anvil centre

I was happy that I went to the grand opening last fall. The building is beautiful and everything is "high end". This is a place that does New Westminster proud. Last week I returned and was impressed with the media art gallery and the tour that I was given. I will be back.

New Westminster's newest, most modern gathering place has a lot of potential, hopefully it will inspire more businesses to establish themselves in this fair city. It’s worth a visit just to see the Museum, Art Galley, Archives, Canadian Hall of Fame and Theatre. In the Arts section is a “Sensing Piano” which knows when you walk into the room. It senses your movement and body heat and adjusts its music according to your movements. This lovely modern business center should bring some life into the dead downtown core put this tiny city on the map .

I attended the Hyack Festival Association event Novemberfest at the Anvil Centre. I was enthralled by the architecture and am delighted to see that buildings as art has not gone the way of the dodo. The facility itself was well presented with a flexibility of use evident in the planning of its event rooms. They have been designed to shrink or grow with the size of the group so that it is possible to have one huge event or several smaller gatherings. This foresight should serve the Centre well and I commend the designers for it. Certainly there is room for improvement but these things take time to fully develop. Hopefully the feedback from the public will allow management to continue to improve. Certainly the potential for a hugely successful venture is there in spades.

The Anvil centre is in the heart of downtown New Westminster, which, thanks to relatively low rents, has one of the highest concentrations of artists in the country. So a pretty interesting building naturally features something for the arts, as well as a general-purpose building for community groups, city services and general offices -- a mixed community, praise the Lord -- and not a culture theme park.My friend and I had the good luck to tour this place when the curator was around and in a talkative mood, and so I got about 15 extra layers of meaning that I would never have gotten if I'd walked around on my own. Even for non-artsies like me, it's worth a couple of hours, especially on a cool or rainy day like we had. According to the curator, the Centre has a mandate to do new and fresh things that push people to see things in a new way -- which is good, because reviving an old downtown with art and walking along boardwalks and nice restaurants is an experiment that needs to succeed.I argue in my e-book on food for city building that re-imagined downtowns have to mix it up with food and community groups and artists and regular working folks, so I really like what they're trying to do here.

A nice piece of architecture - but that is all. This is a visitor unfriendly place. You sign in at a front desk - there were guards everywhere but on a Friday around 4 few customers. The museum looked very expensive - again it is "architect" driven, but as a museum not very interesting. No places to sit anywhere in this 21st century mausoleum. One gets the strong sense that visitors are discouraged because they will mess up the sight lines. This whole complex looks like someone's ego trip - at a big price tag for the taxpayer.

This is a very new building in the heart of New West. Watching construction I was really impressed with the final product. A great space for an office.

Beautiful , modern building, full of glass....Museum of "Old New Westminster" a.k.a Royal City.Very interesting and nicely done.Next room have a "Music Circus" = audio/video experience of viewing and listening many artist, young and old. Bit confusing / noisy, but I've been told is a new "experience"......Perfect time to spend rainy afternoon close to the waterfront of our mighty Fraser River and close to River Market.

Anvil Centre (777 Columbia Street New Westminster) features 18,000 square feet of conference space, a 364-seat theatre, multipurpose studios, and smaller meeting rooms. With four floors of configurable, multifaceted spaces equipped with the latest in building amenities, Anvil Centre offers endless possibilities for conferences, meetings, weddings, events, and community programs. Anvil Centre is also host to community-based arts, dance, and heritage programs, as well as public arts performances. The New Westminster New Media Gallery, New Westminster Museum and Archives, and Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, which all call Anvil Centre home, invite visitors to connect, experience, explore, and discover.www.anvilcentre.com