The Sam Centre is a year-round immersive experience that brings the ‘world of the Calgary Stampede’ – past, present and future – to life through technology, story-making and Western hospitality. Comprised of 30,000 sf of space on one level, Sam Centre is more than a traditional museum and exhibition space. Hosting a range of both permanent and temporary exhibitions, as well as educational programs and events to support community building, it also presents an immersive multimedia show that gives visitors a visceral taste of the live Stampede experience.

Sam Centre expands on the Stampede’s culture of building community by bringing together diverse people from Southern Alberta, across North America, and around the world that has marked its culture from the inaugural gathering in 1912. Drawing on historical Stampede structures and vernacular agricultural buildings and barns, Sam Centre is a linear volume characterized by a large and expressive, horizontal pitched roof. Creating large overhanging soffits, the roof evokes the welcoming verandahs of traditional Alberta architecture.

The structure uses a repetitive hybrid steel frame with mass timber beams, echoing vernacular agricultural buildings. Exposed mass timber adds warmth to the interior, while horizontal terracotta panels in Stampede red clad the exterior, offering a modern yet durable nod to traditional barn boards. Sam Centre’s design and programming seamlessly blend to create an engaging, multifaceted visitor experience.

Sam’s public gathering and exhibition spaces, interior and exterior, are designed to integrate into a single, flowing experience conceptually and spatially. Interior spaces are adaptable, accommodating multiple identities, forms of gathering, and functional uses—from typical exhibitions to interactive and immersive multimedia experiences, including facilities, and spaces for hands-on making and storytelling by visitors.