Wascana Centre is a 9.3 square kilometre (2,300 acre) park built around Wascana Lake and designed in 1961 by Minoru Yamasaki — the Seattle-born architect best known as the designer of the original World Trade Center in New York.

It brings together lands and buildings owned by the City of Regina, University of Regina, Province of Saskatchewan and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, including:

• the Royal Saskatchewan Museum;
• the Powerhouse of Discovery Science Centre and Kramer Imax theatre;
• the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery;
• the Conexus Arts Centre concert hall and theatre complex;
• the Canada-Saskatchewan Soundstage;
• the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• the Regina College campus of the University of Regina including the Regina Conservatory of Music (in the old girls' residence wing of the Regina College building), the Darke Hall theatre and concert venue and
• the Saskatchewan Legislative Building.
  

Wascana Lake was created in 1883 when a dam and bridge were constructed 1½ blocks to the west of the present Albert Street Bridge. A new dam and bridge were built in 1908 and Wascana Lake was used as a domestic water source and to cool the city’s power plant.

By the 1920s Wascana Lake no longer had utilitarian purpose and became primarily a recreational facility. It was drained in the 1930s as part of a government relief project; 2,100 men widened and dredged the lake bed and created two islands using only hand tools and horse-drawn wagons.

During the fall and winter of 2003-2004, Wascana Lake was again drained and dredged to deepen it by about an average of five metres (16 ft) while adding a new island, a promenade area beside Albert Street Bridge, water fountains and a waterfall to help aerate the lake.