THE VISION

The opportunity to master plan a redevelopment of this inner-city corner of Bridgeland came when the General Hospital was demolished.

“To honour the legacy and in keeping with the visual character of the old General Hospital, the (City of Calgary’s) planning department developed a style guide,” says Tom Staniszkis. “It’s 100 pages long and very detailed. It even prescribes guidelines for what we in the industry call ‘massing,’ which is all about the height and overall dimensions of buildings.”

The plan was inspired by a similar area of Vancouver developed in the late 1990s, which included mid-rise buildings ranging from six to 11 storeys in height.

“This would allow for a continuous streetscape, a little bit like in Europe where you walk along the street and the buildings are continuous, on both sides of the street and also the same height. So, you have the same density you’d have with towers, but you distribute it horizontally along the street, creating a relationship between the buildings and the street,” Staniszkis says.

This type of planning encourages safety, with “eyes on the street” as people live close to street level.

“Also, we were only able to provide for one level of parking below grade because of the high water table in Bridgeland.

“We had some flexibility in design and in some of the materials we used,” says Staniszkis. “Where we pushed the limits of the design prescribed by the city is on the corner of Memorial Drive and 9th Street N.E. We felt that corner should serve as a marker or a gateway to the community of Bridgeland, and we designed a cylindrical glass building that articulates that corner.”

The lower levels of the buildings use brick, typical for Calgary buildings, and balconies are generous at two metres deep.

“I think the City of Calgary was thoroughly enlightened in their vision of what the urban aspect should be in Bridgeland. When completed, it will be very unique,” he says.