The Oliver is a mixed-use project located in the Beltline in Calgary, directly adjacent to the Downtown district. Envisioned initially as a two-tower office development, the design now features a mixed-use residential project.
The program consists of a comprehensively designed two-storey retail podium spanning two titled parcels, with two residential towers above (one per land parcel). The podium contains approximately 55,000 sq. ft. of retail and consumer service space, with a total of 866 units and about 10,000 sq. ft. of indoor amenity space and an outdoor amenity roof patio.
Podium footprints remained as previously designed to expedite planning approvals and take advantage of previous construction, while residential- and retail-friendly materials were proposed to give a more suitable urban interface.
The tower massing visually breaks down the scale of the building by providing a central vertical element, incorporating wood-effect cladding to give it warmth and vertical emphasis. The north and south portions of the towers are a counterpoint to this, providing a regularized, square-proportioned grid on the facades, allowing the central mass to become more prominent and address the East and West orientation of each building.