VIRTUAL REALITY GIVES A SNEAK PEEK
High-tech gear enables viewer to walk through the future of the Concord and new West Eau Claire Park
CLAIRE YOUNG
Four years ago, the Bow River’s flood of the century crept within six inches of the Concord’s property line in Eau Claire.
It caused developer Concord Pacific as well as the City of Calgary to pause in their planning of, respectively, a luxury condo development and a riverside park to address more robust flood mitigation design.
Fast forward to today, and the two adjacent projects are both underway, sculpting a new look and feel for the space that flows from the south end of the Peace Bridge to 1st Avenue S.W.
Concord Pacific has developed a virtual reality sneak peek for people to see how the view of West Eau Claire Park will look — from inside the luxury condo building, out in the park, and from a bird’seye view.
“The VR experience gives us a chance to see what it will look like in the future,” Grant Murray, senior vice-president of Concord Pacific, said at a recent news conference. “It’s one thing to have a model, to have pictures on our TV screens (at the sales centre). To give a glimpse of what the views might be like, we send a drone up and take a view shot. But that doesn’t give you an overall experience of what it might look like when you’re standing in a suite looking around the room.”
Using a series of photos of the real setting overlaid with renderings, 360-degree views of various locations were built.
“Think of it like a portal. Using your cellphone, you visit the website and you can engage with all of Concord’s projects across Canada — Toronto, Vancouver and now here in Calgary,” said Matt Grant, the virtual reality specialist who worked on the imaging project. “Virtual reality is an extension of what we do with traditional media and traditional renderings in that it allows someone to step into a photo.”
To experience the virtual reality, viewers log into www.concord360.com on their mobile phone, place the phone inside VR goggles and explore the world Grant and his team created. For those visiting the Concord sales centre, VR goggles will be available to try.
The views can also be seen without a headset at www.theconcord.ca.
Both the first building of the twotower Concord as well as West Eau Claire Park are due to complete construction next year.
The $7.9 million West Eau Claire Park is being built in two phases. The first phase, between Eau Claire plaza and the Peace Bridge, is underway now. The second phase will extend the park to the Louise Bridge, said Doug Olson, CEO of O2 Planning and Design, which worked with the City to develop the park.
“The idea was we should really capitalize on the unique nature of this place — its proximity to the river, the attractiveness of the river, and also the fact that we’re going to have thousands of new residents living in the downtown in developments such as this,” Olson said.
West Eau Claire Park’s design takes many of its cues from rivers. To deal with the flow of people to and fro across the Peace Bridge, the Delta Garden, which resembles a river delta, will help direct traffic east and west, but also has routes for people to trickle into slower, more reflective spaces with seating and landscaping.
The East Promenade features a long continuous bench that sits atop what is essentially a dike, with areas that can be closed off should a flood occur.
“There’s literally thousands and thousands of people daily moving up and down that promenade, so we wanted to make something where you could pull off, almost as an eddy, and watch the parade go by,” Olson said.
The Concord’s first building of 105 units is about 70 per cent sold. The second building, which may go to market within the next year, will have 113 units with more terraced homes than the first building.
Currently, the condos start at $960,000. The most expensive unit to sell so far has been the $7 million sub-penthouse. The 6,100-squarefoot, $13 million penthouse is still available.