A Placemaking Journal

The City of Calgary retained PlaceMakers (operating, at the time, as T-Six Urbanists) to facilitate a multi-day onsite public design charrette and prepare a Station Area Master Plan for the Heritage LRT station. With the emergence of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) practices over the past decade, the City of Calgary adopted TOD guidelines in 2004 triggering redevelopment interest around a number of the City’s existing LRT stations. The Heritage TOD planning process was prompted after a Calgary Transit decision to move their Victoria Park transit offices into the underutilized Heritage Station site along the south LRT line.

 
It was recognized early on that simply placing an office building amongst a sea of parking was not in line with current best practices and that, in fact, this was an opportunity to act as a catalyst to the redevelopment of the entire site in accordance with TOD principles. An intensive charrette process resulted in both a progressive public design process and an innovative design for the station and surrounding area. The Master Plan is based on the base program established by Calgary Transit, Calgary’s TOD Design Guidelines, and public consultation throughout the charrette process. It provides an active mixed-use neighbourhood centre organized around four well-conceived public spaces: an avenue, a bus loop, a plaza, and a square. This project demonstrates the unique public process and the resulting design that places the new Calgary Transit facility within the context of a walkable, transit oriented urban centre surrounding the existing station.