The Wow-Factor

A collaboration with design professionals and home builders to create a glass elevator in a custom luxury home

submitted by Savaria

Perched on a ridge above the city in one of Calgary, Alberta, Canada’s most exclusive neighborhoods, this 10,000-plus-ft² custom home has it all: city views, mountain views, indoor pool and infinity hot tub, state-of-the-art home theater, fully equipped personal gym, wine bar with glass racks, heated outdoor walkways and driveways, Cortizo automated telescoping patio doors, a soaring 16-ft round skylight and more. Even the boiler room is luxurious, with 11 boilers lined with checker-plate wall finish, LED lighting and polished copper pipe.

And the Savaria® Vuelift® Round+ Glass panoramic elevator with integrated hoistway is in the middle of it all.

“Every room in this home is truly ‘wow,’” Christopher York, president of Riverview Custom Homes, a multiple winner of the Small Volume Builder of the Year title at the BILD (Building Industry and Land Development) Calgary Region Awards, told the Calgary Herald in a 2021 feature article on the home. “The city views are incredible, but so are the valley and mountain views.”

The architects, Jackson McCormick Design Group, designed the home to make the most of those views, using curves throughout the home’s footprint and interior elements so the sightlines change from cityscape to the Rocky Mountains through the maximized use of glazing, especially on the south-facing side of the house.

Natural light floods through the living space from top to bottom across all three floors and is reflected and refracted by the Vuelift and the chrome to penetrate into various aspects of the home’s interior.

These views are also one of the reasons the architect chose the Savaria Vuelift for the home. Centered in a chrome-detailed spiral staircase that was designed around the elevator’s dimensions, the three-stop panoramic elevator travels almost 25 ft through the home to rest beneath the spectacular 16-ft-diameter skylight. While other options for a glass elevator were considered, the Vuelift Round+ Glass model won out, thanks in large part to the availability of local expertise.

“This was a project almost five years in the making,” said Chris McClary, Operations manager of ElPro Elevators and Lifts, Inc., the installing contractor that worked side-by-side with the architect, builder and interior designer through every phase of the home’s design and construction. That deep collaboration from design through to turnover allowed ElPro to both plan in advance and adapt on the fly to create the best outcome for the homeowner. McClary said: 

“Being part of the project from the beginning allowed us to really understand the goals of the project and how the Vuelift had to fit within those plans. For example, usually the power on this elevator comes from the top of the unit, but with this installation having the header up in the skylight, we had to work with Savaria to make a fundamental change. Collaboration from everyone is what made this project such a success.”

McClary’s team used a 4-in. pit and then pre-installed the optional silver-colored steel frame of the Vuelift while the home was still under construction, running the wires up through the elevator frame to the unit header that houses the control system and winding drum drive. Seventeen months later, the ElPro crew returned to a near-finished home to install the glass panels in the Vuelift frame.

“We had to use a lot of ingenuity and creativity,” McClary said. “In my 14 years in the business, this was the hardest install I’ve worked on.”

Beyond the usual need to be aware of safety concerns and the added vigilance against damaging surfaces that are involved when installing an elevator in a completed home, the ElPro crew had to work in the tightest of confines.

The circular staircase — with treads and stringers edged in chrome (“It would be so easy to scratch that,” McClary said.) — had been designed to a 3-in. clearance from the integrated glass hoistway of the Vuelift, eliminating the need for an inner handrail on the stairs that might otherwise interrupt the imposing beauty and dramatic effect of the interior design.

Finally, the crew had to build temporary scaffolding to complete the installation of the very top of the Vuelift, which rises alone to almost become one with the giant skylight. McClary said:

“They changed the height of the skylight partway through the project and are now talking about raising it another 10 ft to create a glass vestibule to house the Vuelift, which will open to a rooftop garden. The modular system of the Vuelift allowed us the flexibility for the first extension, and I feel confident it will be able to accommodate a second extension if the homeowner decides to go for it!”

But this installation goes beyond being a thing of beauty and conversation piece for all the visitors to the home. The combination of the panoramic glass Vuelift, the skylight and the chrome-accented staircase serve another design purpose: Natural light floods through the living space from top to bottom across all three floors and is reflected and refracted by the Vuelift and the chrome to penetrate into various aspects of the home’s interior.

The result is a healthier, more sustainable indoor environment, as “daylighting design” techniques, or the increased use of natural light in architecture, have been shown to reduce energy consumption while boosting the occupants’ moods and feelings of connection with nature.

And with views like these — and a home like this — in the heart of the Rockies and Canada’s big sky country, how could you miss?

“The home is spectacular, dare I say, extravagant,” McClary said. “It was a challenging project to work on, but one we are so proud to have in our portfolio. I can’t wait for the next custom Vuelift job to come along.”

Centered in a chrome-detailed spiral staircase that was designed around the elevator’s dimensions, the three-stop panoramic elevator travels almost 25 ft through the home to rest beneath the spectacular 16-ft-diameter skylight.