Calgary Central Library – Calgary

“I particularly remember visiting the Calgary Public Library downtown location. It was an unseasonably hot late spring day and I was tired from teaching all week at SAIT. I was heading home and downtown near the bus station to catch the bus to go home and see my kids. I was drained and looking forward to a quiet weekend in the country. I had some time before the bus arrived and thought I would walk the few blocks the check out what everyone had been talking about.

The late afternoon air was stifling. The prairie sun that everyone loves is my kryptonite; its powerful rays burn my eyes fueling a festering migraine. Those rays amplified by commercial glazing amplified my distain for urban environments. No solace was available from the desiccating wind. Dust peppered my skin and grit at my teeth. Revving truck engines and rumbling train engines reverberated and engulfed my pedestrian stature. The rigidly rectilinear layout of streets and building facades provide me no refuge from this hostile environment.

Suitcase in tow, I tripped over sidewalk dibs until I rounded the corner. Originally my heart sank as I saw the significant slope up to the main entrance. With resignation I mustered up remaining energy and proceeded step by step. My back bearing the lashings of the sun’s rays. Head down I inched step by step without awareness of the possibility that this monolith would defeat me.

There is a moment that is permanently embedded in my being. With every breath I can conjure up the feeling that this singular unexpected moment provided. The nanosecond I traversed from the sun into shade. My whole being sang out in joy. The difference in the environmental conditions that this step afforded me were divine. Firstly, the change in temperature provided reprieve from the prairie desert. In the shade my eyes could recalibrate after being blasted by the bleached landscape. The scoop of the building let me tuck in under her wing to be comforted and secure in out of the open predatory exposure. With every subsequent breath I can still conger the best feature, the smell. That smell. Of real things, of living things or something antithetical to this artificial environment. The hemlock continued to emit its intoxicating oils as medicine a year after opening. The instantaneous immersion into this combination of sensory delights remains available within my corporeal library accessible with each intentional breath.” (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.38).

Google map link: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Central+Library/@51.0453808,-114.0575273,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x537170003cb69fe3:0x65642e5fb9371572!8m2!3d51.0453775!4d-114.0549524!16s%2Fg%2F11cn9rym65