New leadership committed to familiar excellence

Sturgess Architecture now in sure hands of principal and two senior associates

After 42 years running his own architectural firm in Calgary, Jeremy Sturgess certainly deserves a break from being in the office every day. Although still an active partner, he has decided to reduce his hours but remains ready to be involved as a consultant when his experience and knowledge are required.

Sturgess Architecture is now in the capable hands of principal Kevin Scott Harrison and two senior associate architects, Kayla Browne and Darren Polanski.

Harrison attended SAIT and, after graduating from Dalhousie University, returned to Calgary for his internship and boldly walked into the Sturgess office and asked to see the boss. Fortunately, Sturgess remembered critiquing some of his work and Harrison started with the firm the next week.

That was back in 2003 and Harrison was taken on full time in 2006. In 2015, he was made a minority partner, assumed the role of managing the day-to-day operations, and last year became majority owner of the firm.

Browne joined the firm in 2016 but took time off until February of this year to design and build her own house, during which time she was also principal architect at Bold Workshop Architecture.

Polanski began his Sturgess experience in 2007, but left to work in Houston for four years before returning to Calgary. He had kept in touch with the company and was eagerly welcomed back.

All three leaders have a passion for good design, an inheritance from working so closely with Sturgess, who built a strong reputation for his bold and creative approach to architecture. The firm has been very successful and continues to demand a superior level of design.

Harrison says the new regime will continue in that vein, selling clients on the benefits of good design for their projects as well as shaping the city we live in.

Sturgess maintains a staff of between 15 and 20 — two new members have recently been hired to help with the current workload.

Over its long history, Sturgess has been responsible for a wide range of projects, many of which have earned high recognition and awards. Among those are

The Water Centre for the City of Calgary’s 170,000-square-foot operations and administrative centre that achieved LEED Gold; a 60-room luxury resort hotel on Lake Chuzenji, Japan; the Yukon Visitor and Reception Centre that won a Governor General’s Medal; and the impressive Connaught Gardens of 11 town homes built in 1992 that was the launch of the Sturgess thesis of designing multi-family around a courtyard — capturing heat, light and ventilation while helping build a sense of community for residents.

And, of course, the much applauded, award-winning Glacier Skywalk in Jasper National Park, offering the grandeur of the glacier at a distance and the valley below.

The same owner — Brewster since 1892 but now known as the Pursuit Collection — has rehired Sturgess as its signature architect for its planned Flyover Canada ride between the CN Tower and Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto. It’s a huge project that — alongside the amount of work necessary to design the stations, facilities, urban integrity and architectural design concept for the Green Line LRT in Calgary — means the new leadership at Sturgess has lots on the go.

There will be 28 stations along the 46 kilometres of track for the Green Line, responding to a wide variety of conditions, from older inner-city communities to newly planned suburbs.

Harrison says much public engagement has taken place to help design transit plazas, bus terminals, parking lots, and cycle and pedestrian connectors for stations either at grade, underground or elevated.

Sturgess staff are also enjoying a mixture of other projects, including the design of the new bridge over the Elbow River, a gateway to Inglewood and its AVLI on Atlantic, and renovated interiors to the Rain Dog Bar. NEW APPOINTMENT

At the reception to mark the opening of the Joe Fafard exhibition at Masters Gallery, I was pleased to chat with Grit Mccreath and learned that she has taken over the position as chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan.

A graduate of the university and longtime member of the board of governors, the Calgary resident took over the role from former Premier Roy Romanow.

Over its long history, Sturgess has been responsible for a wide range of projects, many of which have earned high recognition and awards.