WINNER OF A 2015 CANADIAN ARCHITECT AWARD OF MERIT
Bridging over an existing LRT line, the new central library is designed as a civic hub that incorporates a pedestrian passage across the site, along with terraced outdoor seating and gathering areas.
Following a two-year process of community engagement, the design for Calgary?s new civic and cultural centre realizes the city?s vision for a technologically advanced downtown public space for innovation and research.
The landscape and architectural design embraces the city?s diverse urban culture and unique climate. The site, where downtown Calgary intersects with the East Village, is transformed into a terraced topography inspired by the nearby foothills; it is made to rise up and over the exiting Light Rail Transit (LRT) line that runs through it. Like mini-amphitheatres, the resulting terraced seating areas will be used by the city and the library for informal events and as outdoor classrooms, while also providing the community with generous spaces for outdoor reading and pop-up performances. Plantings that reference the native landscape?including elms and aspens lining the plaza?s surrounding streets?draw Calgary?s mountains and plains into the cityscape.
Upon entering the library, visitors encounter a lobby awash with natural light. The eye is drawn up through the skylit atrium, where the library?s public program and circulation along the atrium?s perimeter are clearly visible. The latter acts as an intuitive wayfindin...