Olympic Plaza redesign includes skating rink and 12-metre-tall gold fountain

Brendan Coulter · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 07, 2025 4:59 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) has released long-awaited plan plans for the Olympic Plaza Transformation project.

Among the features included successful the plans are a wintertime skating rink, a 12-metre-tall fountain the colour of an Olympic golden medal and an indoor pavilion with nutrient and portion service. 

The design, inspired by the "sunflake" iconography of the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics, besides includes a flexible outdoor gathering abstraction that tin accommodate up to 5,000 people.

"You privation to instrumentality thing that works and physique connected it. And I deliberation that's what the team's done here," said CMLC president and CEO Kate Thompson.

"It was important to integrate the pieces of the [last] plaza that worked and besides physique disconnected making it much flexible, much adaptable for pieces successful the future, for antithetic uses that possibly we don't adjacent cognize astir yet."

Revamping the downtown plaza is expected to outgo $70 million, with backing coming from the province, the City of Calgary and philanthropist Dave Werklund and family.

Public engagement helped signifier the design, according to the CMLC, with a skating rink and greenish abstraction being 2 of the astir requested features.

The reimagined plaza volition "seamlessly" link with a marque caller performing arts gathering that volition spell up arsenic portion the $660 cardinal Arts Commons Transformation project.

Alex Sarian, president and CEO of Arts Commons, said the caller Olympic Plaza volition supply amended opportunities for lawsuit organizers, who made use of the aged plaza space in spite of its design, not due to the fact that of it.

"We'll beryllium capable to person elephantine events without having to unopen down, you know, lanes and lanes to bring successful further resources," said Sarian. "It's exciting because of the flexibility it volition let the assemblage for decades to come." 

Ground broke successful December on the $270-million archetypal signifier of the Arts Commons Transformation. Once complete, a caller building, adjacent to Olympic Plaza and crossed Eighth Avenue S.E. from the existent Arts Commons building, volition location a caller 1,000-seat theatre arsenic good arsenic a 200-seat theatre.

It volition beryllium a three-level, 162,000-square-foot operation that features a curved exterior, inspired by Alberta's landscapes, according to the CMLC. 

Demolition of Olympic Plaza began successful January as portion of Phase 1 of the project. The existent Arts Commons building, built successful 1985, volition beryllium modernized successful Phase 2.

Both the Olympic Plaza and Arts Commons transformations are cardinal to revitalizing downtown Calgary, according to Coun. Terry Wong, typical for Ward 7.

"When you instrumentality a look astatine the centrepiece of what the Olympic Plaza Transformation is each about, it is simply a spot wherever radical tin flourish," helium said. "People tin spot the vibrancy, the viability of being capable to rise a household arsenic good arsenic tally a multi-national corp here."

In a motion to the space's Olympic roots, the plan squad has included 1 of Calgary's '88 Olympic cauldrons successful the plans. As well, portion of the arch that bears the Latin motto of the Olympics — "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger) — volition beryllium reincorporated successful the caller plaza. 

The International Olympic Committee was consulted during the plan process, according to the CMLC, and has endorsed the caller plans arsenic aligned with its expectations for the solemnisation of Olympic legacy.

Construction enactment connected the caller Olympic Plaza is acceptable to commencement successful 2027 and wrapper up the pursuing year. 

Construction connected the caller Arts Commons gathering is expected to decorativeness successful clip for the 2028-29 show season.