Cowtown
Senior Member
I for one (and maybe the only one) like the spandrel at the lower west portion.
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
Golfing guy
Active Member
I love all the snobbery on this site. If it’s not up to your stupidly high standards then it shouldn’t be built. That is a crazy way of viewing things. With the direction Calgary/Alberta/Canada/World is heading economically we should be super happy anything is getting built. Some on this site have Caviar dreams. Let’s be realistic and be happy that anything is starting at all. I for one loves the look of this project. Not everything has to be perfect
MichaelS
Senior Member
I think we should all wait for it to be finished and the construction fencing to be down before we pass final judgement.
Calgcouver
Active Member
Let's be real about that podium design though. We aren't talking about "stupidly high standards", we are talking a design that should meet even the most basic standards of what a podium should look and feel like today. I don't care about the towers themselves, they are fine. But the podium is a dumpster fire, no exaggeration, and should have never been approved as-is. West Village's podium will have the exact same street feel and presence as this building as it ages.
Enjoy this development feeling exactly like this in like 10 years:
Asking for better podium design especially on a full-block development isn't snobbish, it is just asking to not recreate the obvious mistakes we have made so many times in Calgary in the past that we seem to repeat. Or you know, we could just accept anything and everything, regardless of how anti-urban the design is, and how poor the materiality of the podium is and just be thankful anything gets developed, and we will have a City that looks and feels that way. Apparently design standards that are the market standard in most other cities is "caviar dreams". Apparently i shouldn't expect downtown Calgary developments to look even as good as what is going on in Surrey.
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CBBarnett
Senior Member
Another axiom we should add to the rules of critiquing Calgary renderings is if a project relies on street trees to look good, it's probably a terrible building. This city has shown little evidence of being able to plant, grow or maintain street trees in our most urban areas, as my recent public realm rants have focused on. If your building only looks good because a tree is in front of it that's a bad sign
Vancouver has plenty of terribly ugly and non-functional buildings from various eras, but they avoided a ton of criticism by being a temperate rain forest that absolves many architecture and public realm sins by hiding them in rendering-friendly vegetation.
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UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
Lmfao Jesus, this is hilarious. "Caviar dreams" just because we want good design standards for the pedestrian realms of our projects. The only place Edmonton outshines Calgary is in the design of their new/proposed/and UC building podiums over the past decade. Even though we've built triple the amount of towers in that period, our urban forms have improved at a nearly identical rate. All we want are basic design standards, and for those standards to be delivered, no one is demanding anything fancy.
Towers alone do not a city make.
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maestro
Senior Member
The current economic condition is just a moment in the lifetime of the podium. It will outlast many more downturns and upturns and make itself known to many generations of Calgarians. The longer term matters more than the current climate. "Super happy for anything" is a far too common rationalization of acceptance.
I think the design and function of the podium is terrible. I don't think it would take caviar to vastly improve on both attributes. We can agree to disagree respectfully.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
Went by this one in person, and that black spandrel looks awful! What a sterile and cold presence at the street level so far, such a disappointment.
IceCreamMan
Active Member
I like the form of the towers, very distinct; the podium though, blech. My guess is the client value engineered the shit out of this thing. The least they could have done with that hideous, monolithic podium is wrap it some type of glass curtain wall (like West Block in Edmonton). Hell, I even wish the design somehow introduced timber elements in there to really change the podium's unforgivingly boring presence.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
I think there was supposed to be some sort of stone tile or cement panel cladding on the podium originally, and I think it was going to be different shades of grey.
1875
Senior Member
Atticus
Active Member
I don't know if snobbery is the right word, but much like any forum, there is always a bit of group think. I agree with you that not everything has to be perfect, bit at the same time sometimes you see a project and wonder what the architect was thinking. For me personally the towers are fine, and TBH I quite like them but I have trouble with the podium.
Thewanderer
New Member
Crazyeamon
New Member
Anyone know who the electrical contractor on site is?