From my experience, I would say 99% of the time, when you see a rendering of a building, its final version likely isn't actually that. Value engineering and other factors become very relevant once the design of a building progresses; clients want to save money in many ways, and usually, the original version is much more romanticized and idealistic than the (watered down) versions they usually end up being.
In Western Canada, and specifically Calgary, design has a very low priority in many clients and developers' minds. This has been the case for many years now, even as this city grows and has gone through huge economic and physical infrastructure growth spurts. However, I have noticed a shift starting to happen, even if it is only very much in its infancy stage.
The Telus Sky Tower is a great example of this shift. BIG's projects are pretty out-of-the-box if you've seen what they've done around the world (I LOVE their stuff), and no matter how this final version of the TST turns out I will be happy that such a well-known and innovative architect graced our city with one of his projects.
It will definitely set a standard for Calgary infrastructure, that's something you can be sure of.
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