Beauuty! It almost looks like a fish haha..9/10! 1 point deducted cuz its not tall enough.
I think there might be shadowing restrictions due to that courthouse square at the kitty corner which played factor in its final height. Similar deal to why EAP was chopped into a 2 tower project.
I am so glad we have global staples like SOM who can mix in a beautiful midrise tower in the downtown. Compare that to the Eau Claire Tower by Oxford, this is heads and shoulders above, and it tapers out too.
For too long the Calgary climate has had a fear of tampering with anything that is tried and tested from the 1970-1980s and seems to drill that down into the local architecture offices. It is now a habit to restrain imagination and comply with outdated realities thus frustrating countless young designers with M.Arch degrees who cannot use their education to the fullest and end up 'calling it a day' on the projects because they were told to make it simple and send it out for IFC as quickly as possible so these landlords can jump on the boom bandwagon and collect their dividends quicker.
Curved building cores, rounded corners, staggered atrium glazing placement along the main arc, and eyeball vestibules: THANK YOU SOM!! A product design fit for a London, New York, Shanghai, & Dubai market.
Sure this design has its risks too and its leasing efficiency is not in the high 90 percentile range that developers here are so obsessed with hence the boring boxes all over the place.
Those risks are counterbalanced by quality of product and much higher value in tenant experience. I guess having an anchor tenant might of had something to do with the bolder design.
Examples include Encana, and Telus.
Overall, an impressive high quality project in a narrow site condition. Yes agreed, Ground Retail would of been great too animating that large plaza a little bit. There may be some on the +15 level I suppose.
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