The university’s natural setting, exhibiting geologic evidence of the tectonic forces that created the Rocky Mountains, inspired the massing of the new Taylor Centre and the main form of the concert hall. The volume of the hall rises above the lower forms of the building, alluding to the singular barn in the landscape, a typology found throughout Calgary. Within the concert hall itself, the expressed structure reiterates the barn profile, with the form of the Plains peoples’ tipi abstracted as metal “tents.” Similarly, the Alberta Wild Rose, the provincial flower, inspired the crowning feature of the hall, the dramatic acoustical canopy that allows the room to be “tuned” for various musical performances.

This project was designed by Pfeiffer prior to joining Perkins Eastman.