Athabasca’s Alice B. Donahue Library and Archives received a Blue Sky Architecture Award on June 22 from the prestigious Manasc Isaac architectural firm in Edmonton in the form of $5,000 worth of consulting for a new library building.
The award came after two library board members took the initiative to apply in the hopes of winning some much needed help from the experts in planning for a potential new building for the library, noted Library Board treasurer Bob Tannas.
Tannas, who was on hand for the acceptance of the award in Edmonton, said that although the library didn’t win first place, they are thrilled to have received the honour they were presented with.
“We are very happy to have been awarded for our library and community,” Tannas said. “We won $5,000 worth of consulting advice from a very well known and reputable architectural firm that is known for their environmental sensitivity. The consultation we will be getting will help us finalize our new library structure plan, or at least finish parts of it.”
For the second annual award, Manasc Isaac received 27 architectural proposals from different non-profit groups and made the selection based on the submitting group’s vision. The first place winner received $10,000 worth of free consulting time while two runner-up prizes of $5,000 worth of time were award. The award was created to help Albertans realize their dream projects for their communities and organizations.
Tannas is hopeful that whatever they are able to discuss will be put towards good use with the library board’s plans for the future.
“We are a group of amateurs and volunteers and we are not architects or designers so we don’t know what is necessary in new buildings,” noted Tannas. “We have a wish list of what we would like to see but we don’t know all the standards for how things are built today, that’s where architects comes in.
“We hope to be able to incorporate our wish list and make more concrete solutions for a structure plan with the help of this award. Anytime you can get free advice, let alone $5,000 worth, from a very reputable firm, we are more than happy to graciously receive any help we can get.”
