Designed to be an exemplary educational facility and teaching tool, TELUS Spark integrates four themed pavilions: Life Sciences, Space Earth and Environment, Technology and Design, and Energy and Innovation. It hosts approximately half a million visitors a year and doubles the capacity of the previous facility while reducing energy use.
The high performance building envelope uses solar shading, natural light and has a solar ready roof. Featuring the reclamation of a previously contaminated site and high building standards, the facility is a living example of urban and environmental renewal through sustainable stewardship.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
- Size
- 145,300 sq ft
- Client
- Calgary Science Centre and Creative Kids Museum Society
- Completion
- 2011
- Sustainability LEED® Gold certified
- DIALOG Services
- Collaborators
Morrison Hershfield
Stantec
Stebnicki Engineering
Kasian
O2 Planning + Design
Architecture
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Sustainability + Building Performance Consulting
All of TELUS Spark’s key public components are linked by a large naturally lit ‘hub’ space, which is used off-hours for special functions.
TELUS Spark connects Alberta communities to a Virtual Science Centre via the SuperNet, and supports Alberta’s education system through the Renaissance Learning Centre.
The design concept integrates an overarching commitment to environmental sustainability. Regional building materials, compact massing, orientation, and solar shading are employed.
Fully integrated with the landscape, the project sensitively and respectfully engages the site and exemplifies an effective response to both environmental and site forces.
Spark is designed to be a flexible exhibit platform where the boundaries of inside and outside are blurred and the building takes on exciting, colourful forms.
TELUS Spark is LEED® Gold Certified, in keeping with the science centre’s core values. It aims to educate and inform its visitors on the importance of protecting the Earth.
TELUS Spark takes on new, colourful forms as exhibits come and go, and as day turns to night.
The building incorporates displacement ventilation and radiant panels to distribute fresh air and highly effective heating and cooling for visitor comfort.
The Team
Jennifer Martin, CEO, TELUS Spark“What people thought a science centre should be, we’re hoping to show you there’s a whole lot more.”
An early sketch shows the building in relation to the site from above.