Award

A PR IL 2017 | 75 Avenue West End RENDERINGS COURTESY GROSVENOR AMERICAS Avenue West End by LAURA WALKER O ffering urban living framed by the Bow River against the city's characteristic mountain backdrop, Calgary's Downtown West End is soon to become home to residents of Avenue West End, a new two-tower condominium development from Grosvenor Americas and Cressey Development Group. "Along with the vision of architect James Cheng, Grosvenor and Cressey aspired to introduce a modern and contemporary-designed building to this established community, offering a luxurious high-end feel, and taking full advantage of the river, cityscape and mountain views," says Robert Duteau of Grosvenor Americas. Marking the development's first challenge, Duteau says bedrock on site was deeper than anticipated, requiring excavation to be extended further than initially planned. "Throughout the project, careful planning had to be done with the City of Calgary due to the location on 5th Avenue. Whenever deliveries and concrete pours occurred, hoarding permits were required from the City and strict hours of working time had to be adhered to in efforts to avoid high-volume traffic times," adds Duteau. Designed by James K.M. Cheng Architects Inc., Avenue West End features glass and granite for a sleek and modern exterior. The building's envelope features wall assemblies formed primarily out of window wall assemblies provided by Toro Aluminum, while other wall assemblies are clad with stone panels over exterior insulated wall assemblies. "These unitized, factory-built systems provide an efficient building envelope system that is straightforward and standardized to install, and therefore, reasonable quality control and envelope continuity is achieved," explains Marty Deemter of JRS Engineering. Avenue West End's roof and plaza assemblies are waterproofed with hot-applied, rubberized asphalt, while balconies have urethane pedestrian deck coatings. At locations where structural penetrations are required, concrete starter curbs bring the waterproofing layer above the water drainage plane. Below grade wall assemblies have been waterproofed with concrete additive Xypex. "The proximity to the Bow River creates a high risk for below grade water ingress. Proper detailing of below grade waterproofing was critical to ensure that no water would enter the building," says Deemter, noting the company's previous work on Vancouver's downtown waterfront developments provided valuable experience to successfully address this challenge. The below grade foundation walls were constructed within a secant pile wall, cutting off the groundwater, while a drainage mat between grade walls and the secant wall drains any water that bypasses the secant wall to sump pits below the building. "JRS and Cressey worked together on site reviews, with Cressey following up closely on any JRS identified waterproofing deficiencies," adds Deemter. "JRS also performed water testing of window assemblies to ensure the specification and code requirements for the project were met." The main floor of the building is clad in black granite from Quebec, while the remaining podium features a light limestone from Germany, with typical tower floorplates made up of an amalgam of metal panels and window wall. The building's lobby is designed to exude the feeling of a grand hotel, carrying a walnut theme throughout the common areas from the lobby accents to the suite entry doors. Avenue West End will provide residents with access to a state-of-the-art fitness facility, relaxing owners' lounge, on-site concierge and dog washing station, as well as secured underground heated parking and storage lockers. The building consists of two- level townhomes, tower residences and executive penthouses that offer future residents with a variety of options when selecting a unit sized to meet their lifestyle needs. "Thoughtfully crafted by award- winning interior design company Trepp Design Inc., each interior floorplan at Avenue boasts the utmost efficient design, air conditioning and high-end exceptional interior finishing such as engineered hardwood wide-plank flooring, overheight ceilings, porcelain tile, marble countertops and impressive outdoor terraces," explains Duteau. In a first for Calgary, the Avenue West End units feature the trademarked CresseyKitchen; an integrated kitchen design with amenities intended to make the space feel larger, providing unique floor plans in the process. "The biggest challenge both mechanically and electrically for this project was meeting the primary development requirement that two residential towers were to be designed and constructed, while being phased separately," says Rob Gregg of MCW Consultants Ltd. The fully air conditioned building features a central heating and cooling plant, including high-efficiency natural gas boilers and closed circuit fluid cooler, as well as water-to-air heat pump terminal units in common areas and residential suites. The building features a Direct Digital Control system providing the building operator with a web-based platform to view power distribution, fire alarm and communication systems remotely in real-time. Due to the complexity and eventual interface with the second tower, the fire alarm design features an active annunciator graphic. All utility services have been selected to accommodate the future west tower, with additional design development required at the start of the project to ensure primary distribution of services were appropriately sized. Gregg explains that, as the development is phased, with the final form set to feature a multi-level bridge connecting the two towers, interior spaces also needed to be fully functional as part of the east tower occupancy. The penthouse levels of the building were reconfigured after construction had begun to accommodate a two- level private residence that has private exterior decks and doubled-height ceilings within the living room area. Three separate heat pumps provide heating and cooling to the suite. "The biggest draw to Avenue has been the superior location, which has been key to the building's success and our ability to achieve in excess of 75 percent sold units, notwithstanding current economic conditions," says Duteau. "The location of Avenue is truly one of the last great remaining development sites in the West End." A LOCATION 1025 5th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta OWNER/DEVELOPER Grosvenor Americas ARCHITECTS James K.M. Cheng Architects Inc. / IBI Group Inc. GENERAL CONTRACTOR Cressey Development Group STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT MCW Consultants Ltd. BUILDING ENVELOPE CONSULTANT JRS Engineering Ltd. TOTAL SIZE 202,000 square feet TOTAL COST Undisclosed 10:39 AM 11:24 AM

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