RiverWalk West awarded RAIC National Urban Design Award
We are thrilled to announce that our design for RiverWalk West has been awarded an RAIC National Design Award. The winner of the City of Calgary’s first public realm design competition, this proposal for the redevelopment of the south bank of the Bow River leverages a need for pathway connectivity to create a vibrant, inclusive public realm that responds to—and amplifies—its unique Bow River ecosystem context, while serving as a catalyst for broader civic transformation.
National Urban Design Awards - 2024 Recipient | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (raic.org)
The winner of the City of Calgary’s first public realm design competition, this proposal for the redevelopment of the south bank of the Bow River leverages a need for pathway connectivity to create a vibrant, inclusive public realm that responds to—and amplifies—its unique Bow River ecosystem context, while serving as a catalyst for broader civic transformation.
The plan’s “big moves” include strategically reconfiguring adjacent streets and consolidating underused parcels to re-acquire the river’s edge, softening the riverbank, balancing natural and urban eco-systems, and creating a dynamic pathway that undulates with the new topography. The design enhances wetland and fish habitats through ecosystem regeneration, and provides opportunities for Calgarians, and the city’s visitors, to view, access, and touch the Bow River. It does this all while satisfying the growing need for multi-modal connections to and through the city’s Downtown West.
The design approach and final proposal is shaped by traditional ways of knowing the land, shared by local Blackfoot Elders. From their stories, ideas of discovery, ceremony, gathering together from all over, art, exchange, and teaching emerged as significant to this place.
These ideas are central to the definition of six character areas, each with a unique approach to promoting thriving cultural and natural ecosystems: West Village Riparian Trail, Grassland Bowl, Main Street, Land Art Island, The Exchange, and Trickle Creek + Constructed Wetland.
