RENDERINGS: GEC ARCHITECTURE

Bow

In July, the foundations for Phase 2 of Calgary's Bow Valley College expansion were rising where the Provincial Courts of Alberta once stood. Phase 1 of the expansion, which was completed earlier this year after fi ve years in development, provides the college with a facility containing more energy-effi cient systems, more classrooms and expanded learning resource services. Phase 2, which is expected to be complete in 2013, will consist of a seven-storey, 204,000-square-foot new building. The expansion will double the college's seating capacity in Calgary to 6,300, and Bernard Benning, vice-president of campus development, is satisfi ed with the progress to date. "Things have gone extremely well considering the project unfolded in a somewhat backward fashion," he says. "Phase 2 should really have been launched before Phase 1, which was a renovation of an existing, operational building. But we couldn't get our hands on the land required for Phase 2, so that's why work on the new facility is taking place now." Martin Jones, a partner with GEC Architecture, regards the Bow Valley College expansion as challenging but ultimately rewarding. "Acquiring the land for Phase 2 set us back several years but was benefi cial in that the new South Campus building will be right next to the LRT transit line," he says. "Phase 1 was an enormously complicated renovation that had to be scheduled to minimize disruption to the teachers and students using the facility. It speaks volumes about the project manager, Duke Projects, and builders Stuart Olson that the work was completed on budget." Bow Valley College announced its plans for the two-phase expansion in November of 2004, and almost a year later it received $47-million in funding for Phase 1. Several months after that, a GEC schematic design was presented to and approved by the board of governors with the intent of work

Valley College Redevelopment - Phase 2

by Robin Brunet

commencing in the summer of 2006. Phase 1 focused on a six-storey North Campus facility that had been constructed in 1972. The building was shaped somewhat like an inverted pyramid, with large outdoor plazas situated under the overhang of the higher levels. "Our main idea was to reclaim 80,000 square feet of this 270,000-square-foot facility by getting rid of the plazas and a parking structure and adding street-level facilities in their place," says Jones. "This gave the building a more appropriate urban feel to what is, after all, an urban campus." Early on, it was determined that the 1960's-style precast cladding of the Brutalist-style building did not have to be revamped. However, the windows were replaced to provide greater energy effi ciency and to extend the service life of the envelope. "That alone changed the appearance of the facility signifi cantly," says Jones. The real challenge of Phase 1 was the interior, as the corridors were located along the perimeter of each level. "The people walking through the corridors received natural light but the offi ces and classrooms located in the building's core did not, so we relocated the rooms to face the windows," says Jones. "This required extensive demolition of the interior." GEC added two new elevators to the existing bank of three lifts, turning each elevator 180 degrees in its shaft to help create a north-south corridor through the building, which improved way-fi nding. A main stairwell was also redesigned for easier access and better visibility. All of these alterations caused headaches for Duke Projects and Stuart Olson. "A lot of the work had to OCTOBER 2010 53

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