Here is an Avenue Magazine article by Richard White. Gives a good synopsis of the history of the issues surrounding this project to date, as well as some good food-for-thought. I think this thread could have gone in almost any of the sections in the Local: Calgary forum. However, I figured the article, and much of the discussion over this had more of an "urban issue" angle.
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The Bow River Bridges
Bridges Over Troubled Water: The controversy over the cost and design of two new foot bridges into the downtown is not likely to be settled anytime soon
By Richard White
Illustrations by Laura McCabe
The Bow River Foot Bridges-Part 2
The Iconic Controversy: Who would have thought a proposal to build two pedestrian bridges over the Bow River in downtown would become one of Calgary’s top political stories of 2008?
On the surface, it sounds like a simple plan to put in two bridges on opposite sides of the core — one near the West End, the other proving a link to the East Village.
But to say the project has had a bumpy ride is an understatement. It started last summer when City aldermen, at the committee level, declined support for spending $25 million for the project.
Despite this, the proposal eventually managed to not only get approval at City Council in September, but survived several subsequent attempts by Alderman Ric McIver and others to have the decision overturned. The bridges were too costly, too extravagant and the selection of the architect both unfair and unwise, according to the critics.
This bumpy ride will likely continue until the bridges are built — and probably for a time after that. One positive outcome, however, is that the debate prompted some interesting and lively discussions about Calgary’s future and what kind of city we not only want to live in today, but pass on to future generations.
The controversy picked up again at Christmas when administrators began talks with renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava about designing one of the proposed bridges. Thinking this action might have contravened the City’s own policies regarding tendering processes, aldermen McIver, Andre Chabot, Joe Connelly and Dianne Colley-Urquhart tried to call a halt to the contract negotiations.
However, council ultimately voted down the motion and moved forward with a $2.5-million contract with Calatrava to design a bridge that will connect the north and south side of the Bow at about 6th Street S.W. The full cost will be about $22 million (if there are no cost overruns) to design and build the bridge.
The second bridge will cross over St. George Island and is a separate project managed by the Calgary Municipal Land Corp., which is considering hosting a design competition for its bridge as part of the East Village revitalization plan.
The ambitious project seems to have gotten off on the wrong foot due largely to poor communications. It took about a month for Calgarians to get all the relevant information — that the $25-million price tag would cover the design of two iconic bridges, but the building of only one of them, and that 100 percent of the funding for the project was coming from a provincial government capital project grant designated for transportation. This meant the money wasn’t coming from city tax revenues. Yes, it could be used to buy more LRT cars or buses, but no, it couldn’t be spent on more police or social programs instead.
A furious debate ensued, with some questioning why we needed so-called iconic bridges at all, and others arguing the money would be better spent on some other infrastructure project.
Lesson learned: don’t underestimate the value of good communication.
From the outset, Alderman Druh Farrell was the unwavering champion of what was named the Bow River Gateway Bridges project. She believes river crossings provide unique opportunities to build something special, something timeless that Calgarians will enjoy for generations to come.
She argues that if you amortize the costs over the lifetime of the bridges — estimated to be 100 years or more — they would be insignificant.
It is interesting to note, too, that Edmonton is currently planning a new pedestrian bridge over the North Saskatchewan River — it has a similar per-square-foot cost as that of the proposed Calatrava bridge, but there has been little questioning the cost for that bridge.
Farrell lobbied hard from the beginning for Calatrava to design the bridge. Some community backlash surfaced when the architect was hired, with some arguing local architects should be given an opportunity to showcase their work. For example, Frank Kaspar, partner at Calgary-based Abugov Kaspar Architects, in a letter to the editor in the Calgary Herald, said he found this hiring of an international architect without a design competition that included local architects insulting.
Herald editorial writer Paula Arab got into the debate by questioning the choice of Calatrava, whose projects have a history of being over-budget and controversial (his Constitution Bridge in Venice reportedly went almost four times over budget with proponents likening it to a “carpet of lights” and detractors comparing it to a lobster).
She also slammed City administration and council for their “nouveau-riche attitude that continues to believe style and class can be bought by paying the highest price.” Arab argued for a juried competition that would invite all architects in Calgary and Alberta to present their ideas, and then allow a fair process to evolve and the best one win.
The Bow River Foot Bridges-Part 3
Calgary’s Iconic Architecture 101: Neither hiring a “starchitect,” having a large budget or hosting a design competition guarantees an iconic structure, as many seem to think.
Calgary does not have a great track record for commissioning iconic buildings.
The Calgary Municipal Building — known by some as “The Blue Monster” — is one such example. It was an attempt by the City to build an iconic building at the end of a previous boom. The site next to the historic sandstone City Hall was certainly deserving of a landmark building, and a design competition was held in the early 1980s. The winning entry was chosen from among 74 submissions by a jury that included three architects (one from Montreal, one from Japan and one from San Francisco) as well as a Calgary historian and a community worker.
The winning design was by architect Christopher Ballyn from the Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership in Toronto. Inspired by Calgary’s rolling foothills (for the stepped floor plate) and the big prairie sky (for the prairie-sky blue glass), the design incorporated a unique triangular shape, large entry plaza and a 12-storey atrium. Everyone had high hopes the building would put Calgary on the architectural map. But it didn’t. It has received much criticism for its lack of site-sensitivity, which destroyed the 8th Avenue pedestrian connection between downtown and the East Village.
Delegates to the 1985 Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Calgary were given a sneak preview of the new Municipal Building. The comments of a few Toronto aldermen caused a furor across the country and certainly incensed some Calgarians. The Herald reported politicians were particularly irate with Toronto Alderman Dorothy Thomas’ reported statements that Calgary’s new civic building is a ‘monstrosity’ . . . reflecting the ‘uncouth’ tastes of Mayor Ralph Klein who clearly has no vision. Thomas said, ‘we wouldn’t even allow a monstrosity like that to be built in downtown Toronto, let alone make it the heart of the city.’”
The good news about the project was something no one argued about — the final cost of $97 million was significantly lower than the original price tag of $124 million, thanks largely to the reduced costs brought about by the recession at the time. Perhaps a similar drop in price for the proposed Calatrava bridge is in the cards given that another recession is upon us.
Another more recent example of Calgary’s attempt at iconic architecture is the City’s Water Centre building on 25th Avenue S.E. Again, its shape, materials and design are unique and dramatic. It is designed by the Alberta architecture firm Manasc Isaac and Calgarian Jeremy Sturgess. However, it too has had its fair share of criticism from the design community and others — largely relating to the fact it turns its back to the street and, in doing so, has no street presence or sense of arrival — a real “no-no” when it comes to planning an iconic building.
Calgary’s new Courts Centre is a third example of a building that could have put Calgary on the so-called architectural map. With a decent budget ($300 million) and a process that involved a design competition to choose the architect, creating
a landmark building seemed like a real possibility. If all went well, the new courthouse — along with the preserved historic courthouse and the new plaza around it — would create a great new people-place in the centre of downtown.
In the end, the huge building has not captured anyone’s imagination and doesn’t even rank on a list of potential iconic Calgary buildings. Let’s hope the new plaza over top of its new parkade will be much more inviting and innovative.
But not all is lost. There is a shining light amidst Calgary’s more recent architecture — namely, the new Alberta Children’s Hospital in the city’s northwest. The building was designed by the local firm of Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. And it was built on time and under budget.
Dubbed “the Lego building” by a nine-year-old, “because that’s where they put children together again,” the new ACH was designed not as a sophisticated adult building that children occupy, but as a lively, colourful place children could make their own. For that reason, kids were key consultants in the design process. In one exercise, the “young visionaries” used paper and felt pens to express their vision of a perfect hospital.
The input was surprisingly consistent across all ages of the children — colourful, imaginative building forms, windows, plant materials and pets were important. Many of the elements from these kids’ drawings were incorporated into the hospital’s final design.
“The windows were drawn in scale to the people,” Milton Gardner, principal and head of Kasian’s global healthcare studio, said in an interview with Architecture Week. “That’s when we twigged that we could use windows to reduce the scale of the building.”
Bold, bright colours also became a central design theme. A reunion of this team with a focus on iconic pedestrian bridge-designing might be just what the doctor ordered.
Many would agree Calgary lacks a unique sense of place, with too many of our buildings being imitative rather than innovative (our TD Canada Trust Tower is just a smaller version of the ones in downtown Toronto, for example), or simply too generic.
Most would also agree we could use more buildings and structures with beautiful details that are smaller, more human in scale, instead of the tall, cold and minimalist buildings that tend to alienate rather than welcome people.
Calgary is a unique place, with its many natural features (prairies, foothills, mountains, rivers, sky) and man-made ones (parks, pathways). However, for some reason, our artists and architects largely have not been able to articulate Calgary’s emerging culture, or perhaps they have not yet been inspired by our sense of place, which come first.
Perhaps it takes more than a century for a city and its artists to find its cultural voice. Or perhaps we just need to give our artists and architects more opportunities to showcase their talents and insights into what makes Calgary a special urban place, rather than give all the best opportunities to outsiders.
The Bow River Foot Bridges- Part 4
River cities are often known for their bridges. Pittsburgh, for example, is known as the City of Bridges, not surprising given that it sits at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers where the Ohio forms. Paris, too, is famous for its bridges, an integral part of that city’s image, history, culture and romance. Closer to home, both Saskatoon and Vancouver feature bridges that play not only a role in getting people through the city, but are central to the centres’ look and feel.
