WIDC Has Role in 2015 Games
Wood Innovation and Design Centre to house broadcaster during Games -photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – The new Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, will be the broadcast centre for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
WIDC will eventually be home to a Masters degree in engineering program through UNBC, but its first role will be to house the broadcasters who will be bringing the story of the Games to the rest of Canada.
BCIT students will be among the first to experience the facility, as 30 from that post secondary institution will be in Prince George to produce a daily half hour program “Canada Games TV Today” that will be webcast to the world during the event.
The building itself will likely be a focus of at least one or two features being produced by the broadcasters, afterall, WIDC is the tallest modern day wood structure in North America. It is 30 metres high and showcases innovation in wood design.
The official announcement of WIDC’s 2015 Canada Games role is expected next week.
Comments
The building itself looks kind of like a burnt stump.
Just cause the colours r the same doesn’t mean it resembles something. Does it look like a german shepherd to you too?
Does anyone really believe this nonsense about a Masters Engineering program?
My wallet gets sore just looking at that place. :)
Wondering when they will install the missing glass panels. Looks kind of tacky with the plywood cover ups. Kind of surprising PCL under ordered such visible components.
Eagleone the black wood panels are, apparently, burnt wood so maybe a burnt stump was the look the architect was after. ☻
I would like to hear more about the Masters Engineering Program, how far along it is, and when we can expect it to be up and running.
Perhaps it is like the Airport Runway Expansion, ** build it and they will come **
** build it and they will come **
Oh No !! You mean this building will sit empty until they turn it into the tallest modern day wood structure homeless shelter in North America ?
Id hate to see what all of the negative nellies would say on a bad news story – yeesh
Those naturally finished panels are there for good, they are an architectural feature. I would assume they were attempting to break up the facade, sort of like they did on the new police station with the beige wall intermixed with orange and blue tiles – not what I would have done, but maybe this is why I am not an architect. What I am wondering about are the doors along George Street that look as though they should be fire escapes leading to an exterior egress stairway…
If those panels were in a pattern you could call it an architectural feature. So it is going to look like the windows have been broken and are boarded up waiting for replacement.
Masters program starts next September. Tons of negative comments about a program. Any govn’t spending in our downtown is going to have people complain. How about enjoy the fact some old greasy hotel isn’t on that corner anymore. Nice to see NEW buildings in downtown PG
Posted on Friday, September 26, 2014 @ 8:47 AM by pgjohn
Masters program starts next September,
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According to the UNBC website. “This program is under development and pending approvals.”
I would be the first to agree that this building is much better looking than the old Prince George Hotel, that’s pretty obvious. However the question is, who is going to pay for the maintenance?? My understanding is that the building will be turned over to the City of Prince George, so do taxpayers get stuck with the costs.
As ugly as the PG Hotel was, it at least paid taxes to the City. This new building wont, or if it does it will be from another tax pot.
If we cannot attract students to UNBC for other programs, how do we expect to attract them for Masters Degree in Engineering.??? Furthermore did we really need a new building to house students for a masters degree. Somehow I seriously doubt it.
More likely they built the building with little or no foresight as to its function, and are now scrambling to make it look like it was viable project.
Lets not forget it was downsized from a 10 Story $75 Million building to a 6 Story $25 Million building, so the original plan is long gone.
The ad for 2 tenure track positions in UNBC for WIDC is still online. It means that UNBC has not filled both positions yet. Normally it takes at least 6 months after an ad (Dec 2014?) to do shortlisting, inviting for interview and making offer. It also depends on the priorities of the new UNBC president considering the old team with NRES focus of WIDC is out and the new team is finding its way in the neighborhood which may take several months.
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“The University of Northern British Columbia invites applications for two full-time, tenure-track positions, at the rank of Assistant Professor or Associate Professor. The primary responsibility will be to teach and support courses for the Integrated Wood Engineering and Design program at the Wood Innovation and Design Centre, located in downtown Prince George, as well as at the Prince George campus. This position will also involve developing course to be taught and collaborating with other faculty and staff to develop a successful program. The preferred start date for these positions is September 2014. …”
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