The Balsillie School of International Affairs continues to move forward with the selection of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB) of Toronto as the firm to design its new home. The project will be directed by Bruce Kuwabara, design partner, and Shirley Blumberg, partner-in-charge.  Internationally recognized for its design excellence, KPMB is the recipient of 10 Governor
General’s Awards, Canada’s highest architectural honor. The firm has developed a broad portfolio encompassing academic, civic, corporate, cultural, mixed-use, hospitality and residential projects located across North America and Europe.

“This is an important milestone,” says Jim Balsillie, founder of the school and co-CEO of Research In Motion. “The school will be the focal point of collaborative interaction between the two local universities — Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo — and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), creating one dynamic cluster.”

The new school,a 65,000 square foot project, is strategically sited adjacent to CIGI and on the only site in Canada bounded by three Governor General Award-winning buildings — the Seagram Museum (current home of CIGI), the Perimeter Institutefor Theoretical Physics and the CanadianClay & Glass Gallery. The new Balsillie School, withits state of the art teaching spaces and public auditorium,will be a significant addition to this exceptional institutional precinct in Uptown Waterloo.

“KPMB’s design will aspire to make the new Balsillie School the fourth Governor General’s Award-winning project in Waterloo,” says Ms. Blumberg. “Having worked on the original Seagram Museum, it is particularly inspiring to be back reinventing the site as a vibrant campus for the study of international affairs.”

Mr. Kuwabara says, “It is incredibly exciting to be selected by the Balsillie School of International Affairs to design an interactive architectural platform for teaching and research that reinforces Canada's role in contributing solutions to world governance challenges.”