NSCAD University Port Campus

Publication:17 août 2026

The Port Warehouse was originally constructed in 1909 as Halifax's waterfront and industrial port were growing. The large half-mile-long industrial warehouse was designed in a shed style form, supported by a steel frame structure. The building has not received any formal heritage designations. Perched on Halifax’s waterfront and boasting uninterrupted views of the harbor from its glass curtain seawall, the previous industrial storage facility on property owned by the Halifax Port Authority was adapted into NSCAD University Port Campus for art education and production. Completed in 2007, the three-story steel and concrete structure houses the school’s more industrial art, design, and craft practices, with gallery spaces, wood and metal fabrication shops, a sculpture studio, a plastics lab, and foundry. The design led by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects aimed to retain the spatial volume in the original building by incorporating flexible and raw studio loft spaces, but still made the necessary upgrades needed for the contemporary program including an addition for new exhibition space. The project won the Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor’s Citation in 2009. In recent years, plans were announced for the Port Campus to expand into additional existing structures around the facility by 2030. The work has been in progress pending further details.