We walk past this Winnipeg landmark every week, but autumn air and blue skies made us look twice.

You know how it goes when you’ve lived in Winnipeg for a while. You get your steps in around The Forks, grab a warm coffee, zip up your jacket against the crisp breeze, and head back toward downtown on autopilot. You pass the same trees, cross the same paths, and see the same skyline you’ve passed a hundred times.

Then, out of nowhere, you glance up and realize you’re standing in front of a giant intergalactic research station that just set down beside the Red River.

We walk past the Canadian Museum for Human Rights almost every single day, but today was different. The autumn sky was clear, winter was clearly making its final preparations to take over Manitoba, and the light hit those curved glass panels like something straight out of a big-budget sci-fi film.

Designed by Antoine Predock, the building doesn’t look like it belongs to our decade, let alone our neighborhood. Standing at the base looking up, it feels like the command module of a sleek interstellar vessel built from polished stone, steel, and sweeping glass “cloud” shrouds. The Tower of Hope stretches skyward like a deep-space communications array sending signals out into the galaxy. You half expect a ramp to lower from the side with glowing atmospheric vapor rolling out onto the grass.

It’s easy to tune out the landmarks right in front of us when we’re hustling between work, errands, and quick walks before the snow flies. But taking five minutes to just stand there on the walkway, cold air on our faces, reminded us how lucky we are to have something this bold anchored in the heart of our city. Winnipeg has plenty of historic charm, but right here at the junction of two ancient rivers sits a piece of the future.

Next time you’re heading back downtown after a walk around The Forks, do yourself a favour: drop your shoulders, pause your podcast, look up at the glass, and pretend you just stepped onto the set of a futuristic epic right here in Manitoba.