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Eighth Avenue Place – West Tower by Christina Morrissey courtesy Hines canada ManageMent co. A cting like a mirror to the distant Rocky Mountains, the peaks of the LEED Platinum office tower Eighth Avenue Place in Calgary, Alberta, jut proudly into the sky. In 2011, Phase I East Tower of Eighth Avenue Place was completed and gave a glimpse of what was to come. Now, with the 40-storey, Phase II West Tower having been completed this summer, the two towers have brought to life developer Hines Canada Management Co. ULC's vision to build more than just another office tower complex in Calgary, and instead showcase a marvel of archi- tectural and sustainable design. Connected by a grand four-storey- high lobby, the two office towers boast a conference centre, restaurants, stores and a fitness centre. The building also features a winter garden between the towers and six floors of parking. "This has set a new standard in town, archi- tecturally," says Ted Campbell, property manager at Hines. "The majestic build- ing's marriage of glass, light and steel bookends the downtown, creating a little town within one block." Gibbs Gage Architects and Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. Consulting Engineers began the structural design alongside other team members for the West Tower in March 2011, shortly after the completion of the East Tower. "Designing a second tower using much of the same design features that match this closely does not often occur in the construction industry. It was a welcome opportunity to really optimize the design and apply the lessons learned in the first phase," says Luke Groeneveld, associate at Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. Consulting Engineers. The building's structure uses a hybrid of steel and concrete; a new con- cept not applied before in this form and construction sequence in Canada, but one that is efficient and fast to construct. Martyn Wesley at EllisDon Construction Services, general contractor, says, "Due to advanced design and our efforts to manage waste and recycle materials, we were bumped from aiming for LEED Gold to pre-certifying LEED Platinum; we will be the first commercial LEED Platinum high-rise in Canada." Constructing a tall building in Alber- ta's dry climate was a major challenge. Wind speed, snow and cold tempera- tures at the top of the tall Calgary down- town buildings are much more severe than at ground level. "Casting high-per- formance concrete and protecting weld- ing from the weather, while complying with stringent structural specifications, is a major accomplishment by the Ellis- Don crews involved," says Vincent Dods at Gibbs Gage Architects. The wind and seismic lateral load resisting system consists of a concrete core joined to the exterior steel columns using uniformly distributed outrigger girders. "The Achilles heel in this sys- tem was the composite connection that coupled the steel to the concrete," says Groeneveld. "Hybrid steel/concrete moment connections, developed and tested by the ASCE [American Society of Civil Engineers] and The University of Texas, were applied and optimized for the climbing core formwork sequence." Snow load and dramatic changes in the weather as a result of the Chi- nook winds also posed a challenge for the exterior mechanical systems. "The intricacies of the architecture with the ski slope off the roof required innova- tive thinking when it came to the mitiga- tion of snow and ice control," explains Marcus Keay, lead engineer at WSP Flack + Kurtz. "Spray nozzles melt the snow and ice that form on the sloped areas of the building's curtain wall. Gutters dis- creetly placed on the face of the build- ing collect the melted ice that drains through the curtain wall to the interior storm drainage system, preventing it from falling on the street below." Gibbs Gage Architects worked col- laboratively with the design/structural and engineering teams to create a typi- cal floorplate with column free spans, to maximize the effectiveness of the floor- plates for tenant efficiency. Head inside the West Tower and the attention to detail continues. Each f loor plate is approximately 22,000 square feet of Class AAA office space with f loor to ceiling windows. "The project was able to fully utilize the Masterplan Design intent; to visually open the entire interior public spaces on the lower levels to the winter garden atrium and the expansive south facing exterior courtyard through fully glazed volumes," explains Dods. One of the main challenges for the typical office floor was air distribution. Working closely with Hines Conceptual Design Group, the mechanical system design selected was an energy efficient overhead fan powered terminal variable air volume system. Focus was placed on how to distribute conditioned air to the exterior curtain wall to prevent conden- sation during winter. Through mock-up testing of the mechanical system design with the actual curtain wall product, the design was proven to mitigate conden- sation build up on the inside face of the glass and curtain wall mullions. The electrical systems feature a dual telecommunications riser with access on every f loor, high performance T5 lamp technology and low-energy build- ing standard lights. "The main goal when it came to the electrical element was to provide adequate capacity for both towers, and for the tenants today and in the future," says Susie See, execu- tive VP at WSP Flack + Kurtz. For the landscape, designed by Carson•McCulloch Associates Ltd, a soil-moisture sensing control system monitors the irrigation on the arge olive trees planted in the indoor atrium. That's in addition to the tower featur- ing the 30,000-square-foot green roof. Another testament to the fact that Eighth Avenue Place reflects a whole- building approach to sustainability. And the final result? A piece of sust ainable modern ar t in dow n- town Calgary that owners Ivanhoé C a mbr id ge, A lb er t a I nve s t ment Management Corporation ( AIMCo) and Matco can be proud of. n Location 525 – 8th Avenue, Calgary, Alberta owner Ivanhoé Cambridge, Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo) and Matco Investments Ltd. DeveLoper Hines Canada Management Co. ULC architect Gibbs Gage Architects associate architect Kendall/Heaton Associates Design architect Pickard Chilton International generaL contractor EllisDon Construction Services structuraL consuLtant Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. / CBM Engineers MechanicaL/eLectricaL/Fire protection consuLtant WSP Flack + Kurtz LocaL MechanicaL consuLtant Emans Smith Andersen Engineering Ltd. LocaL eLectricaL consuLtant SMP Engineering LanDscape architect Carson • McCulloch Associates Ltd. totaL size (west tower) 850,000 square feet totaL cost $195 million december 2014 /57 eighth Avenue Place – West Tower 11:24 AM