General rating of the project

  • Great

    Votes: 53 72.6%

  • Very Good

    Votes: 16 21.9%

  • Good

    Votes: 4 5.5%

  • So so

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Not Very Good

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Terrible

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    73
RyLucky said:
Incredible.

I hadn't realised how eclectic the architecture was. They took nods from ancient Athens' "stoa". There are indigenous and natural allusions at every turn. There is a mix of modernist and organic materials. It almost falls to the Mondrian and geometric motifs of the past decade, then obliterates them. Best of all, it's inviting, and everything serves the equally important objective of connecting the EV and burying the tracks. This is a human project very well done.

By the way, my favourite bits of wisdom from reading the comments:
- "who even uses libarys [sic] anymore? people jsut read on their smartphones"
- "Too bad its in the ghetto were it will be full of vagrants"
- "How is it going to earn money nobody will use it"
- "I havent used a library since elementray school"

And not a moment too late, Calgary.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of two early 20s women sitting behind me on the train a few years ago, one of whom exclaimed "I'm so glad to be done with highschool, I don't have to learn anymore!"
 
One thing I noticed on the Saturday after the grand opening was the stream of people walking down Stephen Ave, up the steps to the municipal building doors, finding them locked, then going into the south plus 15 that leads to parking, finding it also didn't get them to the library, then back out and around the block on the sidewalk. We really need to figure out a plan to allow passage through 'city hall'. I wish a small portion of the library funding had been used to make that happen.
 
JoeUrban said:
One thing I noticed on the Saturday after the grand opening was the stream of people walking down Stephen Ave, up the steps to the municipal building doors, finding them locked, then going into the south plus 15 that leads to parking, finding it also didn't get them to the library, then back out and around the block on the sidewalk. We really need to figure out a plan to allow passage through 'city hall'. I wish a small portion of the library funding had been used to make that happen.
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Yeah, build a portal or something so that it can stay open 24/7.
 
There is already 24/7 security in City Hall I think. Couldn't they simply unlock the doors? Have a security guard sit at the information booth in the atrium, maybe even see if Good Earth would stay open to create a public amenity/reason to linger a bit.
 
Ultimately I would live to see a hole blown through city hall, and Stephen Ave extended right through. It's a bit of a pipe dream, but something that could happen.
JoeUrban said:
One thing I noticed on the Saturday after the grand opening was the stream of people walking down Stephen Ave, up the steps to the municipal building doors, finding them locked, then going into the south plus 15 that leads to parking, finding it also didn't get them to the library, then back out and around the block on the sidewalk. We really need to figure out a plan to allow passage through 'city hall'. I wish a small portion of the library funding had been used to make that happen.
Click to expand...
 
huge gaff by the city allowing this design in the first place. cutting the 8th ave connection to east calgary had to have played a part in its decay. not constructing a conduit while the library was being built was just dumb. city planning cant even plan city hall.
 
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1875 said:
huge gaff by the city allowing this design in the first place. cutting the 8th ave connection to east calgary had to have played a part in its decay. not constructing a conduit while the library was being built was just dumb. city planning cant even plan city hall.
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Major gaff. Back in 1980-, the y city only cared about progress that involved shiny new buildings.There was no thought to East Village or pedestrian realms etc..
 
Stephen Ave said:
Ultimately I would live to see a hole blown through city hall, and Stephen Ave extended right through. It's a bit of a pipe dream, but something that could happen.
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"Pipe" dream, indeed. They should literally build a glass pipe through city hall. Let it be 100% outdoors in the pipe and offer a figuratively and literally transparent look into city politics. Think Rijksmuseum, but glass.
 
Stephen Ave said:
Ultimately I would live to see a hole blown through city hall, and Stephen Ave extended right through. It's a bit of a pipe dream, but something that could happen.
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Kind of a pipe dream, but not impossible. Definitely something that could be done if the will was there.
 
With not many modifications (if you click through on the winning entry here you get to a floor plan which has the 24 hour pedestrian mall drawn on it, plus other drawings and even the other entries!) you can do it with some gates that link column to column. The below wasn’t exactly what was built, but the principle is the same. The floor plan even has a dashed line along the pedestrian mall, which I guess to be a similar system of gates in the competition winning plans.
B333BC2F-A06A-4B73-896B-7CA1844C0D70.png
 
I think the 24 hour pedestrian corridor would help, but having it simply open all the way through with no steps, or doors, etc.. would have been best. I course they probably didn't think it was important at the time.
 
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