The lost spaces competition is a call for ideas to reframe how underused spaces in Calgary might be used. The aim is to address a particular challenge of public space - what to do with seemingly remnant pieces of public property. The challenge: what opportunities do lost spaces afford?
REX has shared with us their competition proposal for Calgary’s New Central Library (NCL). Though Snøhetta and DIALOG ultimately won the competition, REX was shortlisted as a finalist with an unconventional scheme that was based on adaptability, serendipity and treating the librarians as curators. By literally stacking the library’s program according to the client’s desired sequence, REX formulated six typological clusters hoisted on top an illuminated plinth.
Check out the complete proposal, after the break.
Today marks Canadian Thanksgiving, and to celebrate the occasion we've rounded up some of Canada's best architecture. Our five selections represent five Canadian cities, each with a unique architectural sensibility. We begin in Toronto with the Royal Ontario Museum addition by Studio Daniel Libeskind, a striking intervention using prisms of glass and steel fused to a 102-year-old museum structure; next we go to Montréal for Habitat 67 by Moshe Safdie, an interlocking modular housing project designed for the World Exposition of 1967; to Calgary for Santiago Calatrava's understated Peace Bridge, a stunning glass-encased red lightning bolt spanning the city's widest waterway; then to Winnipeg's Old Market Square Stage by emerging firm 5468796 Architecture, a chameleonic performance space wrapped by a mesh curtain of steel cubes; and finally to the outskirts of Vancouver for the Richmond Olympic Oval, a masterpiece of engineering and the centre of attention during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Enjoy, eh.
Following two years of community engagement, Snøhetta and DIALOG have released the final design for their competition-winning New Central Library in Calgary. Planned for a vibrant intersection between Downtown Calgary and the East Village, the new library aims to fulfill the city’s vision for a “technologically advanced public space for innovation, research and collaboration.”
The search is over: DIALOG and Snøhetta have been selected from a shortlist of four to design a new central library in the Canadian city of Calgary. Planned for a prime location adjacent to City Hall, the 280,000 square foot “landmark” will “strengthen the fabric of community life by weaving East Village, the original heart of Calgary, back into the story of Centre City.” Once complete in 2018, the new library will serve over 140,000 workers and students who travel downtown every day.
Text description provided by the architects. Borealis, Team Alberta’s entry to the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013, addresses the housing needs of professionals working in remote locations. This modular house was designed in consideration of severe housing shortages and high housing costs driven by booming industries in northern Canada. Named after the iconic Northern Lights and lush Boreal forest, Borealis is designed to be sustainable and ecologically sensitive.
Four shortlisted teams have been asked to design proposals for a new central library in the Canadian city of Calgary. Selected from 38 submissions, the competing teams of local and international architects will harness the power of platemaking to envision a 280,000 square-foot “landmark” for the East Village Calgary.
In an attempt to transform Calgary’s corporate-centric downtown into a walkable, dynamic community, TELUS has commissioned BIG to design a mixed-use skyscraper in the heart of the Canadian city. Known as TELUS Sky, the 750,000 square foot tower is designed to “seamlessly accommodate the transformation from working to living as the tower takes off from the ground to reach the sky.”
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The Sustainable Cities Symposium, put on by the faculty of environmental design, in partnership with the Development Studies program, at the University of Calgary, will explore global challenges and opportunities in addressing sustainable development. It will provide insights into planning and design solutions in different cities and serve as platform for discussions, experience sharing and networking. Economic growth, environmental protection, and social equity dominate the global discourse with people being at the center of our vision of a more sustainable world. The event takes place on March 14 and goes from 5:30pm-8:00pm. For more information, please visit here.
Two years after holding an international architectural competition that saw world renowned designers face off in a public presentation, the National Music Centre revealed competition-winner Allied Works Architecture’s final design a couple of days ago. More images, a video and complete press release after the break.
This year’s ACADIA 2011 Annual Conference, with the support of FLATCUT_, seeks proposals for innovative geometric forms that push the limits of design through the exploration of integrative material strategies for digitally fabricated assemblies. The competition hopes to address the questions that parametric design models are pose in terms of material practice: How does parametric design engage changes scale? How does the selection, tooling, and deployment of material shape the physical environment? How do inventive material pairings work positively and cohesively to produce new forms of assembly and environmental response? How do designers begin to embed parameters that engage concepts of sustainability, augmented performance and material flexibility?
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