Brookfield Place Calgary | 247M - 56F | Construction

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by Acey

Bay Adelaide is my guess as to what the glazing will look like... given that the glazing never ends up looking like the renders.

thanks

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Skyline with HS From a CBC article. I like how HS/225-sixth dwarfs pretty much every building in this pic(a bunch in the 150-215m range) except for The Bow.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...velopment.html

I don't think it actually dwarfs anything as it is modestly taller than our set of 700-750 footers. I don't think this particular angle is the best from an optics perspective though. Looking at it facing West will probably be the best, given it would be along one of the narrow ends, perhaps with Wonderland in the foreground.

[suburbia]

I wonder if the fact that Brookfield also owns the 298m tall First Canadian Place in Toronto kept it from building a 300m tall building in Calgary?

Just thinking out loud folks.

[patm]

I can't wait to see any renders (official or otherwise) from the usual Saddledome view.

Originally Posted by suburbia

I wonder if the fact that Brookfield also owns the 298m tall First Canadian Place in Toronto kept it from building a 300m tall building in Calgary?

Just thinking out loud folks.

I'm just wondering if they even would want to build to 300 m here due to cost.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Acey

I'm just wondering if they even would want to build to 300 m here due to cost.

Is it more expensive to build here than Toronto currently?

[WhipperSnapper]

The financial core in Toronto has some of the best conditions one could hope for to build tall. Bedrock is an ideal 35 feet down.

[Calgarian]

The reasons I am aware of that projects are phased in Calgary is two fold.
First, the shape of our blocks makes having 2 or more towers more economical. A single large building on a downtown block would look kinda weird.
Second, with a boom and bust economy, developers want to build one part at a time so as to mitigate the risks associated with building. I imagine banks are also more willing to lend money to a phased project due to the reduced risk.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

The financial core in Toronto has some of the best conditions one could hope for to build tall. Bedrock is an ideal 35 feet down.

Downtown Calgary is basically a gravel bar, remanent from being the deepest part of a glacial lake. The water table is high and bedrock is several hundred feet down. That is why some of the largest foundations in the world are in downtown Calgary. Skyscrapers are built on raft slabs, masses of concrete heavy enough to counteract any lateral force the building could experience.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

The reasons I am aware of that projects are phased in Calgary is two fold.
First, the shape of our blocks makes having 2 or more towers more economical. A single large building on a downtown block would look kinda weird.
Second, with a boom and bust economy, developers want to build one part at a time so as to mitigate the risks associated with building. I imagine banks are also more willing to lend money to a phased project due to the reduced risk.

Interesting. I never realized till looking closely now, that Toronto's downtown blocks are much more varied than ours. that in and of itself can inspire a little more creativity / variety. I recall one building, now that I think about it, with a slight curve following Front Street in T.O. right beside Union Station.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

So where would be the next logical place for a new (potentially taller) skyscraper in the downtown core?

You could finish the BoM centre with its second tower on 7th Ave.
It was supposed to be 64 stories, but wasn't built due to the NEP oil bust in the '80s.

Everything is there to resume construction of Tower II - you'd just need to clean out the 'temporary' park on 7th Ave & 2nd St and reveal the concrete & rebar in place to finish the main floor & keep building up from there.

This could be done quicker than Brookfield can finish Herald Square Tower I (since Brookfield would have to spend quite a few months digging down and building the underground parking structure before getting back to street-level)


A fun article in the Herald a few years ago. Calgary as it might have been:
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald...9dba5b9bad&p=1

[MichaelS]

I think tower 2 of BoM could no longer be built as originally proposed due to building code changes (not sure though, perhaps one of the architects/technologists on here can confirm this).

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

I think tower 2 of BoM could no longer be built as originally proposed due to building code changes (not sure though, perhaps one of the architects/technologists on here can confirm this).

It has nothing to do with the building code, more to do with the new Bylaw and parking requirements. There is already a replacement for this site that seems fairly likely to go ahead, so it's kind of a moot point.

Originally Posted by Calgarian

A single large building on a downtown block would look kinda weird.

See: The Bow

[Design-mind]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

I hope they don't stick with the "225 Sixth" moniker and perhaps pay homage to the former building and call it "Herald Square". Seeing as it will be the new tallest in Calgary, it deserves more than a numbered title!

I agree the numbered moniker is boring, plus they need to pay homage to the old Herald building that has been there so long.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by suburbia

Interesting. I never realized till looking closely now, that Toronto's downtown blocks are much more varied than ours. that in and of itself can inspire a little more creativity / variety. I recall one building, now that I think about it, with a slight curve following Front Street in T.O. right beside Union Station.

I wish early one some diagonal roads had been carved through the city, like a giant X centered on downtown, could have led to some interesting architecture.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Acey

See: The Bow

Yeah but the Bow isn't the only thing on that block. I guess having a podium covering the whole site that is 5 or 6 storeys tall would be fine, just don't use most of the site as plaza space lol. I think it does make much more sense to put multiple towers on a site though, I just wish more developers went the way City Centre is going instead of building 2 identical office towers.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by Doug

Downtown Calgary is basically a gravel bar, remanent from being the deepest part of a glacial lake. The water table is high and bedrock is several hundred feet down. That is why some of the largest foundations in the world are in downtown Calgary. Skyscrapers are built on raft slabs, masses of concrete heavy enough to counteract any lateral force the building could experience.

Shanghai foundations have to be the same, considering that the ground around here is pretty much mud deposited by the Yangtze River.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Skyline with HS From a CBC article. I like how HS/225-sixth dwarfs pretty much every building in this pic(a bunch in the 150-215m range) except for The Bow.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...velopment.html

I might be crazy, but the Bow looks like it moved south 1 block in this rendering?

[DizzyEdge]

http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2012/...-could-design/

New downtown office tower something a three-year-old with Lego could design