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
This building doesn't challenge perceptions of normality or even make one stop and look. At best it gets a quick glance and then you are by it (and happily so). The contrast between black and white looks better than I expected, but it's still a big white box with some black squiggles on it. Groundbreaking in Richard White's eyes maybe, but I don't think many people put much stock in his opinion, it's always a fluff piece on some mediocre development.
 
Dude, your minecraft rendering blows away the one done by the architects!
Chinese_T said:
I've finished my Hub recreation in Minecraft! Thought I'd show y'all before posting it to PMC/Reddit.

Took me about 2 weeks to make & I had to create custom spandrel and glazing textures for the podium. I also built the Mcdonald's next to it, which is on an angle.

Anyways, that's all for now. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.

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More Images + descriptions here:
https://imgur.com/a/EQnqbQM

Edit: PMC link with a little writeup on the project https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/the-hub-student-housing-calgary/
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Can't take anyone seriously that speaks of the Eiffel Tower and the Pompidou Center in the same sentence as a cheap, sandwich clad student residence. It's not distastful for a student residence however, some oddly placed offset windows doesn't make it any thought provoking. It's insulting to suggest that our understanding is not up to that level. The floorplans played a role in the exterior placement of the windows. This is not exclusively an artistic vision. The hardest thing to do is simple symmetry that meshes the exterior design and interior layout perfectly with no compromises This tower's design is full of compromises under a mask of randomness. No one at the firm wanted to really talk about it. The author was the only one that sees value beyond a functional, budget driven student residence that doesn't make your eyes burn.

More important is creating an urban setting where there is none for future developments to expand. This one falls flat on its face.
 
The building looks okay from a distance. It looks really cheap and tacky up close when you can see the materials. One thing I didn't notice in the renderings until I saw it in person is that it's going to have a solid blank wall lining 16th Ave, which is going to be rather dreary. On the other hand, the building "faces" the alleyway that runs through the middle of the block. I've often thought that the only way Motel Village will become an actual urban neighbourhood is if the (currently unpaved) alleyway becomes an actual street, and buildings are redeveloped to face the alley. This building, along with the realignment of all the roads in the area are moving the neighbourhood in the right direction. Unfortunately the current plan on the books still calls for the rest of the alleyway to remain an alley and for buildings to continue to front the Crowchild to the west, and the LRT tracks to the east. Neither of which are amenable to creating a vibrant neighbourhood. Imagine if all of the restaurants and amenities currently in Motel Village all faced the central alleyway. It would be one of the most vibrant streets in the city.

Re: Richard White. I respect the guy, even though I rarely agree with him. He seems to really love the city and has put a lot of effort into public service, particularly within the arts sector. I admire his optimism, which must be difficult to maintain given the sorry state of the arts in this city and the lack of support among political leaders. That said, he's not an architectural critic. He's an urban booster. One cannot play both roles. You can't let a strong sense of civic pride compromise your criticism. He's been called Calgary's "Jane Jacobs", but Jacobs almost never said anything good about Toronto or New York. It's not that she didn't love those cities. She just saw her primary job as holding the 'powers that be' to account (public and private sector). This city could use an actual architectural critic. Of course, to have that, we'd also need a proper newspaper.
 
Silence&Motion said:
Re: Richard White. I respect the guy, even though I rarely agree with him. He seems to really love the city and has put a lot of effort into public service, particularly within the arts sector. I admire his optimism, which must be difficult to maintain given the sorry state of the arts in this city and the lack of support among political leaders. That said, he's not an architectural critic. He's an urban booster. One cannot play both roles. You can't let a strong sense of civic pride compromise your criticism. He's been called Calgary's "Jane Jacobs", but Jacobs almost never said anything good about Toronto or New York. It's not that she didn't love those cities. She just saw her primary job as holding the 'powers that be' to account (public and private sector). This city could use an actual architectural critic. Of course, to have that, we'd also need a proper newspaper.
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Yep, and no he's definitely not any kind of version of Jane Jacobs. I agree with you, he's more of a booster type, and my hat's off to him for loving the city, but like you I rarely agree with anything he says, and most of the time find his articles annoying to be honest.
 
haltcatchfire said:
I'll do it for free.
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I think the (free) teamwork on this site to analyze, debate and discuss projects from every angle cutting across interest levels, disciplines and backgrounds does far better than any single newspaper-based critic could - even if they were more talented than Richard White.

Atticus said:
Yep, and no he's definitely not any kind of version of Jane Jacobs. I agree with you, he's more of a booster type, and my hat's off to him for loving the city, but like you I rarely agree with anything he says, and most of the time find his articles annoying to be honest.
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His boosterism, lack of interest in getting the details right, and interest in creating new acronyms are what really frustrates me. Urbanism, architecture and planning are relatively fringe topics to the general public - booster/opinion articles with incorrect/insufficient analysis on issues on a platform to a wide audience is counter-productive to the conversation that some position him as "championing".
 
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Simple solution. Get an architect to be an architectural critic lol. It's the logical way to go, but the media outlets he writes for show their laziness or unawareness whenever they use his articles. I once remember him criticizing the new river pathway section from Centre street to EV, pointing out it wasn't being used. He might want to take a walk on it someday. lol.
CBBarnett said:
His boosterism, lack of interesting in getting the details right, and interest in creating new acronyms are what really frustrates me. Urbanism, architecture and planning are relatively fringe topics to the general public - booster/opinion articles with incorrect/insufficient analysis on issues on a platform to a wide audience is counter-productive to the conversation that some position him as "championing".
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Beazley66 said:
Not sure if it's been posted but here are some links for virtual tours of the suites.

thehubcalgary.ca

Urban Community Living in Calgary | The Hub

thehubcalgary.ca

A little claustrophobic, but seem to be bright. Then again, I recall my years of post secondary study, and all I needed was a desk and a bed. Apologize if they have been posted.
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Looks pretty decent and reasonably priced. It's ever harder to remember student life, but if my memory serves me and things haven't changed that much, there is definitely a market for this type of place, especially in Calgary's woefully under-served student sector.
 
It depends on the type of drone. I'm not sure what kind of drone was used for the video, but drones under 250 grams have more relaxed rules, and the exact wording of the regulations is a bit of a gray area, stating that you 'should avoid' rather than 'must avoid' airports. The same distance applies as it does for larger drones, but the wording is changed from must not, to should not. I have a friend who works at Transport Canada and she confirmed that you can fly a microdrone within the areas near heliports or airports, but have to fly it 'safety', which is also somewhat discretionary. So, as you said, if you're not too close to a runway or helipad or purposes being reckless, you'll be okay.

darwink said:
The new drone rules are way more flexible, but the videos downtown including the West Village, and of the Hub are likely in violation of federal rules unless our friend looked into it far more than I would expect most people to do. That being said, not being reckless, and flying proximate to buildings without getting much higher than them, I can't see much risk of enforcement. Edit: launching a drone on one of the central quads would likely lead to a quick visit by campus security.



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CBBarnett said:
Looks pretty decent and reasonably priced. It's ever harder to remember student life, but if my memory serves me and things haven't changed that much, there is definitely a market for this type of place, especially in Calgary's woefully under-served student sector.
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Damn, this building is reallly well positioned in filling a housing gap that exists in the NW close to SAIT and U of C. genuinely better option than having a rooming house in an old bungalow in Banff Trail or Capitol Hill. I think this will do really well.
 
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