Winnipeg | Red River College | Innovation Centre Exchange District campus | U/C

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Wow, stunning! I absolutely love how you can walk to the walkable town centre on the nonexistent sidewalks. Fantastic!

Yeah, there's no sidewalk in the ditch of Lagimodiere unfortunately. There are sidewalks on the other sides though of course. The entrances of most of the buildings even open up to the wide sidewalks, which I thought was a key principal of good urban design. As for parking, I think it's inevitable that a large grocery store would have a parking lot. I mean, even the Safeway at River and Osborne has a large lot.

These pictures seem to represent what urbanists are advocating for in new communities, but maybe I'm missing something.

[bomberjet]

Except the sea of parking is just off screen. What it should be is a local high street. With all these shops lined up along it. With people living all around the high street. Not just adding a wide sidewalk into a parking lot and called it totally walkable urban neighborhood. People need to drive their cars to the parking lot, then get out just like any other of these large developments.

And yes, big box stores like Sobey's and Walmart will always require a huge lot..

[esquire]

^ What I would like to see in suburban areas is closer to a high street model, where you have commercial uses blended into the neighbourhood, instead of just shoving it all at the outer periphery (like in Sage Creek) or one big blob (like in Waverley West) where in both cases it's dominated by busy streets and huge parking lots.

I was pleasantly surprised the other day to take one of my kids to her gymnastics class at a new gym on Beaverhill in Southdale... to my shock it was a business in a new building smack dab in a residential neighbourhood. I don't know how this didn't end up getting NIMBYed to death with dire predictions of traffic mayhem, but somehow it got built. That is the kind of thing that should be the model.

[Ando]

I guess people don't like the Smartpark, but I don't see the need to extrapolate so directly to the golf course development. It's not indicative of an inefficient land policy, the land became available at that time and it was purchased for future development. I think it makes a lot of sense long term.

[windypeg]

Originally Posted by Bdog

Yeah, there's no sidewalk in the ditch of Lagimodiere unfortunately. There are sidewalks on the other sides though of course. The entrances of most of the buildings even open up to the wide sidewalks, which I thought was a key principal of good urban design. As for parking, I think it's inevitable that a large grocery store would have a parking lot. I mean, even the Safeway at River and Osborne has a large lot.

These pictures seem to represent what urbanists are advocating for in new communities, but maybe I'm missing something.

So there's the fake potemkin facade designed to look somewhat walkable, and the giant sea of parking around back where 95% of customers will actually access the stores. Due to Lag the "town centre" is completely cut off from surrounding areas whereas good urban design would emphasize connectivity. The higher-density condo units are located across fields and parking lots from the stores instead of above them in multi-story buildings. 80% of the surface area in the commercial parts is parking. It's a car-dominated island. No one from outside Sage Creek will ever walk or bike through there for any reason and even people in the development, I have a hard time believing they're going to walk a kilometer through a desolate suburb to get to Tim's instead of just stopping in their car on the way home. Look at the layout from Google maps and compare it to Kenaston or Regent - it's the exact same big box garbage, but it's trying, VERY superficially, to pretend it's something different.

Originally Posted by esquire

^ What I would like to see in suburban areas is closer to a high street model, where you have commercial uses blended into the neighbourhood, instead of just shoving it all at the outer periphery (like in Sage Creek) or one big blob (like in Waverley West) where in both cases it's dominated by busy streets and huge parking lots.

I was pleasantly surprised the other day to take one of my kids to her gymnastics class at a new gym on Beaverhill in Southdale... to my shock it was a business in a new building smack dab in a residential neighbourhood. I don't know how this didn't end up getting NIMBYed to death with dire predictions of traffic mayhem, but somehow it got built. That is the kind of thing that should be the model.

Yes mixed-use means the different uses are all mingled together, I hate how developers now just build the same big-box wastelands as they always have but they put it beside some housing and pretend it's mixed use.

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by windypeg

So there's the fake potemkin facade designed to look somewhat walkable, and the giant sea of parking around back where 95% of customers will actually access the stores. Due to Lag the "town centre" is completely cut off from surrounding areas whereas good urban design would emphasize connectivity. The higher-density condo units are located across fields and parking lots from the stores instead of above them in multi-story buildings. 80% of the surface area in the commercial parts is parking. It's a car-dominated island. No one from outside Sage Creek will ever walk or bike through there for any reason and even people in the development, I have a hard time believing they're going to walk a kilometer through a desolate suburb to get to Tim's instead of just stopping in their car on the way home. Look at the layout from Google maps and compare it to Kenaston or Regent - it's the exact same big box garbage, but it's trying, VERY superficially, to pretend it's something different.

I mean, Lagimodiere has been a high speed corridor through that area for 50 years. I'm not sure what could have been done to make Sage Creek more integrated with Island Lakes.

