The project includes an urban design study, the replacement of ten light rail transit stations and newly landscaped blocks along a 16 block section of a major downtown street.

The urban design study envisioned 7th Avenue as a major transit and pedestrian corridor to replace the decrepit 1980s stations.  Calgary’s transit system has among the highest ridership of any in North America and was bursting at the seams. The proposed solution was to increase the number of cars per train from three to four, necessitating longer platforms. The concept included twinned gateway stations at either end of 7th Avenue with alternating stations and landscaped blocks between; and connecting two major parks, Fort Calgary and Millennium Park.

The old stations were encumbered with narrow raised platforms, a complicated series of stairs and ramps with low shelters further enclosing the space. The result was a series of compact but crowded stations which acted as barriers between the shops and the street, and sparked the gradual decline of both the businesses and the quality of the street itself.

At the station blocks, the sidewalks have been raised to become the platforms themselves, providing expanded passenger areas and removing the barriers to adjacent businesses. The canopy covers as much of the street as possible to provide maximum enclosure for the transit users. The design provides height, openness and transparency to maximize the sky views and sun penetration.

Sidewalks are widened to double their previous width in order to accommodate a greater pedestrian population. A clear delineation is made between the active pedestrian ‘walking’ realm and the areas dedicated to transit related waiting and passenger loading. Trees are accommodated in tree trenches, a complicated technical feat given the wealth of infrastructure beneath the Avenue.

Existing building conditions varied along the Avenue, necessitating a number of different strategies to tie in the buildings directly to the platform. The stations have been designed to accommodate a variety of conditions including preserving historic Amur Cherry Trees; seamlessly connecting to a major retail mall; opening directly to a small coffee vendor; providing entrance to key office buildings; and the redesign of a Plus 15 bridge to land it directly onto the platform. The top of the bridge was designed to exploit the vistas afforded by the new Calgary Courthouse Park so that it becomes a viewing platform over the Park. The widened platform sits above a maze of utility vaults and service conduits of all types, each with its own tight dimensional tolerances. The canopies are composed of butt-jointed, spider-clipped glass to achieve a high degree of transparency. The struggle to organize and simplify the large number of disparate elements crowding the old stations led to light standards designed to perform multiple functions including providing both street and pedestrian-level lighting; carrying the power for the trains and traffic signals; and flying decorative banners. Every element and its location had to be carefully considered and negotiated. The success of the project is the seamless connection between stations and the lightness, grace and order of the new structures; the result of unraveling a complex knot of problems and initial conflicts.

*in association with GEC Architects and Carlyle + Associates Landscape Architecture