Heritage Regina Featured in Friends of Yamasaki Fall 2025 Newsletter

Celebrating Our Partner Organizations

In this and upcoming newsletters, we are featuring Partner Organizations who have joined our mission.  We are profoundly grateful for their invaluable support, starting with Heritage Regina and Friends of Mukai (see below.)

Heritage Regina Joins Friends of Yamasaki

Friends of Yamasaki is proud to partner with Heritage Regina, in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, celebrating Minoru Yamasaki’s remarkable sense of landscape design and architectural vision.  Heritage Regina’s mission is to preserve the city’s historic buildings and sites through stewardship, advocacy, research, public education, and collaboration.

Wascana Centre Sites and Attractions Map

In 1961, Yamasaki was commissioned to prepare a 100-year master plan for Wascana Centre, an urban park that surrounds Wascana Lake, immediately south of Regina’s downtown core.  The city of Regina was growing rapidly, and a vision was needed to protect the park from urban encroachment.  At the same time, plans were underway for an expanded university within Wascana Centre at the southeast end of the park.

As Jackie Schmidt, President of Heritage Regina explains “his (Yamasaki’s) vision integrated the University and the Provincial Legislature within a design that harmonized the natural landscape with the built environment.”  Wascana Centre is one of the largest urban parks in North America and includes the Saskatchewan Legislative Building (1913), Mackenzie Art Gallery, and the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

Interior of Yamasaki’s Dr. John Archer Library, University of Regina

Yamasaki was awarded contracts to design three buildings for the University which were built between 1963 and 1967: the Classroom Building, the Laboratory Building, and his revered architectural landmark, the Dr. John Archer Library.  As Schmidt affirms, “Regina is fortunate to be home to these enduring landmarks, which stand as a testament to the power of architecture to connect heritage, culture, and community in shaping a city’s identity.”