Cohos Evamy integratedesign has been selected by the jury of the Calgary Mayor’s Urban Design Awards to receive top honors for both the new Bankers Court Office Tower and the new Calgary Zoo North Gate Pavilion projects. A third entry for the Royal Canadian Pacific Entry Pavilion received an honorable mention.
Held biennially, the Mayor’s Urban Design Awards seek to recognize excellence in many facets of urban design. Cohos Evamy was on hand at the awards gala held at Heritage Park on Oct. 28 to accept the honours in the company of city officials, members of the design and development community, clients and industry representatives. Urban design award recipients are eligible for nomination to the national Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Urban Design Awards planned to take place in 2010.
This year’s awards jury was characterized by its diversity. It included Barry Johns, renowned Edmonton architect, critic and lecturer; Andrew Wallace, urban planner and development manager – West Campus for the University of Calgary; Dr. Beverly A. Sandalack, founding coordinator of the Urban Design Program at the University of Calgary, director of The Urban Lab, and principal of Sandalack + Associates Inc.; Gilles Saucier, architect, lecturer and principal of Saucier + Perotte Architectes, Montreal; and Ron Moppett, celebrated Calgary artist.
Bankers Court Office Tower took top honours in its Urban Architecture category. Bankers Court is the new sister tower to the renowned Bankers Hall Office Towers located in the heart of Calgary’s business district. The urban design opportunities presented by this siting were not lost to the design team as a number of design strategies have been employed in order to create an engaging public realm. “The new Bankers Court integrates into a complex urban fabric by respecting light and views of existing historic buildings on Stephen Avenue Mall as well as forming a new part of the existing Bankers Hall precinct,“ says Cohos Evamy integratedesign principal Martin Sparrow. The building represents the convergence of classical, timeless, high-rise-office-tower design with contemporary sustainable design objectives,”
Calgary Zoo North Gate Pavilion received top honours in the Civic Design category. In its broadest urban gesture, the new North Gate Pavilion relocates the zoo’s front door to the north end of its entry tunnel extending the zoo experience to encompass a visitor’s first point of contact. The heightening of the arrival, procession, reception, and orientation sequence were key. “The design solution affords the zoo a much higher visual profile, and public consciousness, within the broader urban fabric,” says Cohos Evamy integratedesign principal Alan Collyer. “This is critical to the long-term viability and success of our cultural institutions,”
Cohos Evamy’s Royal Canadian Pacific Rail Pavilion Entry building was recognized for its outstanding contribution to the urban environment, receiving an honorable mention in the Urban Architecture category.