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The blade-like form of the 152-metre-tall Nexen Building creates a striking silhouette on the city skyline. The late Modernist complex helped shape the identity of what was the publicly mandated company Alberta Gas Trunk Lines, which evolved to become NOVA Chemicals today. Integral to the growth of Alberta's natural gas and gas chemicals industries, the company turned into a major international player under the helm of president and CEO Bob Blair, whose intrepid and visionary spirit led to the rise of the company's towering flagship project.
Now known as the Nexen Building in reflection of the tower's anchor tenant, the complex's most visible component is the 37-storey oblique building that hugs 7th Street SW from 8th Avenue SW to 7th Avenue SW. The south tower is attached to the northern triangular building by a two-storey bridge suspended above 7th Avenue SW. Another bridge connects to a block of office towers directly east, including the Elveden Centre.
The streamlined, stainless and curtain walled aesthetic was imagined by Fred Valentine of local practice J.H. Cook Architects and Engineers. The ceiling of the glass atrium that fronts 8th Avenue SE is set on an incline, leading up to the vertical wall of the tower. The orientation of the building, tilted 45 degrees to the city grid, minimizes shadowing of the abutting Century Gardens. The interior's open floor plan required the assembly of a structural system from the core to the perimeter. With the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, Cook's engineers crafted the innovative stub-girder system. The first time such a system was implemented in Canada, it eliminated the need for intrusive structural columns.
The modern design evoked the image of Calgary as a city of promise, progress and potential. When completed in 1982, the complex was awarded the Governor General's medal for architecture, the award of honour from the Alberta Association of Architects and the Super Structure of the year by BOMA.
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