Part of the charm of city bridges is they provide a unique vantage to view the skyline, river valley and other unique geographic elements that help to define the sense of place.
Certainly, Calgary’s Centre Street Bridge, 4th Avenue flyover and Louise Bridge all provide a wonderful view of our skyline and river valley.
The Centre Street Bridge with its majestic lions and Paris-inspired arches is a wonderful downtown gateway, with the Calgary Tower as its terminus.
Unfortunately for most tourists, while the 4th Avenue flyover is another gateway to our downtown, it is not a grand or memorable entrance. It provides a spectacular view of the city, river valley and the mountains, but the bridge itself doesn’t create a sense of arrival that it could have and should have in a city wanting to be known as creative and innovative. Given this is the most important gateway in the city, perhaps a mega-makeover of the three adjacent bridges (4th and 5th Avenue flyovers and LRT bridge) at the east end of downtown should be considered as part of our quest to become recognized as a world-class city.
Calgary could easily become internationally recognized, not only for our river bridges, but for our sky (or street) bridges, if we developed stronger design principles for our Plus-15s.
Imagine if each of the almost 60 bridges in the system was designed with a sense of beauty, place and innovation, rather than mere functionality. The bridge connecting the Glenbow Museum and the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts could be — should be — a work of art, adding another dimension to the Olympic Plaza Cultural District.
Arguably, Canada’s most iconic pedestrian bridge is the Esplanade Riel in Winnipeg. Designed by Colin Douglas Stewart of Wardrop Engineering and Architect Étienne Gaboury (both from Winnipeg) and completed in 2003, it spans the Red River, connecting the downtown with St. Boniface, the area that is home to Winnipeg’s Franco-Manitoban community.
The bridge is one of few in the world with a restaurant on it, giving diners an excellent view of the river. Esplanade Riel is used extensively in promotional materials and by television crews whenever key events are broadcast there, such as the Juno Awards and Winnipeg Blue Bombers games. The Esplanade Riel truly is Winnipeg’s postcard to the world.
Bruce Graham, president and CEO of Calgary Economic Development (CED), says an iconic bridge or building can definitely define a city, create civic pride, become a tourist attraction and make a statement about Calgary as one of the World’s Energy Capitals.
“If the project is worth doing, I believe it is worth doing it to its fullest potential,” he says.
Currently, CED uses the big white metal tree sculptures on Stephen Avenue at Bankers Hall on most of its promotional materials (read more about public art and "The Trees" [1]). Although The Trees installation has been controversial, Graham says he finds the sculptures attractive, unique and a catalyst for conversation.
It should be noted that Calatrava’s architecture has many similarities to the Stephen Avenue metal trees — his work is white, metal, skeleton-like and controversial. Maybe it will fit in here more than we think.
The Bow River Foot Bridges- Part 5
The Controversy Will Continue: While it has been bubbling for a while now, the controversy has just begun to brew. The next chapter in this epic debate will be, “Do we really need another pedestrian bridge at the west end of Prince’s Island?”
The new bridge at approximately 6th Street is only a short walk from the existing pedestrian bridges under the LRT bridge at 9A Street and across Princes Island, after all. Others are asking if we are not just cluttering up the river vallery in the downtown with too many bridges.
Don Mulligan, director of transportation planning for the City, speaks enthusiastically about how the new bridge is being built not for today, but for 2030 and beyond when there will be twice as many people living in the area.
Studies show a bridge in that location will be used by more than 5,000 pedestrians and cyclists per day from Day 1, making it one of the busiest pedestrian bridges in the city. It will shorten the walk for thousands of downtown commuters by two kilometres or more per day.
When asked what will happen when thousands of pedestrians stop traffic at the Memorial Drive crosswalk, rather than going to the 9A Street pedestrian overpass, Mulligan points out the Centre City Plan puts pedestrians as the top priority and single-occupancy vehicles as the lowest. While in theory putting pedestrians first is a good idea, I expect there will be further uproar when this happens.
And, as with all works of public art or public structures, once the bridge is completed some will like it and some will not. It will be too contemporary for some, too traditional for others.
But maybe the more people dislike it the better — most iconic structures were hated by the public when first built. Neither the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House were universally loved by locals. It wasn’t until much later, when visitors from around the world came just to see them that the locals got on the bandwagon.
Calatrava creates spectacular, futuristic, elegant and eye-catching structures that are stark and challenging. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with for Calgary.
But the debate is not really about the pedestrian bridges at all anymore. It’s really about whether Calgarians are collectively ready to evolve from their current pioneer thinking — conservative and functional — to an esthetic that strives to be more ambitious, beautiful and innovative.
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