Project Summary
The Optimist Club of Saskatoon had a vision to support recreational skiing and snowboarding by adding 30 vertical feet to “Diefenbaker Hill.” The project would integrate two magic carpet ski lifts, tubing lanes, a terrain park for snowboarders, and a village area where visitors would buy lift tickets, warm up with hot chocolate, gather for lessons, and rent equipment.
The organization launched a capital campaign to raise $3,000,000. They raised enough to build the hill, but they had a funding gap to provide a building that the community would use. The Optimist Hill Campaign Co-Chairs originally reached out to 3twenty in hope of renting some of our office trailers from our rental division to use as temporary buildings. We didn’t think that was good enough.
3twenty put forward a proposal to design and build a small-scale chalet that could be permanent and provide a modern, functional, and architecturally interesting building for the project. Knowing the budget was limited, 3twenty included a donation of over $100,000 to the project. We tagged on two of our rental offices and converted them into rental shacks, to complete what is now called the “3twenty Village” at Optimist Hill.
Project Details
Modern roof lines with black concealed fastener siding to provide a Scandinavian-inspired chalet design
Large glazing to provide great views of Saskatoon’s “mountain”
Repurposed a chair from Lake Louise’s ski lift to provide a photo shoot opportunity
“We were extremely happy with the quality of work, detail, and pride 3twenty showed on our project. They were terrific consultative partners to ensure that what they were building would fit our needs. The end result was a fantastic modern chalet that far exceeded our initial expectations. Absolutely amazing people to work with from beginning to end! We are proud to have partnered with 3twenty.” - Rob Letts & Joe Van’t Hof, Optimist Hill