The Grande Prairie Regional College is situated in Grande Prairie,
Alberta. The $6M building has occupied 135,000 square feet of land on
the south bank of the Bear Creek Reservoir since its completion in
1976.
Cardinal faced no end of difficulty in constructing this building. According
to Mr. Cardinal "Alberta's Public Works department initially thought the
design was ludicrous and excessive. Consequently, they cancelled the project
entirely." However, Canadian Architect magazine gave his design an award of
excellence in 1972, increasing public interest in the project, thus gaining
Cardinal recognition and publicity. "The government then agreed to keep the
design, but trimmed the budget. Tenders went out for $5.2M, but the
government backtracked and reduced it to $4.8M. Ignorant bureaucrats hacked
out too many parts that had to be put back in again anyway. Budget cutbacks
resulted in T-bar ceilings crashing into the curved walls of the perimeter."
In the end the project came in at its original cost of $5.2M, but
took an emotional and financial toll on Cardinal. "Due to government
incompetence, I lost $100,000 of my own money in the redesign of
the building. It took me 7 years to personally repay my debts on
this project. I don't do battle to battle. I'm committed to making a contribution to
excellent architecture, but I'm surrounded by petty tyrants who
don't believe in my commitment. So I have to gird my loins and be a
warrior in order to deal with these people. Anyone in history who
tried to make a contribution ended up as fodder for the petty
tyrants."
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