culture construct
The University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design is hosting makeCalgary for the second year. This year’s theme draws alignment to Calgary’s Cultural Capital of Canada designation as they ask, “What is the future of Culture Space in Calgary?”
In preview to a public lecture on October 12th, we speak with Vancouver-based Patkau Architects and Oslo / New York-based Snohetta Architecture Design. We attempt to understand how broad the definition of culture is and what kinds of spaces foster it. We also speak with Calgary’s incoming General Manager of Planning, Development & Assessment, Rollin Stanley, about how planning and culture intersect. And finally, Reid Henry takes us behind the vision of the new cSPACE.
With a name referencing a Norwegian mountaintop, Snohetta has a body of work that includes the Alexandria Library the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, the National September 11th Memorial Museum Pavilion, and the recent design of the addition to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. They also designed a pavilion to observe wild reindeer from.
Craig Dykers and Vanessa Kassabian describe a series of benches they designed for Guatemala City to foster pedestrian activity and re-invest in the city’s public space at the core. The poured concrete benches were designed with space for local artists to complete with their own mosaics.
Guatemala City Bench | Snohetta Architects | photo: Daniel Volpe
Snohetta drawing for benches | credit: Snohetta
Patkau Architects has designed the visitor’s centre at the Fort York National Historic Site which is in construction, the Grand Bibliotheque in Montreal, and a High Performance Sport Centre in Toronto. Their design concept for the Cottages at Fallingwater won the first competition ever held for the reserve surrounding the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed estate.
John Patkau describes the skating shelter they designed for the Asiniboine river in Winnipeg, how the materiality evolved into thin layers of plywood, and how the project led to a commission by Comme des Garcons.
Skating shelter | Patkau Architects | photo: James A Dow
#17: culture construct 
In preview to a public lecture on October 12th, we speak with Vancouver-based Patkau Architects and Oslo / New York-based Snohetta Architecture Design. We attempt to understand how broad the definition of culture is and what kinds of spaces foster it. We also speak with Calgary’s incoming General Manager of Planning, Development & Assessment, Rollin Stanley, about how planning and culture intersect. And finally, Reid Henry takes us behind the vision of the new cSPACE.