The balconyslop is really really horrendous. It looks super unintentional and slapped on last second, and we lose most of the interest and patterning in the original design. I can respect even trying to differentiate each tower a bit, but they've taken so much character away, it looks randomized instead of elegant, it is significantly less visually coherent and distinct.
I almost wonder, what were they expecting? Where were the balconies, observatory, etc. supposed to go in the original design? Given that these things seem to be tacked on like afterthoughts now, why were they not identified and established originally?
This new draft is a building that does not respect the space it takes up, is failing at the task of being Calgary's two tallest buildings, it will be a stinking corpse before it is born, as Jane Jacobs would say.
I even do like some of the additions, I prefer the new crowns, I like the way the observatory deck is integrated into the new design. I think one more round of refinements that take these elements and integrate them more intentionally could get us closer to the product that we deserve. Here are a few things that need to change:
I don't mind the corner balconies in theory but they look a bit unintentional at the moment, especially given how they jut out of the profile at inconsistent heights across the buildings.
The floor heights too, seem arbitrary, take a look at the SE corner at the top of the W Tower. Just why?
The stronger emphasis on the curves as they approach the bottom only serves to highlight how disjointed these curves actually are, you can clearly see 5 joints where the curves are continuous but their gradients aren't.
The worst however, are the inset balconies, these are just horrendous. Why would we copy Stantec's ugliest feature? It's even off-centre like Stantec is. This is a phenomenally bad blunder that I pray is amended before this actually breaks ground.
