At first glance, newcomers to Calgary are rarely impressed by the esthetics of the urban landscape.

Why should they be? They see a central clump of glass towers surrounded by big-box malls and industrial parks that go on forever. They see sombre, earth-toned suburbs that lack soul and style.

So it’s a shock to discover that this utilitarian, no-frills business town is being talked up in certain quarters as a hub of design excellence, as well as the home of the most talented young architects in the country. Who knew?

Andrew King, for one. As the city’s second successive winner of the Prix de Rome, an annual research plum awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts, this thoughtful young (early 40s) architect is among those drawing the interest.

Larry MacDougal photo, Business Edge
Architect Andrew King is Calgary’s second successive winner of the Prix de Rome from the Canada Council for the Arts.

“The people of Calgary are becoming quite a sophisticated audience for good architecture,” said King, whose award includes a $34,000 cash grant, plus a year’s residence in Rome for advanced studies.

Marc Boutin, who like King is an assistant prof at the University of Calgary, earned the same distinction a year earlier, which reinforces the thesis at hand: a new generation of design professionals is stealthily making its mark on the city.

Wallpaper* Magazine is convinced. This splashy and influential glossy, which coyly describes itself as a journal that celebrates design “from architecture to coffee cups,” recently assigned an editorial team to research Calgary’s new-breed architects.

While major projects continue to land in the laps of the deeply entrenched and well-connected firms, newcomers such as Ziedler Carruthers (where King works as a design consultant), John Brown Architect Ltd., Down & Livesey Architects and McKinley Dang Burkhart Design are finding the opportunity to demonstrate a fresh, innovative attack. “Architecturally, Calgary is an enigma,” reflected King, who contributed facade designs for the new Alberta Children’s Hospital and who shared a 2000 Prairie Design Award for his work on the Burgess Shale Learning Centre in Field, B.C.

“As an architect, I thought at first there wasn’t much here to set Calgary apart. But that has to change in the near future because there are so many interesting innovators here.”

Supporting evidence is abundant. Two of Boutin’s designs were cited for excellence during last December’s 2002 Prairie Design Awards and the John Brown team copped an excellence award for its work on Calgary’s Millennium Tower.

“Smaller projects by these firms are gaining an unprecedented level of recognition by winning significant awards,” King said.

Calgary has long been known as a town that gives new ideas and new players the chance to sink or swim. King claims this wide-open, receptive spirit extends to the architectural field as well.

“You can come to Calgary and say: ‘I want to create great architecture in this town,’ and everybody says: ‘Well, do it.’ If you mess up, then it’s your own fault. But you got the chance to try,” he said.

King points to John Brown Architect Ltd., cited by the Real Estate Institute of Canada for innovative practice, as an exemplar of one-stop-shopping architecture, which he believes could only happen in Calgary.

And though the impact of Calgary’s architectural vanguard has yet to be fully felt, the city boasts a few gems that appeal to King’s modernist tastes.

* The Alcatel Call Centre on Sunridge Boulevard N.E., between Barlow Trail and Sunridge Mall, “a beautiful little building” designed by the CPV Group, formerly known as Culham Pedersen Valentine Architects & Engineers.

* The downtown Provincial Court building and Rocky Mountain Plaza, 7th Avenue and Macleod Trail S.E.

“They’re kind of brutalist concrete architecture, a little intense; some people hate that stuff but these happen to be good designs.”

* The International Hotel on 4th Avenue S.W., “a fine example of modernist architecture.”

* The neo-modernist Barron Building, which houses the Uptown Theatre on Stephen Avenue Mall, and Fording Place, 205 9th Ave. S.E., just south of the EPCOR Performing Arts Centre.

Despite Calgary’s wealth of emerging design talent, its residential architecture remains distinctly blah. No more than five per cent of new-home buyers consult an architect or designer before building.

“Why would you accept a home that some developer designed only because it’s the easiest or cheapest way to go?” the Prix de Rome winner shrugged in dismay.

“The only variety you’ll get is painting the walls a different colour.”