Calgary’s 9th Avenue Parkade was initially built to house 510 cars — but with the rise of remote work, it's been transformed into a sleek hub for tech start-ups, kids playing basketball and more. How architects built a timeless space:
to stand the test of time, but Calgary’s 9th Avenue Parkade was always headed for a reno. Initially, at least, the seven-storey complex—which opened last year—was built to fill a dire need for parking in Calgary’s East Village, home to the city’s National Music Centre and its busy Central Library.
The contract for the aluminum-clad convertible garage was awarded to the tag-team of Calgary-based firm Kasian and Winnipeg’s 5468796 Architecture. Sasa Radulovic, co-founder of 5468796, says that a future metamorphosis was always factored into the parkade’s layout. “We had to weigh all design decisions, not only against the current use, but against any other uses we could imagine,” Radulovic says.
The steep slopes of a typical parking garage make adaptations difficult, but the Calgary parkade’s gently ascending corkscrew shape means each floor can be flattened without a full-blown demolition. A ground-floor courtyard spans the length of the building, giving it a top-to-bottom openness that lets in plenty of sunlight. It lends itself nicely to Radulovic’s vision for the project: a “Cathedral of Cars.