In Good Company: Meet Alkarim Devani, Co-Founder of RNDSQR
In Good Company with Alkarim Devani
Courtyard 33 was a momentous project for RNDSQR, and the first building of its kind in Calgary. Garnering interesting feedback from the community, it’s quickly becoming a topic of conversation and exploration for the people of Marda Loop. We took a tour with RNDSQR Co-founder Alkarim Devani to talk about what makes CY33 so unique and why he personally loves this building.
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Who: Alkarim Devani, Co-Founder of RNDSQR
Location: Courtyard 33, Marda Loop
What was the inspiration for CY33?
Al: For everyone at RNDSQR, it’s always been about how we can create a sense of community to help drive more interactions. We wanted to create a space for people that were already living here [in Marda Loop] and for people that were going to be in this building. It’s not just about creating a bright, open, airy space, but we wanted to focus on a public space that could be the base palette for people to come in and make their own mark.
With CY33, if we can find a way to create meaningful spaces for people to connect outside, then we’ve achieved our biggest hope and goal.
How did the project come together?
It started with a funny connection. I ran into a realtor that I had known 10 years ago at Phil and Seb and we started talking about spaces on 33rd he was working on. We’ve always been big fans of the area, and at the time we had a few houses but that had grown. The initial concept and project was smaller, and then it started to get bigger. We tried to find a group that focuses on design to collaborate with us, and through Detox Calgary, I had seen Johanna Hurme’s work and heard her speak. One of the lead architects of 5468796 Architecture in Winnipeg, Johanna talks about collisions and people in space so I reached out to her to see if she wanted to work with us. And here we are today.
What makes CY33 different?
It’s our single largest project that we've ever worked on to date, which is a huge accomplishment for our team and all the people that worked on it, including our partners and sub-consultants. It was a huge step for RNDSQR to venture into a project of this scale.
For the overall city, it challenges the norms of what middle density can look like. We're really excited about those conversations, how we can improve together, and what we can bring to the table.
What makes Marda Loop unique historically?
Most people don’t know this but Marda Loop has a ton of history. Prior to the Currie Barracks being built, the Tsuutʼina Nation used 33rd Avenue to come down to the Stampede. People would come and gather to watch the chiefs and leaders come through. When the barracks was built, it severed that connection. One of the things that caught me was this history and it drove us to consider questions like inclusivity, affordability, and how do we create something different for the entire community. At the same time, acknowledging that these lands weren’t ours, and yet people live here and want to live here who maybe haven’t had the opportunity to.
“One of the things that caught me was the history and it drove us to consider questions like inclusivity, affordability, and how do we create something different for the entire community.”
Have there been any reviews or comments from the community so far about the building?
There are a lot of people who have really strong opinions about this building. Some of them are negative, some of them are positive. And I'm okay with that.
I would rather people challenge the spaces we’re designing. I would rather see people having conversations or be frustrated than design buildings that no one ever looks at. There are plenty of buildings around the city no one engages in conversation over. When they see these types of developments, if we can be the catalyst for what people expect or what they're looking for, that's an awesome place to start. We're going to miss it occasionally, and there are things that we're going learn from this one which will help us to do better next time.
And it's really about collaboration and learning as you go along because you can't get it right every time. I still f*ing love the building though.
“I would rather people challenge the spaces we’re designing. I would rather see people having conversations or be frustrated than design buildings that no one ever looks at.”
Mood vibe, inspiration behind the design?
The main inspiration and concept was industrial open air. Natural light was one of the key drivers. The reason why we carved out the entire middle of the building was to infuse natural light into compact living. Even the material is reflective. It's intended to be reflective for the courtyard to bring as much of that natural light into it as possible.
What’s your favourite feature?
I love how the staircase meets the public realm. I don't think we've yet to see how that space is coming together in the summertime yet and how people will hang out once all the businesses are open.
The stairs kind of created a natural stoop. How many of our spaces are missing stoops? Buildings are missing stoops. Single-family homes are missing stoops. And so the idea of a common stoop for a building is pretty special. And obviously the courtyard is very cool. Cassie did such an amazing job with the public art creating this intimate vibe in there. And so that whole kind of entry coming in through there that’s really cool.
“The stairs kind of created a natural stoop. How many of our spaces are missing stoops? Buildings are missing stoops. Single-family homes are missing stoops. And so the idea of a common stoop for a building is pretty special.”
Speaking of that, how did the mural come together?
We decided to get involved in public art because it started to become a big conversation within the city. We want to support local artists as much as we possibly can, and we saw it as a way to bring vibrancy to our community. For us, waiting for the city to pick a piece of public art and not loving it while they were using our tax money sounded weird. Bringing in the public into the conversation was an opportunity to take this narrative and have agency over what we wanted to create. We did this campaign with 10 artists and let the public decide which ones felt worked. They helped contribute and then some experts in the field of public art joined the conversation to help us narrow it down as well.
Cassie was one of the winners, and the piece Katie Green has done will be coming in later, likely Spring or Summer on the east wall. I feel like it adds another layer of texture to these buildings and I think it's amazing for the community.
What's something about CY33 that people might not know about?
It’s a complex structure. It's not a square building and everything has angular functions in it.
One big thing is there are certain units in this building that have flow-through light, which means you get light facing the courtyard and light facing the front. That was a huge win for us because that’s very uncommon for condos.
We also included something called the skip-stop corridor. This concept means the elevator hits every other floor. They're using the corridor level on two of the floors and in order to get into those units, you access them from a stairwell, from the floor that the elevator actually hits. So you go up a set of stairs and then you get into your unit and it gives you this loft-like living with more privacy. I've never seen that before in Calgary. It was something that we wanted to test and see if the market would be into it.
It's certainly for a particular demographic and we made a choice to make sure every unit didn’t incorporate that to ensure accessibility. But if you're looking for something a little different with a little bit more privacy, that function gives you that ability.
“I've never seen [a skip-stop corridor] before in Calgary. It was something that we wanted to test and see if the market would be into it.”
What was the inspiration behind the skip-stop corridor?
The skip-stop corridor is pretty common in Europe. It’s designed to give people more privacy, but it also finds more efficiencies within your unit layout because you're not carving out a three foot corridor into your space. We've started to look at that same language in different buildings of ours as we explore design for townhomes and missing middle housing.
Any ending thoughts?
This building is really special to us. It will always be because it was the first of its kind. As things get better, as we open up as a community more and as businesses begin thriving, this space will become about the people and how they activate the space, which was always the plan.
Designed to be accessible and inviting to the entire community, CY33 was intentionally designed to give back to the people of Marda Loop. CY33 was completed in 2021 and is home to multiple local businesses, with many more opening this year. We’re pleased to have Leela Eco Spa, Sean Hope Ross, Brewer’s Apprentice, Diner Deluxe and The Mash part of the CY33 community.
Home to 63 residential units, find your new space by booking a tour now.
CY33 and AL21A are ready to rent.
At the intersection of design and culture, our buildings and spaces are the raw material for people to embrace their own style of living and urban existence.
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