The Bow, Calgary

Featured November 2013

The Bow was originally featured as a case study in CTBUH Journal 2013 Issue III, available as a PDF
download. The Bow was recognized as the "Best Tall Building Americas" in the 2013 CTBUH Awards
Program.

Other Featured Tall Buildings

“The Bow’s passive approach to solar control and ventilation are implicit in its form,
supported by an interesting structural system that is legible on the building’s exterior.”
- Jeanne Gang, Jury Chair, Studio Gang Architects

Location
Calgary
Completion
2012
Height
238 m (779 ft)
Stories
57
Primary Use
Office

Owner
H+R Reit
Developer
Matthews Southwest
Design Architect
Foster + Partners
Architect of Record
Zeidler Partnership Architects
Structural Engineer
Halcrow Yolles
MEP
Cosentini
Contractor
Ledcor Construction Ltd.
Acoustics
Cerami Associates
Energy Concept
Transsolar
Wind
RWDI
Vertical Transportation
Otis Elevator Company

The Bow is both stunning as a form and functions well from an environmental and urban standpoint,
especially in the context of a harsh northern climate. It serves as a rare example of an iconic design
resulting from the most practical, yet creative, response to site constraints. The resolution of wind
loading, light access, thermal comfort, and public space objectives has resulted in a solution that
embodies synthesis but bears no hint of compromise.

A city known for dramatic weather changes is now graced with an elegant, glass-sheathed, year-
round building that provides ample opportunities for occupants and the public to interface amid
greenery and gracious views. The conventional design response to these conditions might have
been to seal off the interior and adopt a “bunker-in-the-sky” mentality. But at The Bow, every design
move does double or triple duty – the atrium, for example, is a living lung that also increases social
serendipity – proving that a well-designed building can be efficient, beautiful, and generous all at
once.

A Tall Order In 2005, Foster + Partners were selected to design new headquarters for Encana Corporation,
a North American energy giant based in Calgary. With its employees formerly housed in a number of
buildings around the city, Encana needed a landmark building that would bring its staff together and, in
providing a superb working environment, help the company to attract and retain the most talented people.
Their vision translated into a brief for almost 186,000 square meters of office accommodation, along with
abundant retail and public space.

The client and local planning authorities envisaged

the building as a major presence: The first
spectacular marker in a masterplan to develop a new
zone of the city, it was also expected to meet city
policy goals for sustainable development.

Above all, the building would be a commercial

headquarters for several thousand staff. As well as
requiring space for a great many people, Encana had
a particular way of dividing up their teams which
would need to be reflected very precisely in the
design of the building. The budget was strict, the
schedule was demanding and there were real
obstacles to overcome, including planning restrictions
affecting the height of the building. But for the design
team, this was an opportunity to design a new star in
the world’s high-rise firmament.

Figure 1. The Bow, Calgary.

The City

The province of Alberta, where Calgary is located, is epic in the scale of its landscape, agriculture, and
mineral reserves. From its first settlement in 1875 and its history of pre-eminence in the cattle trade, Calgary
has grown into one of Canada’s largest cities and is a magnet for big business, particularly the global energy
industry. It is “an optimistic city, a city on the rise,” as Mayor Naheed Nenshi described it during the Bow’s
opening ceremony – an exciting place into which to introduce an iconic tower.

The city is surrounded by wide-open spaces, so that The Bow announces itself dramatically, from far away,
and from many vantage points (see Figure 1). It sits at the confluence of the rivers Bow and Elbow. The
great prairies roll eastwards and, stretching out toward the snowy caps of the Rockies to the west, is Banff
National Park. The views from within the building are magnificent on every side (see Figure 2).

The climate is dry, with the highest number of sunny days in Canada. The summers are pleasant, while
winter temperatures plummet far below freezing, occasionally rocketing upwards when the warm Chinook
wind arrives. Alberta is a place of strong winds, and Calgary boasts a wind-powered rapid transit system. A
leader among Canadian cities for energy efficiency, it has set out a sustainable development plan for a
whole century, and was the first Canadian city to impose a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) certification policy on all public buildings.
Figure 2. The Leadenhall’s design concept responded to the existing historic structures

The Site

The Bow is an important catalyst for renewal, and forms the first phase of a masterplan covering two city
blocks on the east side of Centre Street, a major axis through downtown Calgary, south of the Bow River. A
new quarter, the East Village, will be developed nearby, extending from the downtown district into a
neglected area that was once, before its decline, the center of Calgary.
 Design Process

Early in the design process, the client visited London

for a two-week workshop. During this time, the
design team created a shared ”working studio”
dedicated to the project, with daily design reviews
from Lord Foster, the architects’ design board, and
the client team. By the end of the period, the team
had worked through hundreds of potential layouts
and had agreed a concept to take forward. The
collaborative approach continued throughout, with
regular meetings held in Toronto, Calgary, and
London.

