St. Patrick's Bridge (Calgary) shortlist announced

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) and its 10 member advisory committee today announced the three design submissions selected to move forward to the next stage of the competition for the new St. Patrick’s Island pedestrian bridge in East Village. The bridge will link St. Patrick’s Island with East Village to the south and the Bow River pathway system to the north. It will provide improved linkages to many different nearby communities including East Village, Inglewood and Bridgeland, and when combined with the improved pedestrian and cyclist connectivity of the Fourth Street Underpass, will play an important role in improving sustainable transportation and recreational linkages throughout the east end of downtown and the Beltline.

The call for preliminary concepts attracted international attention. The finalists were chosen from 33 submissions received from around the world, and displayed a wide variety of ideas and concepts for consideration. The finalists are:

• Submission #7 by Buckland and Taylor Ltd. (Vancouver) and Kitchell – Architecture + Design (Victoria, BC)
• Submission #15 by ARUP with Falco Schmitt Architects (London, UK)
• Submission #29 by RFR (Paris, France) and Halsall (Calgary).

The advisory committee is comprised of community residents from East Village, Inglewood and Bridgeland, Calgary business leaders, architects, engineers and CMLC management. The group found the six-week process of determining a shortlist for CMLC’s Board of Directors quite engaging and challenging. Over 2000, public comments solicited through a website blog and three open house events, played an important role in informing the committee’s recommendation.

The next step in the selection process requires each team to advance its concept to the next level by January 29, 2010.