Chinook Station
Calgary, Alberta
Photo Credit: GEC Architecture
CASE STUDY
Initial Research by: Desiree Theriault
Edited by: Samantha Miller & Nicole Brekelmans
Case study compiled in 2017
Project: Chinook Station
Type of Urban Strategy: Smart Cities
Type of Project: Recreational Plaza / Transportation
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Date Designed/Planned: 2013
Construction Completed: 2013
Designer: GEC Architecture
The Chinook Station responds to the City of Calgary’s need for transit-oriented development. The project aims to become a Major Activity Center that produces a high job population and density, creating a more vibrant and dynamic area for the Chinook Centre. The Chinook Station ensures a quality public realm that encourages walking and a unified community while providing opportunities for better mixed-use development, affordable residential building and bicycling and pedestrian trails.
The Chinook Station Area implements multiple strategies to improve the public realm of the Chinook Centre. These improvements include a more lively and easily accessible pedestrian experience on all streets by providing large sidewalks and plazas, implementing urban green spaces to increase visual appeal, a safer and more secure LRT corridor that utilizes trees and shrubs to create a more human scale, and local art installations to bring an identity and sense of place to the Chinook Centre.
The project designed by GEC Architecture in conjunction with the City of Calgary provides citizens with a glimpse into the economic, social, and cultural successes of a Transit Oriented Development area (LandUse, 2013).