Brian Mulroney Hall,
St. Francis Xavier University

Distributed Exhibit to Enhance Higher Learning

The new state-of-the-art Mulroney Hall includes an exhibition based on Brian Mulroney’s story, focusing on his formative years as an undergraduate student at St. Francis Xavier University, and his career as Canada’s 18th Prime Minister (1984-1993). The project includes a soaring open atrium, modern classrooms and a 300-seat auditorium, featuring a distributed exhibit that includes interactive displays, artifacts and memorabilia from Mulroney’s years in power expressed in a a mix of traditional and technological installations.

A Political Recreation

kubik maltbie worked alongside Origin Studios, the University, project architect, and the Mulroney family to produce the comprehensive exhibition. The jewel of the exhibition is a re-creation of the Centre Block office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Canada. The replica of the PMO’s office that Mulroney occupied during the 80’s and early 90’s is astonishingly accurate, using detailed replications and actual artifacts to achieve the effect. Mulroney himself commented, “This is exactly the way it was.” With its ornate ceilings, crown mouldings and collection of Hansards, the elaborate exhibit greets those who pass through the front doors of Mulroney Hall and the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government.

A scheduled VIP media event, required adapting thinking to accommodate and maintain schedules with delays that are part-and-parcel on a new build project. Despite mutable milestones, multi-location artifact retrieval, and nick-of time restorations; the hall opened to media accodales and a positive reponse from the fundraising community present.