building and the many interior levels of an old school. The architectural team’s solution managed to preserve most of the existing building, including the iconic stone portal, while adding a modern addition to the south and west side. Four levels of the facility can be reached by one elevator. The new and renovated facility will house a 470-seat Peller Hall, a 150-seat multi-purpose studio, visual arts classrooms, and music and dance studios. The vision for the Ancaster Village is to create a complete, liveable, walkable community sympathetic to its heritage. SDG provided full-service landscape architectural design services for the project.  The Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre is a state-of-the-art, vibrant arts centre and home to many of Ancaster’s successful and popular community arts groups as well as provide a venue for the community to enjoy many professional performers and artists.  Some of the tenants of the Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre include Theatre Ancaster, Sinfonia Ancaster, Dundas Valley School of Arts, AMAC studio arts, The Blues Studio sessions, Avalon Music Academy, Ancaster Farmers Market, Hamilton Film Festival, Hamilton Allstart Jazz, the Brott Music Festival.

Photo credit: Invizij Architects