Medicine Hat City Hall

Constructed in 1983, the new City Hall was a major centennial project for Medicine Hat. Built to replace the aging and inadequate original city hall located just a block away (and now demolished) the new building is still quite modern looking after nearly three decades in use.  The bold design features sharp angles and rounded edges covered with 2950 square metres of exterior glass, accented further by locally produced red brick. The design was meant to reflect the shapes of the South Saskatchewan river valley.  

Located along the banks of the river and on the corner of 1st Street and 2nd Avenue, City Hall is next door to many other prominent civic landmarks including Finlay Bridge, the Courthouse, Riverside Park, the Public Library, and the Esplanade.  As you might expect, it's one of the most unique buildings in Medicine Hat.   

New city hall construction model from the early 1980s.

New city hall ca. 1983

Scenes in June

Leading into the Canada Day long weekend I already feel like I've got a bunch of summer outings under my belt.  Between work, hangouts, dinners, more work, and my walks around downtown, I feel like June has been a pretty diverse month.  My photo series Around the Hat has also given me the motivation to explore a lot more than usual, and it's honestly made me more appreciative of my surroundings.  I'm wandering a lot, which is more fun than it might sound.  I don't even feel the need to go into many details here, I just wanted to share a few of the backdrops that have played host to some of my summer moments thus far.    

Kin Park Teepee Village

On June 21 it was National Aboriginal Day and on my drive home last week I noticed this teepee village setup in Kin Park.  Occasionally you can see displays like this at the Saamis Teepee, but it's not often that you find a village left to freely explore and in such great quantity.  The authentic display was really beautiful and seemed like the perfect focal point for a new Around the Hat photo set.