Eighth Avenue Place is a twin-tower building complex located in

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. The complex includes a 49-storey East tower, 40-storey West office tower, and a three-storey indoor

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

. The complex is housed on the site of the former Penny Lane Mall, originally intending to keep the historic name as "Penny Lane Towers", the project has since been renamed.

Construction

Demolition of the old mall was completed in September 2007. Excavation of the parkade below the building commenced in December 2007 and construction of the 49-storey east tower, and the parkade begun in Summer 2008. Eighth Avenue Place East was completed in 2011 and is currently the fifth-tallest building in Calgary. Eighth Avenue Place West was completed later in 2014.

Design

The structures, designed by Gibbs Gage Architects to have a

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

theme, with a western facing pale-green glass wall mimicking mountain waters and

glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

. The remainder of the building adopts a dark gray-layered appearance representing the shifting

tectonic plates Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

that built the mountains. The complex connects to the

Plus 15 The Plus 15 or +15 is a Skyway network in Calgary, Alberta. It is the world's most extensive pedestrian skywalk system, with a total length of 16 kilometres (10 miles) and 86 bridges connecting 130 buildings as of 2022. Calgary often has seve ...

skywalk system, and contains a six-level underground parkade with 1,141 parking stalls. The buildings also feature landscaped terraces and plazas, a

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

, and an atrium

winter garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...

. Eighth Avenue Place would win the 2018 BOMA Canada Earth Award for excellence in resource preservation and environmentally sound commercial building management for the Office Building class.

Penny Lane Mall controversy

Prior to construction, concerns had been raised over the destruction of the 94-year-old Penny Lane Mall; however, the City of Calgary approved the project in March 2006.

Sustainability

Eighth Avenue Place has been certified

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

Platinum for Core and Shell.

Gallery

Image:EighthAvePlaceJune09.JPG, Eighth Avenue Place under construction in June 2009 File:Penny Lane Towers construction.JPG, Construction in April 2010 File:EAP-lower-east.jpg, Completed lower retail floors on east side File:EAP-lobby-south.jpg, Looking south in the lobby File:EAP-lobby-sw.jpg, Looking southwest in the three-storey lobby File:EAP-eighth-ave-frontage.jpg, Lower retail frontage as seen from Stephen Avenue Image:EAP-east-facade.jpg, Substantial completion of the East tower, April 2011

References

External links

Eighth Avenue Place Website

Eighth Avenue Place at EllisDon.com
* * {{Calgary landmarks Buildings and structures in Calgary Skyscraper office buildings in Calgary Twin towers