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The crane has been installed at the site of perhaps the most anticipated new development in Calgary. Vancouver-based Westbank Project Corp has partnered with the innovative Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and local architects DIALOG, who together, have envisioned Telus Sky, a residential-office building rising 59 storeys above Downtown Calgary. To gather insight into the project, SkyriseCities interviewed BIG partner Thomas Christoffersen, who spoke about the design and their relationship with Westbank.
Christoffersen recalled the first real encounter between BIG and Westbank at a lecture in Vancouver. There, Westbank's Founder Ian Gillespie met Bjarke Ingels. The relationship between them flourished, with Westbank first retaining BIG for Vancouver House, and then moving eastward to work on Telus Sky in Calgary. "Westbank is quite a well educated developer when it comes to the design and architecture scene in general," said Christoffersen. "They’re very much aware of what’s going on around the world."
Though Telus Sky was proposed after Vancouver House, the two projects are now about aligned in their construction progress. "It really has to do with the two cities and the way you work with the planning authorities," said Christoffersen. "We were also able to do something in Calgary that was a little bit more as-of-right than in Vancouver where you have these urban planning processes almost for every budget."
On the cultural and physical differences between the two cities, Christoffersen noted that "Calgary is a bit more of a typical North American city with a central business district that has office towers, hotels, convention centres and so on. The residential is mainly suburban."
Telus Sky presented an additional challenge that was absent from Vancouver House. Whereas Vancouver House is a residential tower with retail at its base, Telus Sky accommodates both residential and retail plus office uses. Since the office space is going to be occupied by Telus, their overall branding and vision had to be taken into account when designing the building. "It was really about how we make Downtown Calgary a place where you can both work and live," said Christoffersen. "Telus is a big company in Alberta but its business is rather different from the tenants of the other towers in Calgary. Calgary is sort of finance and oil and Telus is telecommunications and they saw themselves as being a softer entity in comparison with the other headquarters in the skyline. They were looking for something that had a sort of femininity to it. Telus said it should be like ‘a cowgirl among the cowboys.'"
The challenge of blending an office tower with a residential tower resulted in some unique design elements. Christoffersen noted that the floor plates of office towers are typically larger and feature higher ceiling heights than residential floor plates. "It’s quite a simple building in the sense that you have a certain site that’s basically mapped out with an office plate that has a reasonable size. But rather than extruding that all the way up, we were tasked with the challenge of making half of the tower residential. The floor plate for an office building is a lot deeper than a floor plate for a residential building," said Christoffersen. "It’s going to have a central corridor and you only want to have a certain distance from the corridor to the façade, otherwise your units become too big or you don’t have enough daylight. So basically by gently decreasing the floor plate as the building grows, we get to the building depths that are optimal for residential."
The building's façade and form reflects the uses hidden within. "The lower portion is a bigger floor plate and more smooth façade and as the building becomes narrower it also gets a stronger texture which creates small balconies for the tenants at the top. It's a building that has a uniform identity while accommodating both the residential and commercial programs."
Christoffersen also touched on the cladding materials, in addition to glass, that Telus Sky will utilize. "It has a black anodized aluminum on the façade which is quite beautiful because the hue changes ever so slightly from plate to plate. It feels like a real material, the process of the manufacturing is somehow evident in the texture and the colour."
The award-winning practice has caught the attention of architecture fanatics worldwide because of their bold outside-the-box designs. The pyramid-shaped VIA 57 West has already dramatically changed the Manhattan skyline from the Hudson River. Just a short distance away, 2 World Trade Center promises to make a big impact with its staggered form. With these and other striking BIG projects in mind, Christoffersen spoke to the differences between Danish and Canadian designs. "There’s traditional and typical designs everywhere, they vary from place to place. I suppose the main difference is the cultural difference. But I think compared to how different Danish design culture is from other countries, I think we probably have more similarities than differences. We have similar climates. The Canadian climate is maybe a bit more extreme if you don’t count Downtown Vancouver which is like Copenhagen. Toronto is a bit more extreme in the winter. We’re both open societies but Canada is newer and also has a lot of similarities to America. In terms of values, Canada is probably softer and closer to Danish society."
Christoffersen notes that while Telus Sky may be seen as a noteworthy building with a compelling and daring design, it's also functional. "The way Telus Sky is transforming from an office building to a residential building creates a unique continuous silhouette that at the top has the attributes ideal for homes. You have balconies tucked into a corner of a tower protected from the wind and the view of your neighbour because of the way it’s staggered and the way the texture works. It’s not only about being daring but it’s about being precise with what you propose and why and making sure that it actually brings something to the use and the life of the building that is not only aesthetic."
BIG's efforts have been focused on Western Canada for now, but they have plans elsewhere as well. "We have worked on projects in Toronto a couple times, but none have really materialized so far. We’re currently working on something that is quite promising and we really hope will bear some fruit and become a reality. We have also been working on more things in Vancouver. But we actually like Toronto very much. It’s very close to our office and it’s an easy trip up there. The character of the different neighbourhoods is quite charming. There’s a lot of wonderful places in Toronto so hopefully we can visit more often."
BIG prides itself on designs which, as quoted on their website, "steer clear of the petrifying pragmatism of boring boxes." These designs may represent a shock to the system of some Canadian cities which are typically not known to produce iconic architecture. As Christoffersen points out, Telus Sky has been met with praise, perhaps a sign that Canadian architects ought to up their design game when faced with increasingly welcome international competition. With world-class firms like BIG, Foster + Partners and Pickard Chilton descending on Calgary, the downtown core is witnessing a makeover that continues to attract the best international architects. When complete, the 222-metre Telus Sky promises to seamlessly blend office space with residential suites while adding another jewel to the Calgary skyline.
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