I generally like it, but there are two things that are bothering me and I can’t decide if it’s a design feature or an optical illusion.

1. Are floors 3-6 cantilevered over floors 1&2? If so, I don’t like that.
2. Are the brick “columns” and windows on floors 3-6 misaligned with the columns and windows on floors 1&2? If so, I don’t like that.
 
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Take away some of the ornate cornices, and braces, and have the ground floor better integrated to the street level and it would be great
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Way to put a positive attitude on it. I think the cornices, braces, and especially the faux wrought iron balcony railings are pretty bad. The new part actually manages to look more old fashioned than the facade they're integrating with. I would rather they make the main building contemporary to complement the facade. I feel like London (as in England) has a lot of old-blended-into new architecture that looks fantastic.

I'm hoping this is just a stand-in until they get really working on a real design. Then again, I'm not confident about the ability of local firms to do anything contemporary. I had had high hopes for Rndsqr CY33 in Marda Loop and AVLI on Atlantic in Inglewood, but both came out pretty disappointing relative to the renderings, with some questionable material choices. To my surprise, the comparatively conservative South Bank/Block apartments came out much better than AVLI. It's well proportioned, materials look nice, it integrates very well with the street, and provides good density. If they could only tone down the gothic features of this new development...
 
haltcatchfire said:
The only gothic feature I see is that it's night time.
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Haha, I'm not sure what to call it. It's not gothic, but maybe Gotham City, Victorian? It's odd to see cornices with relief, since this isn't exactly a Roman temple or an 1880s Parisian apartment. I especially don't like the fake wrought-iron balcony railings. My objection is that the facade they are preserving is "old," and there's no point in trying to make a new building look anything less than new. It would be fine if they referenced the facade somehow, but these accents aren't even consistent with it.

There are so many ways to blend old and new so that they complement each other. Black metal box over heritage brick (source), residential addition to vintage Amsterdam building (Hund Falk), a subtle and tasteful addition (Max Dudler).
 
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O-tac said:
So the Inglewood Food Mart and Video will be no more? Ugh. Between this and the Blues Can the area will be losing some serious character. And yet the community association opposed developing the used car lot? WTF?!
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What's happening with the Blues Can again?
Edit: nevermind, found it

Calgary I Blues by Battistella I 17m I 4s I Battistella Developments I Lola Architecture

A new one for Inglewood, going where the Blues Can is. Blues by Battistella. Not a concrete highrise like we typically see from Battistella lately, but a smaller 4 storey residential over retail: https://developmentmap.calgary.ca/?find=DP2024-00043
calgary.skyrisecities.com calgary.skyrisecities.com
 
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AK452 said:
To my surprise, the comparatively conservative South Bank/Block apartments came out much better than AVLI. It's well proportioned, materials look nice, it integrates very well with the street, and provides good density. If they could only tone down the gothic features of this new development...
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Maybe kind of gossipy, but the South Bank/Block apartments were funded by a private party with a vested interest in Inglewood. I believe they retain ownership.

AVLI is basically funded by a big corp, REIT money kind of thing, pretty sure it's just a line on a spreadsheet for the capital behind it.

So I think the difference in final product is also a difference in values and value engineering. I.e. not apples to apples.

I just read through the meltdown re: immigration in that other thread and think I lost half my braincells so I don't want to veer into the overtly political...but

There's a conversation that should be had somewhere about the relationship between capital and development, the financialization of real estate overall and the way that intersects with properties like this one with cultural, heritage, and community value*. It touches on vacant lots and what we develop vs. don't, land hoarding, foreign ownership, homogenization, value engineering, housing supply, homelessness and every other damn issue that comes up.so often. It taps into the responsibilities of the feds, province, and city with regards to development, regulation, and models of housing. Not sure we have the guts as a nation to really confront that, and populist rhetoric is definitely not helping...


* Was thinking more about the blues can.site when I posted this
 
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Ramsayite said:
Maybe kind of gossipy, but the South Bank/Block apartments were funded by a private party with a vested interest in Inglewood. I believe they retain ownership.

AVLI is basically funded by a big corp, REIT money kind of thing, pretty sure it's just a line on a spreadsheet for the capital behind it.

So I think the difference in final product is also a difference in values and value engineering. I.e. not apples to apples.

I just read through the meltdown re: immigration in that other thread and think I lost half my braincells so I don't want to veer into the overtly political...but

There's a conversation that should be had somewhere about the relationship between capital and development, the financialization of real estate overall and the way that intersects with properties like this one with cultural, heritage, and community value*. It touches on vacant lots and what we develop vs. don't, land hoarding, foreign ownership, homogenization, value engineering, housing supply, homelessness and every other damn issue that comes up.so often. It taps into the responsibilities of the feds, province, and city with regards to development, regulation, and models of housing. Not sure we have the guts as a nation to really confront that, and populist rhetoric is definitely not helping...


* Was thinking more about the blues campsite when I posted this
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It's the other way around. South Block is owned by Opus, and the Avli project is partly owned by the original long time owners of the land, which iirc was a auto repair place. The people who owned the Avli land wanted to build something interesting for Inglewood. That said, Avli might be owned by a REIT, that I'm not sure of, but the original owners were part of the direction of the project.
 
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AK452 said:
To my surprise, the comparatively conservative South Bank/Block apartments came out much better than AVLI. It's well proportioned, materials look nice, it integrates very well with the street, and provides good density. If they could only tone down the gothic features of this new development...
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I prefer Avli myself, even though Southbank turned out very well. It's a personal choice based on Avli being more unique, which in many ways lends itself better to Inglewood. Southbank is very solid, but also quite conservative.
 
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