What #1) The Bow is a 1.7 million square foot office building designed for the headquarters of EnCana Corporation and Cenovus Energy, in downtown Calgary, Alberta. The building is currently the tallest office tower in Calgary, and the tallest in Canada outside Toronto. It was completed in 2012 and was ranked among the top 10 architectural projects of 2012 according to Azure Magazine.

    Cost: $1.4 billion CAD   Height:  774 ft    Floor count: 58   Architect: Foster + Partners, Zeidler Partnership Architects

    What #2) Encana officially confirmed on June 16, 2008, that Jaume Plensa, an artist most famous for the Crown Fountain in Chicago, had been chosen to complete two major public art installations for the project. The first work, titled "Wonderland", was unveiled on January 25, 2013 and is located on the south side. The second work, titled "Alberta's Dream" is located on the north side and depicts a bronze casting of the artist embracing a living tree. (1)

    Where) 500 Centre Street Southeast

    Why) Even though I admire many of the buildings that Foster's firm has done and I am a big fan of outdoor sculpture, the reality is that discovered this place while I was reading the Wikipedia page for Calgary and this was the entry that intrigued me the most.


























This is one half of Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain. It also looks like a place that I will add to my future Buckys list. (2)







Although I probably would have enjoyed "Alberta's Dream" more if he wasn't covered by all those Alberta place names, ...







... I can't say that I disliked him either. I do know that ...
... this view just to the right of that statue was worth seeing and doesn't need to be modified.







The Bow itself was hard to photograph because it was so tall. I did like some of the curves and cross bracing and ...







... some of the close up details are appealing but perhaps the best thing about the tower is ...






... that it functions so well as a landmark. I took this picture from the front step of the Reader's Garden Cafe which is 2.5 kilometers away. 







My favourite part of the site was the "Wonderland" sculpture.






I took pictures from a few different angles and they all turned out to be attractive.







I even tried to take this exact picture but it seems that I needed some fog to make it turn out this nice. (3)