While Calgary’s oil crash has caused economic concerns of late, a happy accident of its boom days is a plethora of new architecture – both public and residential – aimed at reviving its downtown.
Hot on the heels of new buildings like the Taylor Institute at the University of Calgary, the latest jewel in the Cowtown crown is the National Music Centre. Part of the East Village development – an attempt at 'Vancouverising' the car-loving suburban sprawl prairie town with mixed-use walkability – the new home of Calgary’s National Music Centre literally bridges old and new.
A shimmering skin of custom glazed terracotta tiles that reads like an acoustic wave bridges the new Studio Bell – at once a performance space, museum, educational facility and recording studio – with the 1905 King Edward Hotel, a heritage building and former home to a legendary blues club.
The project includes an impressive 300-seat performance hall with flexible seating and movable acoustic wall
Designed by Portland’s Allied Works Architecture (known for the Seattle Art Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York), the centre, inspired says principal Brad Cloepfil, 'by the light, landscape and geography of the northern prairie', comprises nine interlocking and subtly curved towers rising five stories high.
Spanning more than 181,000 sq ft, including 22,000 sq ft of exhibition galleries, Studio Bell weaves an intriguing narrative of Canadian music. Interlocking arches carve out the ground floor lobby, that opens upward through the centre’s five levels, while the main performance space – a 300 seat hall with a movable acoustic wall – is suspended above.
State of the art exhibition galleries are staggered throughout the building – which opens up to vistas of the Bow River and Stampede Park. They are conceived as a series of interactive stages, and are complemented by spaces for contemplation.
But it’s the interstitial space between the towers – where two helical staircases on the north and the south flank the lobby – that really wows. The shimmering curved walls resonate with acoustic frisson, amplifying light and sound as if inside the very mind of music.
The centre is inspired by the light, landscape and geography of the northern prairie, explain the architects
Studio Bell spans more than 181,000 sq ft, and 22,000 sq ft of exhibition galleries
The lobby's shimmering curved walls resonate with acoustic frisson, amplifying light and sound
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Allied Works Architecture website
-
This Gujarat apartment by MuseLAB is a sculptural, textural delightA study in materiality, this apartment in Gujarat, India layers idiosyncratic details while staying true to its provenance, and is the latest focus of The Inside Story, our series spotlighting intriguing and innovative interior design
-
BMW celebrates half a century of its pioneering Art Car project with exhibitions and moreWe present a portfolio of the artists who have contributed to 50 years of BMW Art Cars, including Andy Warhol, John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer and David Hockney
-
TEFAF Maastricht 2025 is a brush with wonderfully niche art, design and antiquitiesWhat we saw and loved at TEFAF Maastricht 2025 (on until 20 March), from surrealist Claude Lalanne’s daybed and Ancient Egyptian jewellery
-
Step inside a writer's Richard Neutra-designed apartment in Los AngelesMichael Webb, invites us into his LA home – a showcase of modernist living
-
Join our world tour of contemporary homes across five continentsWe take a world tour of contemporary homes, exploring case studies of how we live; we make five stops across five continents
-
The Architecture of Seduction: how Horace Gifford built a modernist, queer paradiseFire Island is explored through a new edition of Christopher Rawlins’ seminal architectural and social history book on the life and work of Horace Gifford
-
Step inside this furniture gallerist's live-work space by Steven Holl in upstate New YorkDesigned by Steven Holl for modern furniture gallerists Mark McDonald and Dwayne Resnick, this live-work space in upstate New York is a midcentury collector’s paradise
-
Remembering architect Ricardo Scofidio (1935 – 2025)Ricardo Scofidio, seminal architect and co-founder of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, has died, aged 89; we honour his passing and celebrate his life
-
Is the U.S. about to sell dozens of architecturally-significant government buildings?It depends, the Trump administration says
-
10 emerging Californian practices rethink architecture in the Golden StateWe highlight ten emerging Californian practices that are redrawing the borders of traditional architecture with their unique creative explorations
-
Rosewood Residences Beverly Hills launches: we take the tourRosewood Residences Beverly Hills launches to a design by Thomas Juul-Hansen, marking the brand's first standalone home project in the swanky Los Angeles neighbourhood
