CANADA | 2005 - 2008

CALGARY
COURTS
CENTRE
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CALGARY COURTS
CENTRE
Location
Floor Area

CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA

92,900 sm

With 73 courtrooms and 94 judicial chambers, the Calgary Courts Centre is currently
the largest court building in Canada. It houses
a consolidation of the Court of Queens Bench
and the Alberta Provincial Courts.
Set on a tight urban site, the buildings
extensive programmatic needs are addressed
through vertical development, in the form of
two glass and concrete towers joined by a monumental 26-storey glazed atrium. The 24-storey
north tower houses the Court of Queens Bench,
while the Alberta Provincial Courts occupy the
20-storey south tower.
NORRs role as the projects Associate Architect encompassed the design of the building
envelope and all interior public spaces. In both
contexts, the central atrium plays a major role.
Rising up through the complex, it floods space
with natural light and orchestrates a nexus of
circulation including 12 glass-enclosed elevators
that transport visitors to lobbies on a series of
bridges that connect the towers at all levels.
Structurally, the atrium is designed as a bridge.
It connects the two towers at multiple levels via
cross-braced horizontal truss members. This
allows the two independent towers to act as one
building. These shallow yet strong trusses also
create a rigid structure onto which the curtain
wall is hung.

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The atrium and building as a whole have been

extensively modelled to test for air-tightness.
This was a vital aspect of the design if the building were to operate efficiently in Calgarys legendary extremes of weather and meet Leadership in Energy Efficient Design (LEED) Silver
certification as mandated by the building owner.
Additionally, the walls in the two court towers
are super insulated and the windows are triple
glazed. Air movement within the double glazed
atrium is monitored and tempered to ensure
that condensation does not develop; at ground
level and on the bridges localized air conditioning warms or cools visitors.
The high thermal efficiency of the atriums
glazed curtain wall and the more solid tower
envelope has substantially reduced heating and
cooling requirements within the complex. This
has enabled the use of a lower capacity HVAC
system which greatly reduces capital costs
and operational costs associated with energy
requirements.
NORRs design work on the project has been
in association with principal architect Kasian
Architecture Interior Design and Planning;
design consultant Carlos Ott; and courthouse
consultant, Spillis Candela DMJM.

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