The unpainted balconies could have been an interesting contrast feature if done intentionally. As it is it just looks sloppy. Fix it up.

It's really reassuring to see that we've managed to overcome the overly safe and sanitized play structures that proliferated in the early 2000s. The park near my house lost a great wooden fort that had some real ways to be adventurous and sometimes hurt yourself, with one that that is lower...

Yeah that parking is unfortunate. But is it staged in a way that it could double as a crowd space during events?

A lot of sites require remediation, so having the developer invest to remove it doesn't hurt. If the permit doesn't go through it can be backfilled and capped with clean fill (hopefully) and then the site at least is better off than it was before. Though, given the economics of development in...

That looks fantastic.

Nah, a Snohetta designed park at Rees would be so cool. Claude Cormier can have everything else.

ARTICULATION ON THE GROUND PLANE! I never thought I'd see the day.

I emailed Lucy Troisi about the trees, hoping something can get done before the crowds crush through here. They would fantastic shade trees if they survived.

And here we have a classic bait-and-switch with the final submission being an absolute pile of shite.

Those trees need protection gates immediately if we want any hope of them surviving the crowds.

Never has brick rescued a building more than in the above photos.

Wellington is looking great! A beautiful local example of medium densities making for an urban but not overwhelming neighbourhood. Really goes to show how softer materials on the first few floors can help bring it to the human scale. Also, it's a shame that tall tree is gone. I'm assuming it...

Okay but that office component is as sterile as a mouse in a chemical lab.

Would it have killed them to make the spandrel and mullions black or white? Literally anything other than the same tone of grey would make this look so much better. It's just going to look busy with all the same shade of grey.

The execution of the podium is shameful. Absolute garbage.

Yeah I'd say this is a pretty big miss considering the architect and developer. The heritage building is absolutely worth preserving in some capacity, it could frame a public courtyard beautifully.

Those holes just seem like an afterthought, which is unfortunate as an extra metre or two around would have been all the needed to make that stand out.

For an example of an engaging podium that manages to be completely different and yet complementary to its heritage context, take a look at this building in Melbourne. Taken from Google Streetview. Why can't we have daring designs like this?

Does anyone know why they put that lattice frame over the tracks? Is it an acoustic dampener, and could it hold a future park on top of it? Just curious.

Yikes! Did G&C develop this? This is the Aura of public spaces.