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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination. Centennial Place in Alberta, Canada by WZMH ArchitectsApril 28th, 2012 by Sumit Singhal
Article source: WZMH Architects Centennial Place: WZMH’s new ideal in tower design for Calgary The Canadian architect creates a dynamic city landmark that majors in sustainability, connectivity, and a playful informality. Centennial Place is a new landmark for the city of Calgary, Alberta. Located at the northwest of the downtown city core, the development’s two striking towers offer a new architectural – standard on multiple levels. Centennial Place represents the very best in sustainable office design. It achieves a level of connectivity with the city not previously seen in Calgary, linking to both the existing commercial infrastructure and, eventually, – to the adjacent planned residential neighbourhoods. Centennial Place’s highly articulated design creates a beacon, an architectural focal point, amidst a city noted for its tall buildings and dense urban environment.  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)
 Night View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)
 Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban) Designed by WZMH Architects for long-time client Oxford Properties, Centennial Place is the largest commercial LEED Gold development in Canada. The complex’s two towers – one of 40 storeys and the other 24 storeys – provide 1,045,000 sqft (97,080 sqm) of office space, clad in a high performance glazed façade that minimizes solar ingress and heat gain. Rainwater collection, grey water re-use for irrigation , high efficiency motors in the mechanical plant and occupancy sensors are active elements of a design that also utilises the building’s structural form to create the best internal environments while minimizing energy requirements.  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban) But Centennial Place does not rely only on its sustainability credentials to attract tenants. The complex’s design, described by WZMH as ‘dynamic informality’, demarcates it from other office towers in the city. The two towers are set at right angles to each other, challenging the regimented convention of this size of development. The external façades of both buildings are envisioned by the architect as an exercise in patternmaking; the vertical mullions being varied in size and depth to create excitement and animation on the immense glazed surface planes of the facades. Additionally, one face of each tower leans inwards as it rises to create ‘breathing space’ between the two buildings, and, shooting from ground to tip is a spire, which terminates above the highest floor with an illuminated beacon: a focal point from both within and beyond the city limits.  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban) Perhaps the most important aspect of Centennial Place is its ability to connect with the city on multiple levels. A two storey high pedestrian concourse runs between the buildings, linking to Calgary’s unique +15 elevated walkway. From this 30 foot high thoroughfare building occupants and visitors can look back into the sleek lobbies of the office towers or dine at a new food court, situated beneath a dramatic elliptical skylight. At grade, a level so often neglected in Calgary, WZMH has connected Centennial Place with the street via a row of retail outlets and café/restaurants, creating what will become a bustling new neighbourhood when the planned adjacent residential district is completed in the near future. This invigoration of the city’s sidewalk culture marks its transformation from commercial to residential neighbourhood and a new design paradigm for the public realm in Calgary.  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban) Centennial Place marks the latest addition in an architectural history that has seen WZMH design some of Calgary’s most outstanding and recognizable buildings. The practice first worked in the city in the 1970s, designing Bow Valley Square. WZMH went on to design such landmarks as the Petro-Canada Centre (now Suncor Energy Centre), Canterra Tower and the Ernst & Young Tower, all of which are features of the city’s high rise skyline. Centennial Place is a 21st century design for a city at the forefront of Western Canada’s emergence as a signiificant economic engine for Canada as a counterpoint to the more traditional industrial based economies in Eastern Canada.  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Street View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Bird Eye View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Exterior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Interior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Interior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Interior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)  Interior View (Images Courtesy Tom Arban)
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