As his building lives on, architect of the Saddledome and much of Calgary's character passes away

Story by Bill Kaufmann • Yesterday 2:25 p.m.


In the end, Barry Wayne Graham’s signature work and an iconic part of the Calgary skyline outlived him.


Barry Graham, the retired lead architect for the Saddledome, poses in front of the building in 2008. Graham passed away in December at 84.© Provided by Calgary Herald

Graham, the longtime architect whose vision gave birth to the Scotiabank Saddledome and many other structures that have come to define Calgary, died Dec. 26 at the age of 84.

David Edmunds, who worked with Graham for three decades, reeled off a dizzying list of projects his late business partner had a hand in, including the Olympic Speed Skating Oval at the University of Calgary, the Plus-15 system, then-Mount Royal College and the Village Square Leisure Centre.

“He was very well-respected in the construction industry with contractors and tradespeople — and certainly in the sports and entertainment world, he was really respected,” said Edmunds.
‘He was a giant’

In the 1960s such projects were viewed through more of a utilitarian lens but Graham was one of those who changed that, said Edmunds.

“There was not a lot of concern for the people who used them, but Barry was able to straddle the worlds of engineering and architecture — not just esthetics, but things like sight lines and how dressing rooms work. He was very good at that,” said Edmunds.

“He was a giant in the Calgary (architectural) world.”

Born in Turtleford, Sask., in 1938, Graham moved to Calgary after high school to work as a lab technician with Imperial Oil.

Noting his intelligence, his supervisors encouraged him to study as an architect and he did, at Washington State University, followed by a master’s degree of architecture and urban design at the University of Minnesota under the renowned Ralph Rapson.

After joining the City of Calgary in 1971, Graham immersed himself in developing downtown Calgary’s distinctive Plus-15 network.

“That was a very innovative program Calgary was implementing,” said Edmunds, noting Graham was involved by creating sketches and offering incentives to developers.

Graham was at peace with the Saddledome being replaced

A decade later, when the Saddledome project emerged, Edmunds was a newcomer to the craft but recalled its prominence and Graham’s role in it.

“I had just started, but every architect and student knew what was going on with it,” he said.

Graham’s attention to detail and even the psychology of a structure were remarkable, said Art Froese, a close friend and business partner.

“He got the essence of what was going on in the (Saddledome),” said Froese, who was president of the Olympic Coliseum Society at the time.

“He brought colour and texture to the building.”


The Saddledome was built in 1983. It hosted ice hockey and figure skating at the 1988 Olympic Games.

In an interview with Postmedia in July 2019, Graham was at peace with the Saddledome making way for a newer building.


“ I’ve been around a long time, ” said Graham. “ I’ve seen a lot of them demolished. I’ve been in the architecture business for a long time, so it’s part of the world these days. There’s not much you can do about it. They get old and they need to be replaced. ”

Despite its association with the cowboy culture of Western Canada, Graham said that wasn’t the original intent when the Saddledome first started taking shape. His firm, Graham McCourt Architects (now GEC Architecture), actually settled on its now well-known design to satisfy a variety of technical and budgetary requirements.

“ You’re looking for something that’s somewhat unique, ” said Graham. “I can’t remember exactly what generated the shape of the building, but it was part of the process of developing various ideas and seeing how they look.”

Negotiations between the city and Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp. to replace the Saddledome broke down at the end of 2021, but have since been rekindled.

Saddledome’s success led to projects that solidified Graham’s legacy

Work on the Saddledome’s design led to Graham’s firm’s participation in building Mariucci Arena at the University of Minnesota, which was finished in 1993.

In 2007, Sports Illustrated listed it as one the top 10 venues in college sports, the only hockey arena to qualify.

“Being chosen to do that was the biggest compliment he could have gotten — they could have picked any architect in North America,” said Froese.

Arguably the architect’s most enduringly impressive work, Froese said, is the speedskating oval, whose mechanics have enabled it to host a record number of best times in the sport.

“That was a very complex project — the U of C didn’t want it any higher than 40 feet,” said Froese.

Graham is not the first person who shaped those marquee structures to die in recent years. Engineer Harold Nash, who helped build the Saddledome, McMahon Stadium, the speedskating oval and many other structures, died in November 2020 at the age of 87.

But those who knew Graham said his professional legacy went far beyond sports venues and were influenced by his affinity for the Prairies.

“ Love of the western Canadian landscape flows through Barry’s work. This is seen in his design for the Athabasca bridges in Jasper National Park — a site of considerable beauty and environmental sensitivity,” states his obituary.

The father of five with an extraordinary sense of humour was also an avid fisherman and bird hunter who forged special relationships with ranchers whose land he trod, said Froese.

It’s an outlook that inspired in Graham an appreciation for simplicity in design, but a simplicity that recognized its limits, he said.

Graham deserves more fulsome accolades for his legacy than he’s likely to ever receive, added Froese.

“It seems like you can never be a hero in your hometown,” he said.

— With files from Sammy Hudes

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn