Whether you’re running along the river, walking from Kensington downtown or driving on Memorial Drive, Calgary’s award-winning Poppy Plaza gives you pause, which is exactly what it was designed to do.
The striking public space at the intersection of Memorial Drive and 10th Street, designed entirely by alumni from the Faculty of Environmental Design, combines metal sculpture, innovative lighting, powerful words and a wooden boardwalk to help connect us to men and women lost in combat over the decades.
“There was a directive to commemorate the memory, commitment and sacrifice that’s associated with conflict abroad,” says Marc Boutin, professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design and principal at The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative Inc. “But at the same time, pubic space needs to be inclusive and needs to be part of the citizens of Calgary’s everyday life.”
Along with winning the hearts of Calgarians, Poppy Plaza has won the Canadian Architect Award of Merit and the City of Calgary’s Mayor’s Urban Design Award. The alumni behind it are: Boutin, MA’01; Mike DeBoer, BGS’03, MArch’06; Jerry Hacker, MArch’05; Sean Knight, BGS’05, MArch’08; Tony Leong, BA’91, MArch’99; Mauricio Rosa, MArch’13; Kristin St. Arnault, MArch’07; and Nick Standeven, MArch’09.
The space “sutures” together the pedestrian feel of Kensington, the river pathway — “one of the great public space amenities in Calgary” — and tree-lined Memorial Drive, the city’s original commemoration to the fallen soldiers of the First World War.
“Good public design should be the basis of discovery,” says Boutin, “so it was structured to be discovered over time.” There is a lot to read in Poppy Plaza. From In Flanders Fields, excerpts from other poems and speeches, to the simple expression of “memorial” and “solace,” Boutin’s group chose carefully from a variety of sources and with the help of the Calgary regiments.
“We have voices from key politicians speaking about peace, commitment and sacrifice, voices of soldiers who were in action and who were longing for the loved ones at home and voices of people who were left behind and talk of longing and loyalty and commitment.”
Just days after the ceremony opening the plaza on the Bow last June, it was threatened by the floodwaters that brought out the worst of the river and best of the community. “You had complete strangers helping other people just because of the impact that kind of catastrophe has,” says Boutin. “Everyday people were out there during the flood saving something that is a symbol of how others in the past have come to the aid of others.”
Boutin sees that spirit of community between former and current students at EVDS as well. “We are a bit of a bridge.” And with Poppy Plaza, they’ve built a bridge between the past and the present to create “a space that is physical in nature but is really spiritual in its worth.”
Image of Marc Boutin, professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design and principal at The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative Inc., looks out over Poppy Plaza, located at the intersection of Memorial Drive and 10th Street in downtown Calgary.
Photos by Riley Brandt. Article by By Jennifer Allford.