The curved shape of the building was chosen

because it made best use of the site area, provided
the most perimeter accommodation and created a
well protected outside public space within the arc’s
south-facing embrace (see Figure 3). It also shed
wind load far better than an equivalent-sized
rectangular building, reducing stress on the structure.

The team explored six alternative themes for the

main structural configuration for the tower. Along with
internal diagrams, they looked at a perimeter tube
system and at a number of different diagrid patterns.
The most efficient diagram was provided by a hybrid
solution, which is described in the section on
structure.

The design had to marry together both an “outside-

in” approach, adapting the design to reflect external
inputs such as wind, sun, site, and views, and an
“inside-out” approach, aligning itself to the demands
arising from the way its future occupants organized
their workforce. Thanks to “dimension-driven design”
(DDD) software, the architects and engineers were
able to consider numerous options for the floor plate,
and eventually came up with solutions that met both
sets of requirements.
Figure 3. Typical section

The sale of the development in 2007 to Canadian real estate trust H&R REIT did not affect Encana’s
planned occupancy of the Bow. However, an adjustment to the arrangement of space did occur in 2009
when Encana set about dividing its natural gas and oil businesses into two independent firms. Encana
became a “pure-play” natural gas company, while Cenovus emerged as a leading integrated oil company.
Despite these changes, the client body supported a sustainable, civic approach throughout the design. The
Bow now accommodates both companies together, with the building divided between them vertically:
Cenovus is on the third through 28th floors, while Encana occupies the 29th through 55th floors.
 Building Organization

Encana and Cenovus generally work in divisions of

around 200 people, with each division housed over
three floors. Each floor plate of the Bow is sized to
accommodate a business unit of 70 people in each
division. The companies’ organizational structure
was fundamental to the way the building was
conceived: hence the decision to divide it vertically
into multiples of six floors, within three segments
overall. Above grade, the lowest segment has 24
levels, the middle segment 18 levels, and the top 12.
The total number of stories is 57, with the two top
floors reserved for services.

The entrance to the Bow is from the south-facing

plaza. Visitors approaching from the plaza can gaze
up through the atrium. Inside the entrance, a six-
story lobby contains reception, elevators, and
escalators leading to the public Level 2. At this level,
along with shops and cafés, there is access from two
points to the Plus 15 Network, Calgary’s weather-
defying enclosed network of pedestrian walkways,
which covers over 14.4 kilometers of the city. The
Bow completes this vital pedestrian link, while a third
pedestrian connecting point from the building to a
future development south of 6th Avenue is also
Figure 4. South entrance and atrium. planned.

The key to efficient movement around the building is the elevator system. Express elevators take staff to
lobbies at Levels 24 and 42, at each of which are two floors of restaurants, meeting, and recreational
spaces, linked by a generous staircase. All of this is set in and around the building’s signature sky gardens.
It is from these stunning atria spaces – which encourage more communication between business units than
elevators to each level would allow – that local lifts take people to their own floors, within their segment of
the building.

Four stories of offices look out to each of the six-story-high sky gardens. All office floors have corridors
running between the north and south façades, with rooms to either side. With translucent partitions and
frameless doors, even the internal corridors have natural light. At the very top of the tower, under a glazed
roof, is a raked auditorium and conference room.
Figure 5. Sky garden.

Sky Gardens

While the clients wanted cellular offices, they also wished for an environment that would actively encourage
sociability and interaction – an element in the design that would get people to come out of their rooms and
congregate naturally. The sky gardens fulfilled this role perfectly, and developed further an idea of “gardens
in the sky” the architects had initiated during their Commerzbank project in Frankfurt some 20 years earlier.
The sky gardens in the Bow are each six stories high (see Figure 7). They are filled with fresh air, light,
plants, and mature trees. Like many aspects of the building, the gardens fulfil several functions through the
execution of a single idea. With the bottom floor of each sky garden reaching out into the main atrium, they
divide the tower into its three vertical segments. These gardens literally make the building more green, and
are in effect its “lungs.” They channel movement around the building in the most efficient way, act as social
spaces and enhance interior and exterior aesthetics.

