4TH STREET SW UNDERPASS, MBAC
CANADA’S CALGARY EMBRACES DESIGN For the longest time, Calgary, Canada’s third-largest city, resisted the very notion of design. Then, as Santiago Calatrava was called in to build the Peace Bridge, things started to change. And firms such as the marc boutin architectural collaborative (MBAC) are now able to propose – and build – projects that would not have been considered 15 years ago. MARC BOUTIN ARCHITECTURAL COLLABORATIVE (MBAC)
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n 2015, Marc Boutin and his team were entrusted with an unusual task, that of revitalising an important urban passageway, the 4th Street SW Underpass. Internationally-known Artist Krzysztof Wodiczko joined the team as well as Boston-based studio INVIVIA. Four years later, long-time design champion and City Councilor, Druh Farrell, described the transformed infrastructure as “a place of delight and wonder”. MBAC has been at the forefront of Calgary’s recent transformation, with inspiring urban projects such as Memorial Drive, Poppy Plaza and C-Square. Today, with its towers designed by Foster and BIG, and with Snøhetta’s Central Library, Calgary may not yet be the country’s top design destination, but it is definitely worth a visit. FC&A – MAY – 2021
The context The underpass, a familiar feature of Western Canadian cities, is a modest yet essential type of urban infrastructure. Calgary’s core, very much shaped by the advent of the railway in the 1880s, is still cut in half by the major rail corridor, which separates the city’s downtown from the adjacent Beltline neighbourhood. From the south, access to the centre, for pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers, is only possible through the sunken ‘gateways’ of the underpasses. Although these underpasses were initially conceived as a mechanism for safe movement, they have ironically come to embody some of Calgary’s most uncomfortable public spaces. The two-block stretch of the 4th Street SW Underpass was no exception. 16
In 2010, when Calgary released its set of urban design guidelines for downtown underpasses, it identified this particular underpass as a priority project. Limited accessibility, poor lighting conditions, particularly at night and during the winter, pedestrian safety and overall deterioration called for a radical solution, one that would provide a safe, comfortable, and engaging public space.
The concept MBAC’s proposal for the 4th Street SW Underpass was founded on the notion of reclaiming a ‘space of removal’ and turning it into a ‘space for conversation.’ The design responded to a narrative they developed for this two-block long underpass, which goes under the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) rail corridor and 9th Avenue.
