In a few years, the Calgary Tower could be walled out of sight on the city’s skyline, not just by the Bow, but by other taller buildings.
A local graphic designer has released a new image showing how downtown will look in 2024. The pictures show buildings that are under construction, already approved or still just proposed.
Calgary’s skyline keeps changing because of the strength of the energy industry, which is fueling the real estate market.
According to the Remax Commercial Investors Report 2014, released Tuesday, downtown office space grew by roughly 841,000 square feet space in the second quarter of 2014.
The report says a further 3.8 million square feet is under construction.
“As long as demand for oil remains high, the market is expected to follow suit,” say the report’s authors.
Devin Henry, 34, started creating the skyline images a decade ago, and spends as many as 100 hours per picture. He’s created about 30 renditions over the years.
“It’s just interesting to see what the future will look like for Calgary,” he said Wednesday. “It’s just for fun, it’s basically just for people’s enjoyment.”
Henry gathers information and images of new downtown buildings online, then adds them to his skyline images.
Often tips and unreleased photos show up anonymously in forums. Sometimes he has to redraw an image he’s working on if there’s a new announcement before it’s complete.
“Each picture gets more detailed as I get better and better,“ he said.
Henry’s skyline images have caught the attention of media across Canada, and are shared widely on social networks.
He spotted one on the wall at his optometrist’s office when he went for an appointment.
Another one of his drawings helped him land his first graphic design job in Calgary.
The artist, who trained in Saskatoon, now works at an architecture firm and does graphic design more as a hobby.
He said he doesn’t have as much time for the drawings as he used to, but adds he’ll keep creating futuristic images of Calgary’s skyline “as long as people like them.”
Calgary currently has 39.3 million square feet of downtown office space.
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