It's not often we hear about a truly exciting national architecture project in Calgary, but the Cantos National Music Centre at the King Eddy Hotel has not only caught our attention, but the attention of some of the biggest "starchitects" working today. The five finalists have been announced for the $100 million redevelopment project, and we just have to say it: they're ambitious. Sometimes a little too ambitious, but we're okay with that.

Cantos has been active in Calgary for several years now and has already earned a reputation as a bona fide Calgary landmark. It already houses a huge collection of historic music instruments (including, awesomely, the piano that Elton John used to write "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), it routinely stages some great musical events, and it just recently purchased the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. But being a Calgary landmark isn't enough for Cantos. It wants to be a Canadian landmark, and it's certainly in a position to do so.

Montreal's Saucier + Perrotte are the only Canadian firm that made the shortlist, so that's worthy of distinction in itself, and the glass façade and openness to the street are both laudable elements. They pass.

Jean Nouvel is a bit more avant-garde than most architects in the competition, but in this case that's certainly not a bad thing. The winner of the 2008 Pritzker Prize and designer of the Abu Dhabi Louvre, Nouvel has designed the building as a sleek tower jutting out from the hotel, slanted downwards with a mirror at the top that reflects the street. The outdoor wall is conducive to projections, and thus accessible outdoor concerts. Functional and striking. Our kind of architecture.

We don't have as many superlatives for Diller Scofidio + Renfro's proposal. In fact, I think we've seen it before. It's called the ROM and it was designed by a Mr. Daniel Libeskind. And, with all due respect to old Dannie, it's hardly worthy of imitation.

Allied Works Architecture is a Portland firm whose principal architect, Brad Cloepfil became somewhat famous for his controversial transformation of a historical building in Manhattan. Their design is rather lacklustre visually, but taking a beat from David Byrne, it turns the entire building into a musical instrument that can actually be played. That's pretty damn cool.

Anyone who's been to California should be familiar with Studio Pali-Fekete, a Los Angeles firm whose name is on buildings all over the state. Their proposal is much more conventional than the others, but the stately grandeur of the project has a backwards-looking classicism that has us rather enamoured. It's very un-Calgary. And sorry, that's a good thing.

Cantos will announce the winner early this fall, and the new National Music Centre should be unveiled in 2011. Until then, all we can do is critique in hypothetical terms.