CALGARY – The City of Calgary has successfully removed approximately 5,600 bricks from Olympic Plaza, as an effort to return bricks to original purchasers.
“We know Calgary’s Olympic Plaza holds a special place for many Calgarians, especially those people who were here during the 1988 Winter Olympics,” said Kyle Ripley, City of Calgary Director of Parks and Open Spaces. “After hearing from Calgarians throughout the fall, we made the decision to see what bricks we could retrieve. The window for this effort was tight because we wanted to avoid impacting public events at the Plaza and avoid impacting the construction start for the new design. We’re excited to have provided this opportunity for the community and I’m proud of the team for stepping up.”
While it was always understood that many of the bricks could not be removed intact due to their age, condition and construction, the decision was made to attempt reuniting as many brick owners and family members as possible with their bricks. City staff worked quickly to organize and execute both the brick removal and retrieval event.
The City has informed each registrant directly whether their brick was retrieved, is intact and available for pick up at the retrieval site on Jan. 3 and 4. It’s expected more than 3,500 people, who requested their brick during the registration period in December, will be attending over the two days.
As the number of registrants increased, the only viable option to remove the number of bricks that were requested was by lifting all 33,000 bricks in bulk. Logistically, removing one brick at a time was impossible due to cost and time constraints, before construction begins on the Arts Commons Transformation project in January 2025.
The timing of this effort to retrieve the Olympic Bricks comes after a busy programming year for public events at Olympic Plaza – a well-loved and central gathering place in Calgary that sees more than 1.6 million annual visitors for festivals and events – before construction begins on the expansion of Arts Commons.
Of the 8,000 bricks that were requested, 70% were successfully removed from the plaza; 30% could not be retrieved. The Olympic Plaza bricks are nearly 40 years old and were never intended to be removed or returned. These masonry bricks were installed to be in place for many years as a durable and weather-resistant public walkway, each mortared together on five of the six sides. The original construction and material of the bricks, as well as prior damage and general wear and tear over four decades, resulted many bricks cracking or breaking during the removal process.
Olympic Plaza has now been closed to the public to facilitate construction on the Arts Commons expansion project. The remaining bricks will not be repurposed or preserved as part of the new Olympic Plaza Transformation project. The design for the newly revitalized Olympic Plaza is expected to be unveiled in late Q1 2025.
To further commemorate the plaza’s Olympic legacy, CMLC, The City of Calgary and Arts Commons have launched a series of digital experiences to archive Olympic Plaza’s 1988-2024 chapter, including the Olympic Brick Finder, the Olympic Plaza Interactive Experience and the Olympic Plaza 3D Perspective. All three tools can be found at maps.calgary.ca/OlympicPlazaDigitalArchive
Learn more about the Arts Commons and Olympic Plaza Transformation projects at calgarymlc.ca/projects/Olympic-plaza-transformation.
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