#telus sky

Downtown Calgary (No. 3)

Commercial core

Calgary's dense business area comprises the bulk of the downtown community. It is a core of skyscrapers. As of February 2017, eight of the ten tallest buildings in western Canada, and a few of the tallest in the country, are in Calgary. It is arguably the densest downtown area of any city of its size in North America. Many of the buildings are connected via an 18 km (11 mi) long network of elevated walkways and bridges. The system, known as the "+15" is the largest of its kind in the world.

The area surrounding the Stephen Avenue Walk is Downtown Calgary's primary retail area. Stephen Avenue (8th Avenue SW) is a pedestrian mall lined with historic buildings containing stores, restaurants, cinemas, and drinking establishments. Immediately adjacent to the outdoor portion of Stephen Avenue is an indoor complex of two shopping malls. The malls, The Core Shopping Centre (formerly TD Square/Calgary Eaton Centre) and the Scotia Centre are bordered at either end by the historic Hudson's Bay Company store and Holt Renfrew's upscale department store. The street is also home to a number of galleries, restaurants, pubs, off-beat cinemas, and nightclubs. Other attractions in the commercial core include the Devonian Gardens in The Core, the Calgary Tower, the Art Gallery of Calgary, The Glenbow Museum, Olympic Plaza, Arts Commons, and the Telus Convention Centre.

The commercial core is also divided into a number of districts. They include the Entertainment District/Stephen Avenue, The Olympic Plaza and Cultural District, and the Government District.

I genuinely love the Telus Sky so much. Such a fun building.

Calgarian Icons

Downtown Calgary (No. 5)

The heritage value of Calgary Fire Hall No. 1 lies chiefly in its historical and architectural significance for its association with the history of firefighting in Alberta, its connection to James "Cappy" Smart, and its excellent representation of an early twentieth-century, urban fire station.

Built in 1911 to replace Calgary's first Fire Headquarters, which had been erected in 1887, Calgary Fire Hall No. 1 represented advances in fire-fighting characteristic of the pre-war boom in Alberta. Emerging urban areas throughout the west had marked their transition from early settlement communities to more densely populated towns and cities by shifting from buildings constructed predominantly of wood to much more fire retardant structures erected of brick and stone. In the cities, fire departments were making the change from primarily volunteer bucket brigades to professionally trained, paid, and mechanized forces. Important figures such as James "Cappy" Smart, Calgary's first full-time fire chief, spanned the whole era of this historical development. As such, Smart personally participated in the planning of Fire Hall No. 1, and led Calgary's fire fighters from their headquarters there until his retirement in 1933. The station was in continuous use as a fire hall until 1973.

Architecturally, Calgary's Fire Hall No. 1 embodies several elements desirable in state-of-the-art urban fire halls of the period, and stands as one of the premier examples of this building type in Alberta. Designed by architects Lang and Major, the building was designed with a growing city in mind in terms of size and required facilities. Significantly, the building is oriented diagonally towards the street corner, enabling efficient access and ease of departure. Fire Hall No. 1 includes five wide bay doors, and the necessary hose tower required to hang and dry the canvas hoses in use throughout the early to mid-twentieth century. The large central garage area accommodated Calgary's first fire trucks. Additional spaces such as offices, bedrooms, and lounges provided room to accommodate fire fighters in a state of readiness for their tasks. With its highly identifiable facade, the building has become a well known city landmark.

On Thursday, TELUS announced plans for a new 58-storey building in the heart of downtown Calgary. Above is a video about the development featured on the Calgary Herald's website.

The building, referred to as 'Sky', will be situated on the corner of Centre Street and 7th Avenue, on the current site of Art Central. Many news outlets have already covered the story, so here are just the basic facts about the development:

Development Name: TELUS Sky

Proposed Completion: 2017

Size: 58 storeys, 750 000 square feet

Cost: $400 million

Use(s): Mixed - office (26 floors, 430 000 square feet), rental residential (32 floors, 341 units), retail, public gallery (5 500 square feet)

Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group, DIALOG

Developer: Westbank, in partnership with Allied Properties

Sustainability Measures:

Sky will be a LEED Platinum development.

A storm water management system will recycle water for use by toilets and for outdoor irrigation.

Sky will include a whole block energy sharing centre. 

Sky will use 35% less energy than similar sized developments; planning is underway for Sky to use 80% less energy when complete.

Source: TELUS building reaches for the Sky (media release)

Sky will be a welcome addition to Calgary's downtown core and skyline. In particular, I applaud the inclusion of a public gallery space to, in part, make up for the loss of Art Central. Further, the timing of this announcement is impeccable, as it encourages us to be optimistic about the future of our city at a time when doing so is proving difficult.

Questions remain about the future of Art Central, however. The space Art Central provides is integral to promoting and developing Calgary's arts sector and by extension our city's urban culture. The loss of Art Central will likely reverberate through Calgary's arts community for sometime. Hopefully a new building can be found as soon as possible.

Yours in the city,

http://telussky.com/video/TELUSsky2.mp4