King Eddy Renewal - Cantos Music Foundation

[Bunk]

Thought I'd share this pretty cool project for the rejuvination of the King Eddy. It was purchased by the Cantos Music Foundation who is transforming it to house their amazing musical collection and expand into a national music centre. An international design competion was held, and there were 5 finalists - 1 from Canada, 3 US firms and 1 French firm. 3 are partnered with local firms.

All about the project - total $100 million budget including endowment - funding will be split roughly equally between Donation/Federal/Provincal/
http://cantos.ca/kingeddy/

Last night each of the finalists presented their concepts.

Which do you think should win. There are links to some great videos and text explaining each concept:

Pretty exciting for Calgary!

1. Allied Works with BKDI

Link to Video and Description:
http://cantos.ca/kingeddy/meet-the-a...i-the-concept/






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SPF Architects

Link to video and descrption:
http://cantos.ca/kingeddy/meet-the-a...a-the-concept/






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Ateliers Jean Nouvel Workshop

Link to video and description:
http://cantos.ca/kingeddy/meet-the-a...uvel-workshop/






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Saucier and Perrotte with GEC Architects

Link to video and description:
http://cantos.ca/kingeddy/meet-the-a...c-the-concept/





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Diller Scofidio + Renfro architects with Kasian

Link to video and description:
http://cantos.ca/kingeddy/meet-the-a...n-the-concept/





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[Table 5]

Some very high quality proposals. My initial feeling was the Nouvel would be the front runner however his proposal is a little soft on details, so it's hard to really make out the quality of the building (judging by his previous work, his use of materials is what truly makes his projects great).

At this stage Im leaning towards SPF though. They put together a very solid proposal that looks good, and makes sense.

The only one I feel is a bore is Allied, but then I haven't liked the work they did in NY, and feel like this one feels similar.

[Muta]

I was there last night, very exciting stuff. I also worked on one of the submissions, so I will abstain from any opinions on the pieces for now.

[Ozy_Flame]

I'm a personal fan of Kasian's work, simply because they have the most innovative idea for transforming the King Eddy. Gut the interior, keep the shell, and then insert a tilted box that will act as a concert hall. It's a great design, and the building is not likely to run into high cost overruns as the others might.

[Bigtime]

SPF is leading in my books, followed closely by S+P. I am intrigued by Nouvel's concept, but would like to see a lot more to get a real feel for it.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

SPF is leading in my books, followed closely by S+P. I am intrigued by Nouvel's concept, but would like to see a lot more to get a real feel for it.

Maybe it's because I wasn't there for the presentations or Ive seen way too many architecture student projects to count, but judging by the imagery, S+P's feels like an expected "cool architectural proposal", almost to the point that it's generic. I'm obviously not against it, but I'm not necessarily wowed by something like this at this point.

[Table 5]

I'd have to check my sources, but I believe the official Fag to Interchange Ratio is 1:5

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by fotze

A bunch of fag designs, think of how many interchanges out to distant neighborhoods we could buy for that money, I see nothing special about those designs.

Haha! You're right! What fools we are!

Edit: Table 5, hahahaha!

[Bunk]

I should note that if there's a video worth checking out, it's SPF's. It's about 15 minutes and you get a really good description of the thinking behind the concept. Great stuff. The others have shorter videos - I think they relied more on the actual presentation itself to get across their ideas. I have a particularly hard time wrapping my head around Nouvel's proposal, although I hear from those that were there that it was quite compelling when explained.

[algernon]

HAHA, Well done!

I'm gonna go 'fag it up' at some function before the F(ag)olkFest now.

I like the AJN proposal, as I could see that from my house.

[octothorp]

Yeah, I was a little disappointed with Nouvel's originally, but it sounds like there are a lot of cool things in the concept that don't come across in the rendering. Similarly, the renderings of the DS+R one don't really show how their glazing is going to work; I can't imagine that it would be as transparent as the renderings look. I like the form of it though. SPF is probably my favorite, though.

[liamenator]

SPF is the most intriguing of the bunch based on whats online. The only thing with that design that would make me nervous is that the cacophony of the soundscape might be something that looks great on paper, but in actuality would be a nightmare.

