General rating of the project

  • Great

    Votes: 8 7.2%

  • Very Good

    Votes: 15 13.5%

  • Good

    Votes: 39 35.1%

  • So So

    Votes: 13 11.7%

  • Not Very Good

    Votes: 16 14.4%

  • Terrible

    Votes: 20 18.0%
  • Total voters
    111
My question for the designers would be why? Why the random patterns? Why so many triangles and weird angles at the top and podium that are both visually unsatisfying and do little to increase usable area? Some buildings are obvious into their design intentions - even when I disagree with them - this one eludes me as so many choices seem contradictory.
  • "We want a visually striking and impressive roof feature!" (okay, then why so much mechanical venting, why the random awkward colours that don't match etc.)
  • "We want to offer a vibrant, "big city" urban apartment lifestyle!" (okay, then why so little attention to a successful ground floor treatment and podium that's designed for semi-trucks to drive-through etc.)

Colours, angles, patterns can all be pulled off - but I would have thought institutional investments + purpose built rental would have landed with a conservative, simple, boring box that modestly hits all the marks.

I know exceptions exist, but most modern condo and apartment buildings in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have none of this crown-focused bizarre-ness. Once again we appear heading for another hall-of-fame entry into Calgary's long and inexplicable tradition of strange mechanical penthouse / crown treatments.
 
1875 said:
and like almost all other offending projects there has to be two of them and be visible from everywhere. why doesnt anyone in the approval process ever get roasted for this?
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I assume we incentivize these crown choices somehow through usable area calculations and bonus points for "visually interesting or usable" roof features while simultaneously having few tools to validate that the roof feature is indeed "visually interesting or usable"? I'm sure some of the blame goes to the local and regional design culture at-large, but I find it hard to believe there are not systemic processes at work that keeps creating these weird outcomes.
 
I was reading some excerpts from a number of interviews Yahya Jan. He was talking about how important integrated design solutions are, and how to often designers are “happy to do what someone else has done because it is tried and tested". Well, I'm not sure this project exemplifies successful integrated design. When I see a significant departure from what was sold at UDRP or CPC, I can't help but think that somehow that loop-hole needs to get closed. Also, when I see 2 solid floors of louvered mechanical space, while initial concepts show maybe a part floor, it tells me that integrated design, and even concept design failed. Those design decisions have to be made early in design concept, with everyone at the table, and that goes for the cladding as well. Unfortunately they ended up being “happy to do what someone else has done because it is tried and tested". I also get the sense that this was more than value engineering. I think this is a story about "panic design", that leaves a horrible standard in place for all to behold.
 
D7765289-FA69-48D1-9E43-154C6392DF08.jpeg


It just makes you want to suffer permanent blindness.
 
Man! Im at the point of starting a petition to ban Cidex. If it wasn't for our shitty economy in which Cidex is helping workers stay employed, I'd start a movement to have them chased out of Calgary. How many garbage projects is that now? You can't be showing flashy renderings during approval and then cheap out with something different in the end. Thats called lying!
 
MichaelS said:
Sigh... When I bought in Riverwest, with a south view, I knew these towers were approved and would one day take away my mountain view. But I thought, that's okay, look at what I will be looking out onto, a clear glass greenhouse of trees:
View attachment 266776

Well, not quite as advertised. Good news is, I am not on a floor as high up as these are, so I just need to train myself not to look up too much.....
View attachment 266777
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This looks so heinous I'm literally laughing out loud! 😂

What in the absolute f*ck were they thinking?! This will be a stain on the westernmost edge of our skyline for a literal century. Good gods.
 
haltcatchfire said:
View attachment 266012
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Lol it is pathetic how much better it would look like this. Fuck what a disaster. I was willing to forgive so many other things and be hopeful aabout the potential of this, i liked how the crown looked in the renders and thought they would do it justice.
Nope, I feel like a total fool. What an ugly POS.

Has anyone ventured to guess WHY they have random different coloured panels up there too?
 
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