Calgary,
23
September
2022
|
09:00
America/Denver

The City is launching second annual Winter City Design Competition

Chinook Blast 1 credit Travel Alberta Neil ZellerThe City of Calgary is launching its second annual Winter City Design Competition by inviting designers, artists and post-secondary students to imagine eye-catching and interactive displays along Stephen Avenue and in the Beltline. The City is encouraging contestants to dream of public spaces that create better social connections and enhance Calgarians and visitors sense of well-being in the midst of a Calgary winter.

“Calgary is a winter city and we should embrace that when we plan and create public spaces,” said Kate Zago, who is overseeing the competition for The City. “We want to see creative designs that will draw people downtown during the winter and get people to stop, socialize and connect with our downtown neighbourhoods.”

The theme for this year’s Winter City Design Competition is Winter Dreamscape. We are asking applicants to dream up activations, designs and experiments that will create vibrancy, better social connections, and increase overall social wellness. This could mean winter-friendly designs that enhance existing public spaces and parks, light up Stephen Avenue creatively, create opportunities for people to socialize, or act as multi-sensory way-finding in Calgary’s downtown.

Competition locations include:

·       Century Gardens (8 Avenue S.W. and 8 Street S.W.)

·       Barb Scott Park (12 Avenue S.W. and 9 Street S.W.)

·       Stephen Avenue and 2 Street S.W.

Three submissions will be selected to receive funding to build and install their designs at the competition locations downtown and will be on display for approximately four weeks in February 2023. This project is testing out ideas and experiments and measuring impacts to help inform the future of Calgary’s downtown.

Prospective applicants can visit calgary.ca/wintercity for full application and submission guidelines. Submission deadline is Oct. 20, 2022 at 12 p.m. MST.

The Winter City Design Competition is part of The City’s Future of Stephen Avenue Activate + Experiment project, to re-imagine Stephen Avenue from City Hall to Mewata Armoury.