General Rating for this project

  • Great

    Votes: 2 3.2%
  • Very Good

    Votes: 4 6.3%
  • Good

    Votes: 28 44.4%
  • So So

    Votes: 7 11.1%
  • Not Very Good

    Votes: 10 15.9%
  • Terrible

    Votes: 12 19.0%

  • Total voters
    63
Calgary's new ugliest tower...

I must under estimate the market of helicopter parents buying their kids condos near the university.
 
I don't mind the look of this tower. When you take a closer look at the design, it's actually quite clever.

The windows aren't actually random, they follow a pattern and every side follows the same pattern. The pattern is - from floor 6 and on, 1222112232231222322132

Here's a quick visualization of the pattern from the front facade.

Dark Blue: irrelevant
Blue: 1
Light Blue: 2
Yellow: 3

2020-07-27_21.54.11.png


Every "1" floor has the same room layout, every "2" floor has the same layout and so on. This is how they get different room layouts without fitting their designs to the windows. It seems that layout "2" is the most common, so probably the cheapest, while 1 and 3 are less common and probably more expensive.

To be entirely honest, I think the tower would look worse if the windows were entirely straight. At least it's more interesting this way. By the way, I'm the same guy that made the Telus Sky in Minecraft. I'm working on recreating this tower too. I'll be sure to post it here when I'm finished.
 
Thank gods they did an extra spandrel strip on the east face to balance it out a bit. That last photo has officially moved this development from “:mad:” to “🤷‍♂️”. That’s all I wanted.
 
I'm just grateful that it's mostly white and black...which at least keeps it somewhat clean and fresh. Imagine if this also had the terrible color choices so often seen today.

That's one lesson more developers need to learn...if you don't have the design chops to make it good, atleast make it white. You won't be cheap...you'll be Modern.
 
Last edited:
Thank gods they did an extra spandrel strip on the east face to balance it out a bit. That last photo has officially moved this development from “:mad:” to “🤷‍♂️”. That’s all I wanted.

I still can’t figure out why they have glass for the top third but no windows at all on that corner for most the building. What is in that corner that can’t have windows?
 
It just happens to be how the studio suites are laid out on those floors. They run long ways from North to south so the window for those particular units is on the south corner of the building.
 
Too bad the commercial portion isn't going to be a green roof (or maybe it is, just doesn't look like it). With the southern exposure and residents looking down on it that could have been really nice. Is there anything the city can do to encourage developers to incorporate them?
I vaguely recall that the city has studied green roofs extensively, and they just don't make sense in Calgary's climate--or rather the cost benefit of green roofs is decidely negative, unlike other climate interventions. Calgary has lots of LEED buildings, and a (partial) green roof in other climates is somewhat standard on similar buildings - but almost none of the Calgary ones do. Xeriscaped roofs perhaps would work, but without the thermal mass from wet soil I assume it would be more of an aesthetic choice than a climate choice.
 

Back
Top