A Love Letter to Calgary
Calgary - the city where everyone is from somewhere else. The city of entrepreneurs. The city of cowboys and cowgirls. City of sandstone. City of oil. Flames. Volunteerism. Scientific discovery. Stampede. Arts and culture. Heritage. Hockey.
Calgarians wear a lot of hats, white hats especially. We’re diverse, driven, daring. We’re there for each other and sincerely friendly. We fight like hell for what’s best for our city, whatever each of us believes that to be.
Calgary is glorious. Any community within the city you happen to be standing in will have a rich history and a fascinating story. Though sprawling, our communities are tight-knit and eclectic in their population and personalities.
The drive to build businesses here is strong, and entrepreneurs thrive in the energy of this young city. Entrepreneurs are people after our own hearts: Ryan Murphy Construction was born here and every day we strive to tell the city’s story in our projects and partnerships.
Whether it’s a room that honours Indigenous traditions for youth or a cozy community coffee shop, the possibilities and opportunities to add to the city’s story through architecture, design and construction are endless. No feeling is more fulfilling than driving by a Calgary landmark and saying, “We did that.” And we complete projects because of the amazing support of and collaboration with other fabulous Calgarians. The architects, designers, tradespeople, families, and friends that have motivated and teamed up with us over the years to create these great spaces continue to fuel our fire.
The creative vision of local designers and architects we work with astounds us every day. Whether they’re evolving historical buildings into modern spaces while honouring their heritage or dreaming up new physical interpretations of brands and organizations, they inspire and beautify, and they augment our local cultural narrative through their artistry and vision.
To live in a city with such a wide range of architectural works is liberating. One downtown street can feature an ornate sandstone heritage school, a stark, brutalist-style institutional office, a tiny house that’s been repurposed into a boutique, an undulating music centre, and a sparkling high-rise seemingly made entirely of glass. We’re beholden to no particular style. A surprise hides around every corner, and our clients’ wildest dreams can become a reality. We pride ourselves on engaging the most talented local partners to make that happen so our clients can focus on what matters: building their businesses here and abroad.
And there’s no shortage of talented, local craftspeople, designers, architects and contractors. Even grade-school students are winning awards—the nature-play, green infrastructure project on the 4th Avenue flyover won the Community Initiative category at the National Urban Design Awards last year, in-part designed by grade six students. Dozens of local, national and international awards are handed out annually to local architects and designers for their visionary, iconic buildings, public spaces and urban design.
The craftsmanship of our tradespeople brings us so much joy, seeing newly installed custom flooring, intricate tilework, delicate restoration or renovations that vivify an old building, the gruelling labour that’s sometimes required; it all makes us work that much harder to ensure projects go smoothly, so that everyone involved will be proud to say, “We did that” as they drive by too.
We love Calgary. We work every day as a company to represent its culture of growth, pride, dependability, ingenuity, diversity, grit, determination and aspiration. In short, we strive to be world-class.
Interested in working together on your project?
Since 2009, we’ve worked closely with hundreds of clients to make their dreams come true — and we’d love to work with you, too! Please get in touch to get the conversation started today.
