HCMA Transforms Calgary Tower into University of Calgary's SAPL with Colour-Coded Design

Key facts

• HCMA Architecture + Design designed the new home of the University of Calgary's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL) in The Valentine building at 801 7 Avenue S.W., Calgary.
• The Valentine building was designed by Fred Valentine and completed in 1982, originally housing NOVA Corporation offices until 2013.
• The 37-storey tower is a Governor General's Award-winning example of late modernism.
• SAPL moved into the tower in January 2026, after outgrowing its original campus footprint.
• The project cost CAD$30 million and received funding through the City of Calgary's Downtown Post-Secondary Institution Incentive Program.
• The school occupies the tower's nine lower levels (16,722 square metres) plus three floors of an annex building.
• The design features colour-coded floors in UCalgary red and gold, visible at night.
• The project includes a community-facing City Lab, timber-framed crit nooks, and a graphic wayfinding system.
• The City of Calgary's Downtown Office Conversion Program saw 21 projects transform 2.68 million square feet of empty office space into homes and other uses.
• HCMA is also known for the təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre in Westminster, B.C.