That was the one thing about the Allied proposal I really liked, how they stressed the contrast between sound/silence as a major component of the experience.

I'd be really interested in hearing more about Nouvel's proposal though, I agree it is really tough to get a sense of the project from what's on the website.

[Cowboy89]

I'm kinda excited about what that street is going to look like with this development, the interchange to connect it to Olympic Way, and the new Stampede explansion plans on that street. Could be a nice place to live with a lot to do in 5-10 years.

[M. Szyslak]

Why don't we just get McIver to sketch something on a napkin?

Seriously though, SPF strikes me the most. Nouvel is a bit disappointing. I was hoping an architect of his calibre would blow it out of the water. That said, I will be thrilled to have any one of the 5.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I'm a personal fan of Kasian's work, simply because they have the most innovative idea for transforming the King Eddy. Gut the interior, keep the shell, and then insert a tilted box that will act as a concert hall.

Yeah, I really like that too. Not a fan of their other building though. Looks like a juice box someone stepped on.

I like SPF, don't like S+P, actually quite like Allied Work's treatment of the original King Eddy but the instrument building concept seems a bit too novelty-ish. I like that Nouvel gives us a tower (with the same budget as everyone else), but why not put the tower on the other block instead of directly on top of the King Eddy? The tower dominates the original facade, they're not balanced at all the way they would need to be to make something like this work. Almost might as well knock it down if they go that route.

[Table 5]

I'm not sure the building has to be "balanced" with the Eddy. As much as the Eddy is an institution, it's honestly not really visually interesting enough where you would want it to take a giant chunk of attention from such a large project. Besides, if you're getting world-class architects with modern tendencies, youre not there ho have them create some fake historicist look to match the Eddy.

In all honesty, I wish the project would have taken place on a blank piece of land, and they had just let the Eddy be, however now that this is the case, I am totally OK with minimizing it's presence.

[MRCboicgy]

They all look fine, i kinda like the piano top one

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I'm not sure the building has to be "balanced" with the Eddy. As much as the Eddy is an institution, it's honestly not really visually interesting enough where you would want it to take a giant chunk of attention from such a large project. Besides, if you're getting world-class architects with modern tendencies, youre not there ho have them create some fake historicist look to match the Eddy.

In all honesty, I wish the project would have taken place on a blank piece of land, and they had just let the Eddy be, however now that this is the case, I am totally OK with minimizing it's presence.

Fair enough, I just think it looks "wrong" at the bottom of Nouvel's Piano Top Tower. I don't think leaving the King Eddy in place takes away from any of the other designs, but Nouvel's I think would be better if they just demolished it.

[redforever]

This isn't a comment about the future Cantos builiding, but about the Cantos Music society itself.

Have any of you been to any of their free productions? The talent is phenomenal.

Every summer for the months of July and August, since the Carthy organ was installed in the Jack Singer, they have free noon hour productions Tuesday, noon to 1 pm. Just show up at the Jack Singer Concert Hall, when they open the doors, you just go in and choose a seat. It is called Cantos A La Carte. This year, there are around 4 of these free productions at the Jack Singer Recital Hall. If you want to make a donation you can, but you dont have to.

And during the rest of the year, they have free productions on some Tuesday and Thursday noon hours, not every week. These are not at the Jack Singer Hall, but in the building the Cantos Music Society is presently in. Again, just show up and take a seat and if you want to make a donation, you can, but don't have to. Performances are usually on the second floor.

They alternate between displaying the talents from the Mount Royal Music Conservatory and the students enrolled in the U of C Music programs. No matter which you go to, you will be blown away by the talent displayed.

They also have some Sundays where they show silent movies from a long time ago, some small admission is required to go to them and they sell out in a hurry.

And then you can go through their building on a tour, small admission, and see their collection of musical instruments, totally amazing what they all have there. Some of the instruments are quite rare. And then they have things like Elton John's white piano.

Presently the Cantos Music Society is housed in a building on 10 ave, just one block south of the Fording building, very easy to walk to from downtown.

You can be placed on their mailing list and then you will get updates on who is performing and when.

[SebC]

Bump... the bridge thread reminded me about this one:

Allied Works / BKDI is the winner. Not a big fan.