KATE MACGREGOR ON PLACEMAKING

Interior design interviews by Form Interiors

We sat down with local architect and developer Kate MacGregor of XYC Design + Development to discuss her path to building m2, a mixed-use, low-rise in Calgary’s thriving East Village. We covered lessons learned, elements of placemaking and where to get the best Napa cabbage salad in Calgary.

You’ve left the city and you’ve come back. What was that experience like, and did you see the city differently after being away and returning?

Well, I was gone for almost ten years. I started grad school in 2008 and I moved back to the city in 2016. And obviously during that period the city just, fundamentally, changed. There was a restaurant scene when I came back, that really was in its fledgling state when I left. Neighbourhoods like East Village were starting to be occupied, whereas when I left it was just an idea that everyone in the city thought was crazy, because of the history of the area and how contaminated, environmentally, it was and the perception of danger. Not only did I come back with a different perspective, but the city is a bit of a different place than when I left, which is really exciting to me. So, yeah, I came back with a different perspective from New York. I wanted to see a city that was more diverse, more active. To see neighbourhoods that start to get some of those dichotomy of uses rather than being just a residential neighbourhood or just a commercial downtown that empties out after five o’clock at night.

OK, awesome. So what factors in Calgary do you see as unique and worth celebrating?

I think the one thing that’s been the most important for me is that there’s real entrepreneurial spirit here. That you have that opportunity as someone who has never developed a building before to come here and be able to build what I’ve done. I’ve had a lot of support on this project, but this was never something that I would’ve even gotten close to being able to do in New York. I think that’s encouraged here, in a way that it’s not encouraged in other places. There’s a lot of potential for growth in terms of design and architecture, in terms of how the city is moving; and, you know, these neighbourhoods that are popping up and operating in a different way than what Calgary has traditionally done. I think there’s a lot of opportunity to get into the city, at this stage, and have a role in shaping it. I think that Calgary, more than other places, is supportive of people coming in with new ideas and experimenting and giving them the, sort of, nebulous infrastructure or support to be able to do that.

With that experimentation in mind, what you think makes for a great place?

The idea that you could have both beautiful nature and a thriving urban community in the same place is really important. The fact that I have small shops across the street and Simmons next-door and then mix that in with a diversity of residents in the neighbourhood. It’s not just a bedroom community that empties out during the day. I think good design supports that kind of activity. It has to be developed in a way that people want to be there, otherwise people aren’t going to come.

In your view what needs to come first? Does the vision for the place need to come first and be led by a group, or does it need to evolve a little more organically and become what it is, out of the patterns of use?

I think both of those things are really important and reinforce each other throughout the development. You can’t just clean out all the dirty soil and then expect a grassroots community to spring up. We have a little bit of a problem abandoning things that we think are old, for the newest thing. There’s less of the infrastructure in some of the neighbourhoods in Calgary than in communities that have been built up over decades or centuries and then repurposed when a new community moves in and takes it and makes it their own. I think that Calgary struggles with not having that history. In some areas here, particularly in the East Village, you needed both the large organization that had the ability to do some of the major infrastructure work, because that just didn’t exist here.

What would you say was the biggest learning that you had on the construction of m2?

In some ways we came up against a lot of problems, because this is a really weird little building. There’s nothing standard about it. There’s very few right angles in it. Generally, where the floor meets the wall is pretty close to 90 degrees, but otherwise it’s a pretty weird little building. Having no preconceptions as to how a development permit process should work, or how a building should be built, worked in my favour. We had a lot of problems where people would have given up and just done something easier. I think the grandest learning experience that I’ve had from this is just don’t give up.

I’m curious why you decided on Brooklyn-based nARCHITECTS to design the building versus a local architecture firm?

I was living in New York while designing this project and nARCHITECTS were professors of mine at Columbia, so that’s how I got to know them. I did interview a few different firms while I was looking for who I thought would be the right firm to do this. I think a lot of people are down on foreign architects — foreign being, say, outside of the city of Calgary or outside of the province — working here but that doesn’t happen in other places. When you have good architects working in the city you should be taking it as an opportunity to appreciate good architecture, to learn from it. I really don’t think that there is anything to be gained by shutting out voices, and especially experienced voices. We shouldn’t be shutting down the opportunity to have those interactions.

How do you balance that perspective against the views of the people who are there and moving it forward?

That, in a sense, is the job of any good architect is to design for the people that will be using the building, right? Understanding the people who will be using the space and creating the space for them is just the most fundamental point of good design.

Through your lecture series, +Context, you’ve been exploring the ways that location, time and culture shape what is built and how we experience it. I’m curious about your vision for these discussions and why you feel it’s important Calgarians are having them?

I started this lecture series to hopefully open up the conversation and make it accessible to anyone that wanted to come, so that they can understand. If you’re outside of the architecture scene, all you do is you end up with a building. If you don’t have the chance to engage with the architects a little bit you lose some of that chance for learning more about why these architects were selected, what they were thinking about when they were designing this building. I wanted to start facilitating that in a way that people could engage with around the city. We’ll see how to run a lecture after all this dies down.

Yes. That leads into my next question, which is how the whole social disruption on every scale that’s played out in 2020, thus far, has shifted your thinking about placemaking or how we should approach it?

You know, the virus is a really tricky one because I’ve got no public health or medical background, so I just have to suck it up and socially distance. It’s not really conducive to in-person lectures. On the personal side I think we’re all struggling with all of these things that are going on. I think the places that we spend time start to mean a lot more to us, maybe, than they did before. I think that everyone is maybe reprioritizing what they want their home space to be and what they want their work space to be; and, at the same time, how do I get out in a safe way that I can experience with other people. We also have to make sure that everyone has those opportunities to have a place to work and a place to live and a place to be able to go out and enjoy the environment when all you can do is go for a walk. I hope that, speaking from design, that we’re able to prioritize voices that have, in some cases, been silenced or prevented from practicing design. I hope that it results in people appreciating a good design more, because they’re spending more time with it and really having to live in their homes. And, that everyone has the opportunity to have a voice in how their city and their home and their workspace and their environment looks.

OK, thanks. I like to ask a few fun questions, too. Just to know you better. So the first is urban or rural?

You know, I’m still homesick for New York, which is a little bit of the grass is greener, because when I’m there I’m a little bit homesick for Calgary, you know? I’m pretty settled here now. It’s been a few years. And I would’ve, 100% never thought that I would be any kind of rural person, and now I’m spending, not half of my time, but probably a third of my time outside of the city. So, as it turns out, it’s a very nice place to socially distance.

Jelly beans or wine gums?

Oh, wine gums. I used to eat a lot of candy when I was kid so my dad would buy us candy, give us a few pieces and hide the rest of it. He started hiding wine gums in the freezer because my brother and I had found all his good hiding spots. I’m still pretty sold on frozen wine gums, actually.

What would we find in your fridge right now?

Oh, well, we had a lot of social engagements last week, which is not how we normally role. So we were doing a lot of cooking. I think it’s probably, like we’re able to see our family again and – so it’s all of the leftovers. We made some pretty nice stuff; some bruschetta with fresh ricotta, kale caesar salad, scones with strawberry shortcake. Those were the last few things we made.

What’s your favourite restaurant?

I have to say CharBar, which is next-door. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without a Napa cabbage salad since I started construction on m2. The food is great. I love all of the staff. John and Connie are awesome. And they’re just, really an anchor for the entire neighbourhood, so it’s a pleasure to be located next-door to them.

And what’s your favourite public space?

Oh, RiverWalk. I would die without it.