haltcatchfire
Senior Member
OSB should be banished in SFH. It's only used over plywood because it's cheaper and cheaper it is.
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
pdubs015
New Member
A couple years ago we redid our bathroom. The contractor used mahogany for the subfloor because he said it was cheaper than plywood.
Alex_YYC
Senior Member
1875
Senior Member
for once im thinking ‘slow down!’
Alex_YYC
Senior Member
Mountain Man
Senior Member
I kinda wish they just refurbished that sloping glass wall, this is going to look terrible!
The Familia
Active Member
More shitty buildings in Chinatown…waiting for the day they allow something nice to be built there.
Colinfill
Active Member
Calgary's Chinatown has beautiful buildings including:
The Canton Block - One of few remaining Edwardian style commercial blocks
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Source: https://www.heritageinspiresyyc.org/heritage-places/communities-chinatown/
The Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre - The outer surface of the dome is covered in blue tiles imported from China and crafted by the same company that endowed the Temple of Heaven during the Ming Dynasty 600 years ago.
Source: https://www.culturalcentre.ca/rental
205 Riverfront - Built in 2001, it still stands a modern and human scale condo building with quality materials
Source: https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/205-Riverfront-Ave-SW-Calgary-AB/26815189/
I agree that Riverpark is an ugly building, but to discount this entire neighbourhood as shitty is not only untrue, it reveals your own ignorance
The Familia
Active Member
Then I should have specified residential buildings. The cultural building is very nice, as is the historic Edwardian commercial block. Those were built a while ago. The newish condo you pictured is above average, but almost everything else is pretty bland and typical 1970's/1980's brown brick apartments like the ones that litter the Western part of the beltline. There was a beautiful proposal of three high rise buildings with an activated alley way system in that massive parking lot that was shot down a few years ago. There has been very little development in the area in recent times. I can only think of that little building with the copper cupola and that beige apartment building that uses the old sandstone church as a facade as recent builds. I think you would have a hard time providing anything else other than the three buildings you posted as being above average architecturally. There is so much they can do with the area, it just feels that bare minimum or status quo is the only thing going on in Chinatown.
Colinfill
Active Member
FYI the Waterfront towers are also in Chinatown
Albertasaurus
Active Member
I love Chinatown but I don't think it's "ignorant" to decry the quality of some of the buildings that have gone up there in more recent decades (and I say that as someone who doesn't hate Riverpark). We're lucky to still have Chinatown since it was almost lost when the Downtown Penetrator was proposed. Since then some pretty ugly buildings have gone up in and around Chinatown which have greatly damaged the urban fabric of the neighbourhood - particularly the unforgivably hideous Harry Hays Building, Calgary's overall shittiest building IMO, which is officially in Chinatown, even though it turns its back on the neighbourhood. Building that POS displaced 200 people in the process. As for Waterfront, while it too is in Chinatown (and not a bad looking complex IMO), it has been criticized for marketing itself as part of Eau Claire and also having its street front retail oriented on the Eau Claire side of the buildings with only the parkade entrance oriented towards Chinatown.
Its fair to say that for decades, a lot of development in and around Chinatown has not given the neighbourhood the consideration and respect it deserves.
Its fair to say that for decades, a lot of development in and around Chinatown has not given the neighbourhood the consideration and respect it deserves.
Silence&Motion
Senior Member
It wasn't shot down. It was approved. However, the economy turned bad and the developer never built it. Not sure what it's current status is at the moment.
My personal most-hated Chinatown building is Sun Life Plaza - now re-branded as "the Ampersand", possibly the worst building name after "the Hat". I mean look at this crap!
Albertasaurus
Active Member
Yeah I hate Sun Life/Ampersand too, its hideous. The sad thing is, they redid the interior when they rebranded to Ampersand and the interior is actually quite nice now - but the exterior is still terrible.
crisp
Active Member
re The Ampersand.. can only renovate so much of a building for the economics to make sense. And the extensive work done in the interior is proving to be a huge success. The Ampersand naming is a testament to its extensive amenities offered to tenants... it's an office tower & conference center & tenant lounge (cheap beers!) & large fitness centre & half basketball court & indoor golf
That's correct. I don't think the developer had deep pockets to begin with, and combined with the downturn, it fizzled out.
Also correct is your take on the Ampresand towers. IMO, those towers are the textbook example of simply throwing up office space for sake of satisfying office space demand. They are about as unimaginative as you can get for high rise buildings.