These sky gardens are thus part of daily life in the

building; as employees routinely cross them as they
change from express to local elevators. Since people
must pass through them at least twice a day, the sky
gardens become a natural stopping place for
meeting, refreshment, and time out.

Public Space

The Bow is a focus for future development on the

east side of Calgary. Beginning this process, it
contains a highly permeable public level with a lively
new hub of shops, restaurants, and cafés. At the
base, the building’s arc hugs a beautiful south-facing
plaza, sheltered from the prevailing winds and
warmed by sunshine, triangular entrance canopies
beckon visitors inside. Thanks to a collaborative
approach between client, design team, and city, this
public space establishes a civic presence and
features a large contemporary sculpture; a wireframe
head by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa (see Figure
8).
Figure 6. The Leadenhall – typical section

The public realm around the Bow extends beyond this main plaza, and provides a connection between
James Short Park to the northwest and Olympic Plaza to the southeast. To the northwest of the site, there is
another small plaza (with a second sculpture by Plensa).This sits diagonally across from James Short Park,
from which one is guided into and through the lobby of the Bow, and then out through the front entrance into
the main plaza.

Structure

The curved shape of the Bow made the best possible use of the site and provides the client with the highest
number of perimeter offices. In addition, strategically orienting the building on the site measurably reduced
both the wind load on the building and the demands on the structure. However, determining the most
effective lateral load-resisting structure to stabilize this large building took careful research and analysis.

The architects and engineers looked at a variety of internal and perimeter systems, including perimeter
tubes of closely spaced columns and beams, a few large mega-braced diagonals, diagrids of numerous
interlaced diagonals, and hybrid solutions combining different elements. As the engineers explored the
options, the architects investigated the potential of each one, seeking the ideal balance of structural
efficiency while supporting interior organization and aesthetics (see Figure 9).

Figure 7. Structural expressions of perimeter systems.

The Bow is the first building in North America where any version of a diagrid system has been applied to a
curved tall building design. However, it became clear that The Bow, which has faces with a variety of
different curvatures (including very tight curvature at the “fingertips” that cap the short dimension of the floor
plate) demanded an approach incorporating both diagrid and orthogonal tube systems. The solution was a
hybrid diagrid perimeter system, in which the tower is braced by three separate diagrid faces (see Figure
10), which, when laced together by other connecting elements, form a highly efficient closed-perimeter
structure.

On the curved northeast and northwest sides of the perimeter are the primary truss diagrid tube frames –
six-story-high bays comprised of both diagonal braces (to resist the wind loads) and vertical columns (to
carry the high gravity forces). To the north, at the main core, is a braced tubular frame that couples the
northeast and northwest primary diagrid frames. These braced faces connect through the core with a series
of secondary braced frames that lock the structure in place, between the elevators and the north stairs (see
Figure 11).

On the south side is the atrium wall diagrid. This is a similar six-story diagonal grid, but it lacks vertical
columns, dramatically spanning the outer face of the atrium. It is connected to the floors of the building by
drag struts at each end. Stretching from the “fingertips” to either side of the atrium wall is a series of rigid-
tube moment frames that couple the three primary diagrid frames to each other. The atrium diagrid is made
up of elegant triangular sections to minimize the visual impact of the framing when viewed from the interior.
Figure 8. Exploded view of lateral load resisting structure.

The atrium wall presented a particular challenge because of the strong curvature of the floor plate on its
south face. The engineers proposed slightly flattening the primary atrium wall diagrid, so that it would take a
shortcut across the south face, and thus close the system with maximum strength. This not only solved the
difficulties of the tight curvature, but was also the gesture that formed the atrium void: where the building
curves inwards, the glazed façade is pulled forward. Tied back only every six stories, the atrium is a
stunning feature of the building.

Marrying the external structure with the required internal accommodation presented a major issue. Most
North American companies, including Encana and Cenovus, require individual office spaces of
approximately 3 by 4.5 meters. In addition, the way the companies organize their teams made it logical to
divide the levels of the building into multiples of three and six. So it is not by chance that the diagrid pattern
repeats every six stories, with the structural meeting points of those pieces of steel – the nodes – occurring
at six-story intervals. Together with Yolles, Foster + Partners’ in-house Specialist Modeling Group found a
way to resolve the complex geometry of the diagrid and its nodes, and their relationship with the curtain wall,
so that they would correspond with the 3-by-4.5-meter office spaces inside the building, and groups working
together across three stories.

