The Edmonton Omniplex

[feepa]

http://www.mccauley.info/Media/Multimedia/Boyle-McCauley%20N ews%20Nov%202005.pdf
New art gallery sparks memories of OMNIPLEX
GARRY SPOTOWSKI
The recent competition to rebuild the Edmonton Art Gallery spurred a couple Edmonton
Journal letter writers to compare the grandiosity of the plan with that of the Omniplex.
Younger readers of the Journal, and even a few older ones, probably didn’t have a clue what
the writers were referring to. But had the Omniplex actually been built, the Boyle McCauley
area – Edmonton for that matter - would have a totally different look.
The Omniplex was a gargantuan building proposed in the late 60s to “revitalize” the downtown
core. It combined features of the Commonwealth Stadium, the Edmonton Coliseum,
the Shaw Convention Centre, and the Winspear Concert Hall – all under one roof. It’s likely
none of those major structures would have been built had the Omniplex been approved. It
was to be located roughly where the Law Courts building and the main Post Office are now.
Perhaps the most spectacular feature of the Omniplex was a floating or raisable football field
that could be elevated to uncover the hockey facility below. The ceiling of the hockey rink
would be the elevated floor of the football stadium.
As its name implies, the Omniplex would have it all: 100,000 square feet of convention space
with seating for up to 25,000 delegates; a 3400 seat cultural theatre; movie theatres; an LRT
station; a 32,000 seat football stadium, a 12,000 seat ice arena and much more.
It was such a major proposal that it went to Edmonton voters twice. Once in 1968 when they
were asked if the City should seriously consider looking at it, which voters agreed to, and
again in 1970 when they were asked in a plebiscite if Council should borrow the $26 million
to build it, which – momentously - they did not agree to. The rest is history.
For the record, I can remember sitting at the kitchen table when my dad came home after
voting. He had voted no. “Not enough parking,” he said.

the more things change...

[skrish]

Wow, I've never seen anything like this. What a loss.

A loss indeed.

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

It would have been cool, but perhaps a scaled down version of it could still be built for other purposes?

[murman]

Back in the 60s, there was certainly a lot of "big time" thinking in Edmonton. Nowadays?

[feepa]

Originally Posted by murman

Back in the 60s, there was certainly a lot of "big time" thinking in Edmonton. Nowadays?

Those people have all moved away to the big time, and then there was a massive influx of people from Small Town, Canada.

[Edmonchuck]

Originally Posted by murman

Back in the 60s, there was certainly a lot of "big time" thinking in Edmonton. Nowadays?

potholes, snow, and negativity...sure it is starting to change, but not fast enough for me....

[SHOFEAR]

thank god that wasn't built. It's cool to see we had the balls to think big like that...but multi-use is sooo flawed.

[Master Plan Dan]

I know that your Dad voted against it because of the parking issue. But they were pretty forward thinking, they have a rapid transit terminal underground in the complex.

It was good that they were thinking along those lines.

Really cool... it is a loss that it was never constructed.

I can however see problems that would have arisen from the lifting of the football feild. I can only imagine that it would have given them the same issues that arose with the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

[Rocket252]

Isn't there issues sometimes with multiuse facilities where they can do a lot of things well but not one thing great.

[feepa]

Originally Posted by Rocket252

Isn't there issues sometimes with multiuse facilities where they can do a lot of things well but not one thing great.

This is true.
Also, i'm glad a multi use facility like this never got built.
1) Rexall is used about 250+ days/nights a year. This Omniplex today would be way over booked...
2) Commonwealth stadium is arguably the best Football stadium in Canada.
3) huge costs to fix and replace, and if it becomes unusable - there is no other venue at all... Both Football, Hockey and everything else is all screwed under one roof.

[Riise]

Originally Posted by feepa

This is true.
Also, i'm glad a multi use facility like this never got built.
1) Rexall is used about 250+ days/nights a year. This Omniplex today would be way over booked...
2) Commonwealth stadium is arguably the best Football stadium in Canada.
3) huge costs to fix and replace, and if it becomes unusable - there is no other venue at all... Both Football, Hockey and everything else is all screwed under one roof.

You make three great points but even the middle one by itself would be enough of an argument against the Omniplex. Commonwealth is a great stadium and has been able to attract numerous major events to Edmonton. It's been a good home for the Men's National Football team, and it has natural grass!!!

[canucklehead2]

I think the concept is great, but for todays needs it would be sadly outdated and most likely demolished by now, since NHL arenas need at least 15000 seats and for CFL football it would have been ok but practically useless for athletic events. Still I can't help but be a bit saddened since thats a kickass design. I think for smaller cities in need of multiple facilities but a limited budget ie Halifax, London, Winnipeg, Quebec City it would be a great way to world class facilities into smaller cities...

[Calgarian]

wow!

[CanadianCentaur]

That thing looks monstrous in that rendering.

[Jasper and one o nin]

I like the versatility of having the hockey rink below the football field. The lower bowl of the football stadion becomes the upper bowl of the hockey arena. interesting concept
however, without commonwealth we would have had no commonwealth games, no universiade, no world championships,

[Coldrsx]

i honestly think if this had been built in the 60's it would have been out of date and torn down in the 90's.

[Tower Crane]

Guys, this whole Omni Plex is Bogus. Never would work.
Just take a good look at the section again. A hockey rink and football field are not the same width as shown, the football field would actually be 3 plus times as wideas the hockey rink.

[Kevin_foster]

^ which is exactly why it didn't get built. If it made sense, it would have.

[Jasper and one o nin]

no, it was voted down in a plebiscite. Dont think the drawing shown is anything other than a concept drawing.