Telus Sky, Commercial office skyscraper in downtown Calgary, Canada
Telus Sky is a 222-meter-tall office tower in downtown Calgary with a rectangular base that tapers over 60 floors, creating balconies and terraces along the way. The building blends office space, residential apartments, and ground-level retail that connects to the city's Plus 15 elevated walkway system.
On 4 July 2013 Telus Corporation announced the $400-million tower, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and Dialog, with completion planned for 2017. The site at 7 Avenue and Centre Street SW had held a three-storey 1928 building housing Art Central, a hub of small artist galleries and studios, demolished in November 2014. Construction began in February 2015; because the lot was too small for excavators and ramps, a hydraulic crane with a clamshell bucket dug out 80,000 m³ of earth to a depth of 31 m. Delays pushed completion to 2019, when office tenants arrived in July and residential bookings opened for September.
The north and south facades carry "Northern Lights", a LED work by Canadian artist Douglas Coupland first previewed on 19 April 2019. It runs five 12-minute sequences each hour, always opening with an aurora borealis imitation; the other four rotate. A smartphone app explains what inspired the current pattern.
The Plus 15 pedway links into the tower at the second-floor level, where most of the 1,955 m² of retail space sits; the ground level also holds shops. Office floors and the 341 residential units above are private. The Northern Lights display on the north and south facades runs from sunrise to sunset, 365 days a year, in five 12-minute sequences per hour.
The excavation for the base had to be done with a hydraulic crane fitted with a clamshell bucket, because the site was too small for excavators or ramps; it removed 80,000 m3 of earth to a depth of 31 m. The north and south facades carry Douglas Coupland's "Northern Lights" LED work, which runs five 12-minute sequences each hour, always opening with an aurora borealis imitation.
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