While slightly steeper than the optimum structural solution, the chosen angle of the diagonal allows for the
internal layout of the offices to be standardized, while also greatly increasing the repetition in the curtain-wall
panels. This significantly reduced both cost and construction complexity. However, because of the geometry
of the triangular elements, the structural nodes would only line up exactly with the addition of small wedge-
shaped sections on the interior face. This beautifully resolved detail allowed the exterior cladding to node out
perfectly. It is this kind of engineering precision that led Bill Christensen, Senior Project Manager for
Matthews Southwest to say, “Compared to typical North American office tower construction, The Bow is built
like a Swiss watch.”

The height restriction imposed by the planners impacted not only the form of the building, but its structure as
well – particularly the gravity-load carrying system. Interior columns were added to the floor plate so that
beam depths could be restricted to a maximum of 460 millimeters. The floors were constructed of reinforced
concrete on composite steel decks with structural steel framing. This system minimized the size of the
columns and the depth of the foundations. It also increased the speed of construction and suited the labor
capacity of the local concrete formwork industry.

In summary, The Bow’s structural system is both beautiful in its articulation and highly effective, as it
reduced both the overall weight of the steel that would normally be needed to support a building of this size,
and the number and size of columns required.

Figure 9. The top of the atrium – looking up.

Sustainability

Sustainability is built into The Bow in every way possible, from its form and its structure down to details.
A raised floor system allows optimum control over the heating of the building and adds considerably to its
efficiency, enhanced by localized climate control.

The south side of The Bow curves toward the sun. This creates a warm enclosure for the plaza and makes
the most of daylight. The tower presents its narrowest profiles to the northwest and southeast, deflecting
strong prevailing winds from those directions and minimizing the structural loading. Wind resistance is
inherent in its orientation and plan, with its curves directed to shed wind loads efficiently. By any standard,
The Bow incorporates a large amount of steel. But its aerodynamic design, along with its efficient lateral
load-resisting structural system, reduced the amount of steel needed to support it by 30% over a
conventional structure.

While the full-height southwest-facing atrium wall is one of the building's most spectacular features – indeed,
it is the largest architecturally exposed structural steel wall of its kind in the world – it actually employs the
minimum possible amount of heavy materials. The atria provide an opportunity for several sustainable
strategies that help reduce energy consumption. These spaces act as climatic buffer zones, insulating the
building and helping to reduce energy consumption by approximately 30%. Excess heat from the office
floors is channeled into the atria, while at the same time the sun’s energy (given the atrium’s orientation) is
harnessed. The atrium spaces act as a buffer zone between offices adjacent to the atrium and the exterior
atrium glass wall, dramatically reducing energy consumption and the need for heating/cooling by exhausting
heat upwards in summer and trapping heat in winter. Offices adjacent to the atrium have the ability to open
windows into the atrium during the mild seasons. In winter, it gathers sunlight to augment the building’s
heating systems (see Figure 12). In addition, the sky gardens, which touch the atrium wall at three points,
encourage natural ventilation, bring oxygen-producing plants on a grand scale into the building, and save
energy. Thus, the various sustainable strategies work together complimentarily.

Above all, the Bow represents a completely integrated approach to architecture and engineering that makes
the building innately responsive to environmental conditions: it embraces sunlight, resists solar gain, deflects
wind, collects warm air as it is needed, and funnels out warm air when it is not.
Figure 10. The Bow in the skyline of Calgary

Conclusion

The Bow was commissioned in December 2005, with a groundbreaking ceremony on June 18, 2007. It was
completed in late 2012 with 3,000 staff moving into the building by January, and fully occupied when the
official opening events took place in June 2013.

For the client, the project has delivered an exceptional workplace, with active social spaces and a high
degree of flexibility and energy efficiency. Staff feedback is already extremely positive.

The tower appears effortlessly resolved. But its creation involved new and ingenious solutions on the part of
many participants.

Related Links
CTBUH Skyscraper Center Profile:
The Bow

The Bow was recognized as the Best Tall Building Americas Award Winner in the 2013 CTBUH Awards
Program.

CTBUH Journal 2013 Issue III:

Download the Paper

The CTBUH would like to thank Foster + Partners and Yolles for their assistance with this article.
Photography © Nigel Young / Foster + Partners, Yolles