ANNEX

Problem

The largest and most connected network Calgary has for travel is by roadway with the use of personal automobiles. This extensive dependence and priority of car travel has shaped our city with many extremely busy, unpleasant, and dangerous roadways, bridges, and intersections. Cities with busy intersections are often unnerving or stressful for able bodied people to navigate, and even more so for those with accessibility concerns. Those with mobility, visual, and auditory impairments often experience challenges navigating buildings and the city from the lack of consideration of how they experience space differently from those who are abled bodied. Cities are places for everyone to live in, yet it rarely is designed with ‘everyone’ in mind.

Voice of the People

“Very often, people refer to “hearing loss” as an example which negatively frames the whole approach from the outset. But let’s imagine the Deaf baby who has never heard and yet is still described as experiencing “hearing loss”. And instead we propose a different framing: that of “deaf gain”. What is it that we gain by the experience of being or becoming Deaf?”

- Derrick Behm, Interviewed to discuss the Sorenson Language and Communications Center

“It is society’s boundaries that make me disabled.”

“Careful of our ability biases. No one designs for everyone, but design WITH people, not for people.”

- Marie van Driessche, from the presentation Inclusive Design: Designing for Deaf People Helps Everyone

“Anything that’s behind my hands doesn’t exist. This Information, so size, the lines, the interplay of lines, the volume, gives the real description of interpretation of the image or the elements in the world.”

- Jaap Breider, on how artwork and installations can be made accessible for the blind and general public

“It’s all about having options… why deny someone else the enjoyment of sitting on a bench in a grassy area? We need to aim for having options that work for many different lived experiences.”

- Luke Anderson, community activist interviewed on his experience of park barriers as a wheelchair user

Proposal

When we shifted privilege from the cars back to humans, we can create more livable inclusive spaces that are accessible by all mobilities of travelers, instead of being restricted to vehicle users alone. We imagine creating a pedestrian bridge over the Bow River that acts as a safe gathering and passage point for all mobilities of travelers to use instead of depending on unsafe narrow sidewalks on the surrounding vehicular bridges. With the use of color, signage, tactile pavers, and many other carefully selected design elements that are included in Universal Design, a diverse user group can independently navigate through our passageway.

The site context we chose to fill has extensive and complex bridgeways and roads that create a highly unpleasant pedestrian experience, especially at the two interceptions North of our site. We solved this issue by submerging the two interceptions on Memorial Trail underground to reduce noise and allow for safer travel at ground level.

The space where the roads and intersections were then is replaced with programmed public park areas, with connecting bike lane and pathways through the site. With the use of blue bike lanes and yellow walkways, users can easily way find and navigate the primary pathway network to our building or choose to explore the surrounding park areas. Our building then connects over the Bow River into downtown where it joins the extensive river walk pathway system.

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