[level]

Stephen avenue in Calgary has some structures that were built to prevent wind gusts between buildings[1]. The street has a lot of foot traffic and that area became windy after the two skyscrapers on either side were constructed. Not sure about the cost to the city, but they're interesting to look at and they seem to achieve their goal.

[1] https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0456499,-114.0704853,3a,75y,7...

[niftich]

Some more info on the trees: from Calgary Downtown Association [1], some excellent photographs from various sources [2][3][4], and from the structural engineer [5].

Sadly, the architects (Cohos Evamy, merged and renamed DIALOG) don't have a feature on their website or in an archive I could find.

[1] http://www.calgarydowntown.com/saw/Stephen-avenue-info/steph... [2] https://christophermartinphotography.com/2010/10/22/the-tree... [3] http://calgary.skyrisecities.com/news/2016/10/steel-trees-st... [4] http://www.tboake.com/steel/bankers_hall.html [5] http://astint.on.ca/bankers-hall-galleria-trees-sculpture/

[Gravityloss]

That's fascinating. I've always wished my city had things like these. Trees would be nice, but they grow slowly and just when they start being big enough to thrive, look good and be useful, some official decides they're dangerous or happen to be exactly on top of a new roadway. So I guess a cold dead mechanical tree is the best we could get.

[pm90]

I wonder if this may be because of the weather, but why can't you grow vines on the metal trees to make it "green"? Or some sort of wall hugging vegetation. I mean, sure its not the same as a tree, but at least it might look nicer.

[bluehawk]

My guess is that the vanes on the top do something to disrupt the wind and stop it from reaching street level at such high speeds. The vines growing between the vanes could prevent this effect from happening.

[smnrchrds]

I am not sure vines can survive Calgary winter.

[microcolonel]

Trees are also not as strong as steel, and Calgary has fairly intense winters (as far as populated parts of North America go).

[phunehehe0]

Thanks for sharing! If I were to see these structure on the streets I would brush them off as some funky art projects. Now I wonder what else I have been missing...

[nrdgrl]

I've walked under these dozens of times and never realized why they were there. I suspect most Calgarians have any clue.

[microcolonel]

Wow! I never knew that that was what those were intended for. As a kid I would spend a lot of time around there and I always assumed they were purely decorative.