Designer talents reach new heights at Telus Sky
The Bachelor of Applied Interior Design program at Mount Royal University has helped launch the careers of many successful professionals in Calgary.
Among them is Sarah Ward, who has built a reputation as a designer of thought-provoking restaurant interiors.
Ward began her working life with Brian Siebenga of Siebenga Interior Design Consultants. Two years later, she joined Ingenium Design Group where she developed a passion working on some of Calgary’s fine restaurants.
Ward’s first restaurant project was the 8,000-square-foot trendy Olives in Arriva Tower on Olympic Way S.E., and later NOtabLE in Montgomery, where she worked closely with chef/ proprietor Michael Noble.
Ward said when she decided to launch her own company, Sarah Ward Interiors, she received a call from Noble, who asked her to design the inside of his new establishments, The Nash and Off Cut Bar in Inglewood.
Converting the former National Hotel into a neighbourhood place with a sophisticated and urban touch was a treat for Ward. The result helped establish her talent and reputation within the hospitality industry.
Her portfolio now includes Corbeaux Bakehouse, Crave Cookies and Cupcakes, two Analog Coffee shops, Vine Arts and Home and Away, which earned her company an inaugural MASI Award for interior designers across the prairies.
More recently she gave the Oxbow in the Kensington Riverside Inn a new look. Other recent work includes Donna Mac on 9th Street S.W; Two Penny Chinese on 1st Street S.W. and the underconstruction second location of Bro’kin Yoke in Mahogany. Ward is also designing a new location for Highlander Wines and Spirits at Eighth Avenue Place.
She and her staff of four remain a force in the hospitality sector but are currently engaged in designing the office portion of the Telus Sky tower.
Telus commissioned Calgary’s Hindle Architects — founded in 2011 by partners Jesse Hindle and Laura Alvey — to plan the interiors for the working floors and the two penthouse executive floors.
Sarah Ward Interiors will appoint the 150,000 square feet of six floors of office space, an amenities floor, which includes a kitchen and bistro, and the 60-storey tower’s top two feature floors which will include an executive event space, boardrooms and a rooftop garden.
A new three-storey staff housing project for Banff is being constructed out of shipping containers in Calgary by Ladacor Advanced Modular Systems. Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts needs newer accommodation for staff working at Buffalo Mountain Lodge and the modular technology allows for little disruption to the town. Buffalo Paddock is scheduled for occupancy by next spring.