The Greenest Building is the One Already Built
The Greenest Building is the One Already Built
The Greenest Building is the One That is Already Built
– Architect Carl Elefante
The celebration of Earth Day is a reminder of how being adaptive, restorative and taking actions of daily stewardship can have positive benefits for the planet. Join us in celebrating our community champions, restoration efforts by our friendly neighbourhood stonemason, and ongoing sustainability efforts.
For cSPACE, the adaptive reuse of historic buildings is a critical aspect of retaining the heritage value that shapes the character and evolution of a city. Yet, reuse also allows us to diminish the negative environmental impacts of our built environment. Even the most sustainable building makes an impact through its lifecycle, and the one already built is often worth saving and reimagining new use.
For King Edward School, it’s incredible to remember that the building was constructed with local sandstone from a nearby quarry over a hundred years ago. The embodied energy used for construction and daily operations tallies a century. Now with renewable energy generation, efficient mechanical systems, LED lighting and unique sustainable features – our adaptive transformation of King Edward into a dynamic creative hub will carry on efficiently for decades to come.
These complex heritage revitalization efforts are not a job to be undertaken alone. Stewardship of heritage needs champions and requires collective and ongoing community effort. While we celebrate our LEED Gold certification and the cultural activations of our creatives, we must also acknowledge Calgarians supporting these places through their dedication and patronage. Please take a moment to read some of their stories below.
Today, we are ecstatic to celebrate the support of the Galvin Family Fund Foundation. The Galvins are a three-generation philanthropic family known for their love of community and their generous gift made our recent restoration efforts possible. They are active within the cSPACE community; attending events, taking classes from our artists, and celebrating creative enterprise and community-building on an ongoing basis. As a member of the Calgary Foundation philanthropic community, you can read more about their history here.
Over time, heritage buildings need to be loved and cared for. Please enjoy this article on our favourite stonemason, Matt Bodner, who shares techniques and tricks of historic restoration. This work substantiates our commitment to maintaining the historic King Edward School’s legacy as a prominent landmark in South Calgary, and as a unique cultural tourism asset for the city.
The Contemporary Stonemason: Old Traditions, Modern Tools
Along with our government funders at the Province of Alberta and Canadian Heritage, we are grateful to the City of Calgary for their continued support through the Heritage Incentive Reserve. This grant supported our recent conservation work and demonstrates the dedication of the City to preserving these historic buildings for generations to come.
Interested in learning more about the value that preserving heritage brings to our communities and city? Heritage Inspires YYC includes information about public policies and historical profiles of Calgary communities. It also features examples of some of the city’s transformed historic buildings!
For more about the history of the old King Edward School BC (Before cSPACE) please enjoy this article written by Calgary’s favourite historian and Historian Laureate, Harry Sanders.
