SMARTPARK INNOVATION HUB

The 75,000 sq. ft., four-storey office building is located at 100 Innovation Drive on the University of Manitoba campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Designed as a central gathering place for the Smartpark business community, the building provides flexible, rentable space for emerging companies and start-ups, along with meeting and event rooms, breakout areas, and laboratory facilities.

The program includes office space, research laboratories, training classrooms, and meeting rooms. A continuous shared common space runs the full length of the building, activating the street frontage and offering visibility into the building’s inner workings. This linear common zone incorporates meeting rooms, breakout areas, and informal seating to encourage interaction among tenants. The open main floor features a full-service kitchen and lounge connected to an outdoor terrace, multi-purpose rooms, laboratory space, a two-storey gallery atrium, and staircases located at each end of the building.

The project was funded through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, which aims to reinvigorate Canada’s research and science infrastructure while supporting long-term innovation and sustainability objectives. As a result, the project was delivered on an extremely compressed schedule. The project commenced on November 11, 2016, construction began in March 2017, and the building was completed in 2019. The project was the first in Manitoba in 2017 to be registered under LEED BD+C: New Construction v4 and attained LEED Silver in 2025.

Michael was the Partner in Charge from the project’s pursuit in 2016 through its completion in 2019 while at Cibinel Architecture. The project was delivered through seven sequential tender packages and over ten tenant improvements within the short timeframe.

Client / University of Manitoba
Location / 100 Innovation Dr, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Architecture / Cibinel Architecture
Michael Acht Role / Partner in Charge
Building Area / 75 000 SF
Cost / $43m
Completed / 2019

Construction Manager / Bird Construction
Structural / Crosier Kilgour
Mechanical / MCW Consultants
Electrical / MCW Consultants
Civil / KGS
Landscape / HTFC Planning & Design
Sustainability Consultant / Architecture49
Acoustics and Energy Modelling/ RWDI
Commissioning / Pinchin

Press /
https://www.canadianarchitect.com/
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.usgbc.org/projects/
https://www.pembinatrails.ca/
https://ised-isde.canada.ca/

Photo Credit / Lindsay Reid Photography