Reimagining the Glenbow: A Building Envelope Update from the Inside Out

Learn more about the complex restoration in the heart of downtown Calgary addressing nearly every surface of the building 's envelope.

The Glenbow Reimagine renovation project posed an uncommon challenge: the holistic renewal of the Glenbow Museum’s building envelope. Typically, renovations focus on a single component, but when Marta Karlova, Project Manager at Entuitive, joined the project in 2022, she stepped into one of the more complex envelope restoration projects she’d encountered.

Stripping It All Back

What set this project apart from the start was the sheer scope of the envelope work. Rather than replacing a single component, such as the roof assembly or a window system, the project called for a holistic renewal of the entire building envelope: roofs, exterior walls, windows, soffit areas, and even some below-grade transitions.

“There’s only a handful of projects I’ve been involved with that had this level of building envelope restoration,” Karlova notes. “It had elements of both a restoration project and a new construction project.”

That dual nature came with its own set of challenges. The team was working with an existing 1970s concrete structure, navigating unknown conditions that only revealed themselves once the existing precast cladding was removed. Adding to the complexity, the Glenbow Museum is physically connected to neighbouring buildings, requiring careful attention to expansion joint details at each interface.

From 1970s Insulation to 21st-Century Performance

One of the most significant upgrades taking place at the Glenbow involves the building’s thermal performance. The original drawings indicated two to three inches of insulation and multiple transition details lacked thermal insulation continuity between vertical and horizontal assemblies. 

The new assembly brought a major step-change in performance: six inches of insulation on the walls, eight inches on the roof. Window glazing went from double to triple glazing across most glazing areas, with one standout detail, a quadruple-glazed skylight.

Maintaining thermal and air/vapour barrier continuity was the harder part. With multiple subtrades working across different scopes, Entuitive had to coordinate carefully with the general contractor, EllisDon, and their subtrades to ensure building envelope transitions remained continuous across the three-dimensional junctions.

“We had to not only understand how the detail transitions work in theory but also work with different substrates to make sure their layers were installed in sequence that would allow for continuity,” Karlova explains.

The Feature Cladding

The most visually striking element of the new exterior is its glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) cladding panels, a futuristic, three-dimensional facade that gives the building its distinctive character. The panels were developed by the project’s architect, Dialogue, in close collaboration with local manufacturer Heavy, who worked through extensive mock-ups to achieve the rippling, textured surface.

Entuitive’s role on the cladding was focused on the envelope integration, ensuring that the system connected correctly to the underlying assemblies.

Commissioning: Building in Quality from Day One

Entuitive’s building envelope commissioning team also joined the project early, which proved essential given the challenges of working over an existing concrete substrate with significant surface variations.

At the outset, the commissioning team conducted localized air leakage testing to establish benchmarks for installation quality, benchmarks that were then carried through the entire construction process. Water leakage testing was conducted on the curtain wall system, with timing coordinated around both construction sequencing and suitable weather conditions.

Most recently, Entuitive performed a full infrared thermal scan of the building in February 2026, during winter conditions ideal for detecting air leakage through the envelope. It is a fitting capstone to a project that prioritized performance at every layer.

Photos from the site coming soon. Stay tuned for more updates as the project reaches completion.