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OCTOBER 2017 | 63 cSPACE King Edward RENDERING COURTESY NFWBA LTD. cSPACE King Edward by ROBIN BRUNET T he cSPACE King Edward project in the Marda Loop area of Southwest Calgary could be viewed as the ideal marriage between two elements: the arts community, which traditionally in Canada is always challenged to find affordable workspace, and a historic sandstone school that had, up until the nuptials, been boarded up since 2001. The project is being marketed as a playground for creativity, community and collaboration; an innovative co-working facility for Calgary's creative set. As a structure, the west wing that has been re-grafted to the original building and the interior character has been restored but erased (the woodwork, slate staircases, and chalkboards proudly exhibit the wear from more than a century of activity). A glass-encased addition adorns the west end of the former school and contains a 125-seat theatre and rehearsal space, among other elements. The first floor hallway is inset with two LED-lit glass panels, underneath which lies an original boiler door and a time capsule created by cSPACE's 31 tenants and past alumni of the school. The south side of the building features a public park with art cubes, as well as a landscape design from O2 Planning + Design that mimics King Edward's tartan. Reid Henry, president and CEO of cSPACE Projects, the social enterprise real estate company that revived King Edward, says, "Talk of this type of project goes back 10 years, and our partners, the Calgary Foundation and the Calgary Arts Development Authority, provided the initial funding to acquire the property. After master planning the site, we searched for residential development partners and ultimately found them for the purpose of creating a new type of urban precinct. Our partners are delivering active seniors living housing as well as the 19-unit luxury flats of The Residences of King Edward by Rockwood Custom Homes." In 2014, cSPACE retained Nyhoff Architecture to preside over the $33.8-million King Edward project, and principal Kevin Nyhoff in turn formed a joint venture with FWBA Architects of Lethbridge, NFWBA Ltd., for project support. "The idea of the school renovation was to keep the original floor layout and create a great envelope, and fortunately the structure was in great shape," says Henry. Nyhoff likens the restoration to "peeling off the layers of an onion." That's because the original 19 classroom school and two cupolas had received what he describes as "two unsympathetic additions" undertaken in 1956 and 1967, which radically affected the building's original appearance. Also, the school's original west wing was demolished in 1978, with the sandstone saved in the process and used to rebuild the adjoining outside wall. Nyhoff says, "We re-established the west wing with a new 6,500-square- foot addition, which re-establishes the school's original massing and form." Instead of attempting to mimic the sandstone structure, the new glass- enclosed wing "was inspired by the school's slate roof, chalkboards and stair treads, and exhibits a charcoal ribbon that is both self expressive and complementary to the original structure." The western facing exterior sandstone wall became the interior wall of the new addition, and the roof of the wing was designed to extend over the existing school roof. The interior walls of the school were originally designed to facilitate air movement, but Nyhoff says, "We had to close them to meet modern fire separations. We also installed a skylight below one of the cupolas so people could look up and appreciate the beautiful wood construction of the cupola." As for restoring the interior elements, Nyhoff says, "We intentionally left the patina on the woodwork, with all the dings, the scrapes and smells, in order to celebrate the age and legacy of this building – something that is a unique and rare opportunity in Calgary." To which Henry adds, "the only disappointing aspect of the restoration was that the original hardwood flooring had been replaced by vinyl in the 1950s, so we replaced that with new flooring tile." LOCATION 1721 29th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta OWNER/DEVELOPER cSPACE Projects ARCHITECT NFWBA Ltd. (Nyhoff Architecture and FWBA Architects) CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Clark Builders STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT RJC Engineers MECHANICAL CONSULTANT The HiDi Group ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT SMP Engineering AUDIO VISUAL CONSULTANT Engineering Harmonics Inc. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT O2 Planning + Design TOTAL SIZE 47,500 square feet TOTAL COST $33.8 million

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