A new and starkly modern bandshell for Harris Park is being rolled out as a city project to mark Canada’s 150th birthday next year.

With a budget of just under $1 million, the new Canada 150 Pavilion will be on the same site as the current bandshell but will be bigger, expanding to 5,000 square feet, from 3,000 square feet.

The pavilion will also be very different from the current gazebo-style building built in 1990.

The hangar-style metal structure will have a slanted roof rising from a diagonal axis designed to improve sound quality.

The main pathway to the bandshell will be flanked by a stone promenade wall with a series of upright steel tubes in rainbow colours, reflecting the official Canada 150 logo.

Matter Architectural Studio is the London firm that designed the new bandshell. It’s a coup for the firm, recently founded by young architects Steven Cooper and Phil Sharron.

Cooper said he knows there will be pushback from people who prefer a more traditional design, but the project was intended to reflect the themes of the Canada 150 celebration.

“We are not trying to be provocative. But as a young firm we’re trying to be different and that will come out in our work.”

Sharron said the firm worked with an acoustical consultant to design the structure.

“The outer face of the bandshell is almost like a trumpet, projecting out . . . to ensure you get the full benefit of performances.”

The pavilion won’t have a rear wall. That will give the stage the natural backdrop of the tree-lined hill behind it and will also improve security, eliminating enclosed space that could draw illicit activity, Sharron said.

Gerald Gallacher, a principal with Nicholson Sheffield Architects, said public projects with a modern design, such as the Canada 150 Pavilion, are often controversial.

“It’s not traditional, that’s for sure . . . It’s a generational thing. The younger crowd will think it’s new and cool and older generations will wonder what this has to do with a bandshell.”

Darryl Diegel, a supervisor with the city’s facilities and construction department, said a five-kilometre stretch of riverfront land will be redeveloped through the city’s Back to the River plan and the design of the Harris park bandshell will fit in.

“In the future we have these designs that will have that modern feel. We are trying to tie into the grand scheme for the area,” he said.

The new bandshell will not be equipped and wired to handle the Rock the Park concerts, the other major event in the park, Diegel said. Rock the Park will continue to have a separate temporary stage setup, he said.

The Canada 150 Pavilion will go out to tender this fall and be completed next May, in time for the Canada Day celebration, Diegel said.

Half of the funding for the project will come from a $1.8-million grant from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. The funding, announced in February, is targeted at 10 community renovation and restoration projects to be completed in time for Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.

Under the terms of the deal, $495,000 for the bandshell project will come from the federal grant with the other half picked up by the city.

hdaniszewski@postmedia.com

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Harris Park Bandshell