Calgary's new water centre

Originally published in FAST FORWARD, June 7, 2007

By: Drew Anderson

Following the curved roadway of 25th Ave., itself a mimic of the old CN rail line that forged this route, the City of Calgary’s newest building, the Water Centre, stands along its curb and almost distracts the driver right off the road. A looming curved wall of galvanized aluminum rises on the edge of the city’s Manchester yards evoking a sense of the water that will be the occupants primary concern.
The building will house approximately 800 Water Services and Water Resource employees, bringing them together in one building for the first time.
Rounding the bend in the road the first question that comes to mind is: what is that? Quickly followed by a sense of architectural hope, a sense that perhaps Calgary is not doomed to a sort of design purgatory, brutalized on all sides by four walls and a roof.
“I was very interested, and have been for a long time, in the curvilinear nature of 25th Ave.,” says lead architect Jeremy Sturgess, whose firm Sturgess Architecture collaborated on the project with Manasc Isaac Architects of Edmonton.
He wanted to pay homage to the historical nature of that curve as the former path of the railway, to maintain and reinforce it while also cupping the yards and the green space that will nestle into the building’s south side.
“So not only is the building, by its location, creating a garden that is going to be very useful to the users of the building and also to the public, but it is also defining and establishing 25th Ave. as an important piece of Calgary’s fabric,” he says.
While motorists will be confronted with a sloping quarter circle roof slashed with long banks of tempered windows, the south side will be a massive wall of glass with alternating blue and green hues - another water-inspired design feature - facing a landscaped area.
Resting comfortably within its protective embrace, the green space will feature meandering stone walkways with simulated creek beds rushing water run-off from the roof, to ponds and cisterns in the yard. The collected water will be used for irrigation.
The centre was inspired by American architect Stephen Holl’s Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, and mimics both its curved design as well as its ready supply of natural light.
“One of our features that we want to provide people, is access to a window and access to daylight while they’re at work,” says Russ Golightly, project manager of the water centre for the City of Calgary corporate properties and buildings.
This, along with the landscape design is part of meeting the city’s new sustainable building policy, approved in 2003, which calls for all new city projects to be certified LEED (Leadeship in Energy and Environmental Design) silver or above.
LEED is the industry standard certification system that monitors and certifies buildings based on 70 established points, including access to public transportation, energy efficiency, water use and innovative design. Levels of certification are: certified, silver, gold and platinum. A building that achieves 33-38 of those available points will be certified silver.
The impressive exterior of the building is a fitting shell for the environmental innovation contained within. According to the City of Calgary website, the building will be day lit, recycle 95 per cent of excess construction material, reduce water use by 59 per cent, waste water by 72 per cent, and save 58 per cent in annual energy consumption.
Over 700,000 kilograms of reinforcing steel used in the construction was recycled product.
Wider on the west end and narrowing as it flows east towards the industrial heart of the city, the building is long and narrow, an intentional design to foster community by encouraging walking and talking all while avoiding elevators.
Inside, all four floors are open on the south side, each railed with recycled wheat stock boards, creating an atrium feel to the interior. The design team made the space open, hoping to foster not only communication, but also air-flow and movement.
“We were very strong that it should not be a high rise,” says Sturgess, “because if we’re going to make a building that is a collaboration we want to make as much public space in the building as we can.”
Alderman Bob Hawkesworth, who introduced the motion for the new building policy is thrilled with the centre, in terms of its environmental prowess and its architectural beauty.
“I think that’s where we have to go (innovative design), we have to raise the bar. If we’re going to get the private sector to go beyond the mediocre, the city first has to go beyond mediocre and raise the bar for itself,” he says.
“It’s saying to the rest of Calgary and the private sector, we can do it and we expect you to be able to do it too.”
The project, though impressive, is estimated to cost only 2 per cent more than a conventional building, and will bring significant savings in terms of energy and water use, it is expected to pay for itself in 15 years.