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J U N E 2 0 2 5 | 89 Varsity Multi-Service Centre Redevelopment R EN D ER I N GS CO U RT E S Y C I T Y O F C A LGA RY VARSITY MULTI-SERVICE CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT by ROBIN BRUNET T he four-storey Varsity Multi- Service Centre is a City of Calgary milestone: the first project to open that was planned, designed, and built as a multi-service facility. It brings together a new fire station, 48 high-quality affordable residential units that will be man- aged by Calgary Housing, a retail unit potentially leased to a third-party day- care provider, outdoor public amenity and future park, a household haz- ardous waste drop-off location, and a Corporate Hub giving employees flex- ibility for work and collaboration. "The City of Calgary is moving in a bold direction to build multi-service facilities." says Ryan Atkinson, manager of buildings and architecture with The City of Calgary. "By optimizing City- owned land in proximity to a university, transit, retail, and other amenities, we can bring more services into communi- ties where they are needed and improve service access. This approach also seeks efficiencies to reduce operational and maintenance costs as well as overall design and construction costs." As a new type of undertaking for The City, Varsity underwent several iterations based on feedback from user groups and stakeholders, with the final design achieving a careful bal- ance between meeting the needs of the individual project components and finding synergies between them. The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative Inc. (MBAC) and design partners Baumschlager Hutter Partners took an initial design concept and developed a formal, public front that is characterized by minimal parking, the presence of formal and informal soft and hardscapes, and honorific urban and architectural elements that signal the presence of the project's various programmatic elements. Nathaniel Wagenaar, partner at MBAC, says, "The RFP for the project was issued in 2018 when the only ele- ment the site in Northwest Calgary contained was the original fire station. "An existing master plan had been created whose special requirements and scope we had to validate, and this led to several key changes, the main one being a change of access to the development, spurred by the noise concerns of surrounding residents." Wagenaar goes on to explain that his firm created a more "commu- nity-focused" version of the project, with housing contained in a smaller block, the location of the new fire sta- tion pushed further east and away from the small-scale residences to the west, and a glazed pavilion acting as a bridge between these components, with a large community stair leading to a rooftop area. According to Wagenaar, the pro- grammatic synergies necessary for Varsity's success are most directly manifested in the publicly accessible rooftop of the central single-storey pavilion, a form that creates site- and LOCATION 3740 32nd Avenue NW, Calgary, Alberta OWNER /DEVELOPER City of Calgary ARCHITECT The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative Inc. / Baumschlager Hutter Partners (housing consultant) CONSTRUCTION MANAGER CANA Group of Companies STRUCTUR AL CONSULTANT Entuitive Corporation MECHANICAL CONSULTANT AME Consulting Group Ltd. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Nemetz (S/A) & Associates Ltd. CIVIL CONSULTANT ISL Engineering & Land Services Ltd. STRUCTUR AL /ENVELOPE CONSULTANT Entuitive Corporation GEOTECHNICAL CONSULTANT WSP Canada TOTAL SIZE 83,000 square feet TOTAL COST $53.5 million program-specific spaces and places, while maintaining an overall legibility. Use-specific formal trans- formations within the fibre cement cladding forms include the heroic can- tilever of the fire station, the extension of the podium wall into a habitable landscape wall, an outdoor play area for the childcare spaces, and entry deformations that protect against inclement weather. Above the podium is the affordable housing block, a simple volume clad in durable and high-quality glass fibre reinforced concrete panels. This over- all volume is punctuated by balconies, composed asymmetrically on the façade and serving as an expression of the individuals living within the facility. Brick and curtain wall cladding were originally selected for their robustness, but Wagenaar points out that "for budgetary reasons we eventu- ally lost the brick and went with cement siding board. This was punctuated by black panelling as well as yellow, red, and orange on the glass guards of the balconies for visual highlights." In alignment with City of Calgary environmental policies, the architects also took steps to pursue LEED and WELL certifications through a highly insulated building envelope to cut down on heating and improve comfort for residents; and they made provi- sions for a 260kW rooftop solar system to generate power. CANA Group of Companies broke ground on the 83,000-square-foot project in June of 2022 under a con- struction management contract, and CANA construction manager Emily Ward points out that, "The greenfield site had adverse soil conditions, so we used a CFA piling system to create a stable foundation." She adds that the post-disaster fire station was built as a concrete and structural steel facility; the residences are wood frame. "While it was challenging to co- ordinate the input of the different user groups during the design phase, the actual construction went very smoothly thanks to a great team of trades," Ward says. The original fire station is sched- uled to be demolished in July. "We've brought together key ser- vices in one accessible location, while also adding much-needed housing and green space for the existing and new residents of Varsity. This project goes beyond delivering essential City ser- vices; it is about building a resilient and inclusive community," says Atkinson. A

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