I don't know where the idea comes from that for an area to be mixed use, the buildings all need to be mixed use and multi-storey. Look at Osborne, Corydon, Sherbrook. Our favourite mixed-use neighbourhoods are lined 95% by one and two storey buildings, very few with apartments on top of them. I mean, very few people want to live on top of a bar or pizza restaurant on a busy street. The density and residential don't need to be on the high street, and rarely are.

As for the potemkin facade, how is this any different than large stretches of Osborne Village? Have you ever been to Stella's or Little Pizza Heaven? There are large parking lots directly behind these businesses all along the east side. North of River Ave, there is a sea of parking on the west side of Osborne for the Evergreen Towers and the Safeway. Is the Liquor Mart development or the Starbucks at River and Osborne a potemkin facade as well because there is parking behind?

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by esquire

I was pleasantly surprised the other day to take one of my kids to her gymnastics class at a new gym on Beaverhill in Southdale... to my shock it was a business in a new building smack dab in a residential neighbourhood. I don't know how this didn't end up getting NIMBYed to death with dire predictions of traffic mayhem, but somehow it got built. That is the kind of thing that should be the model.

that gymnastics center (GymKids) was where they are now building apartments for over 20 years, then the developer offered to build them a brand new building so they can build these 55+ apartments.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Don't think anyone's saying there isn't a demand for all this, more that they already have a ton of undeveloped or poorly/underdeveloped land that could have included a lot of this, while making the campus more dense, walkable, attractive, and livable. The design of all the land surrounding Chancellor Matheson is atrocious. Classic case of having so much land that they don't even have to think about getting creative with it, just develop it like a big-box suburb.

Classic example of their poor planning is the two different types of accent path lighting on the south vs. north sides of Chancellor Matheson. ughhhhhh for the entryway drive it infuriates me!

[Wpg_Guy]

This will truly be a spectacular building!

• Video Link

Ramping up momentum for College’s new Innovation Centre
September 27, 2018

You’re about to start hearing a lot more about Red River College’s new Innovation Centre, construction of which is already underway in Winnipeg’s Exchange District.

The conversation started this week with a keynote speech from RRC President Paul Vogt to the members of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, and with a feature article in the Winnipeg Free Press by Business writer Martin Cash.

Slated for completion in the fall of 2020, the $95-million, 100,000-sq. ft. facility will be a hub for innovation and collaboration — one that will continue to grow Winnipeg’s technology and business sectors, with a focus on applied research, entrepreneurship and social innovation.

It will feature adaptable classrooms, collaboration spaces, an array of student services and supports, and — at its heart — a roundhouse auditorium with seating for 210 people.

With more than 21,000 students enrolled annually, the College is currently operating at capacity, and needs to expand to continue meeting the ever-changing industry requirements of the businesses and organizations where graduates find employment.

This new facility will help RRC students remain ahead of the curve, armed with the knowledge and skills required to start their new careers as leaders.

Learn more about how you can get involved with the Innovation Centre project.
https://www.rrc.ca/news/2018/09/27/r...vation-centre/

[BigG]

Just beautiful.

[Wpg_Guy]

Akman Construction Ltd. on Instagram: “Piling is underway at Red River College’s - Innovation Centre!






https://www.instagram.com/p/BojVxpPn...n_construction

[tree]

Looks awesome. Hopefully Red River could move some programs downtown as well. I really think having UW and RRC expand provide best bang for buck downtown development - alone they can't do it but combined with other development they seem to really add a lot. The Route 90 campus is brutal from what I hear. (not bad facilities from what I've heard - just has a 'middle of nowhere' vibe surrounded by industrial / shipping infrastructure)

[Riverman]

^ It's just fine. Only thing that really hurt it was the new campus downtown. Really buggered up the campus life. Notre Dame is now a sausage factory.

What is supposed to be going in this new building? When I retired ten months ago, nobody knew.

[tree]

Originally Posted by Riverman

^ It's just fine. Only thing that really hurt it was the new campus downtown. Really buggered up the campus life. Notre Dame is now a sausage factory.

What is supposed to be going in this new building? When I retired ten months ago, nobody knew.

Sounds like more to do with with the programs at the Notre Dame campus then the new downtown campus. I guess by splitting it Notre Dame was left with mostly trades / technical fields - which are still likely predominantly male. RRC ought to move everything downtown so it doesn't feel isolated, boring and homogeneous.

[1ajs]

i know a bunch of trades students that would love to be downtown for their classroom work

[Riverman]

Yeah that's not possible.

[bomberjet]

RRC Notre Dame campus itself is pretty good I thought. Well connected, good services, good cafeteria. If the complaint is it's far out from downtown on route 90, well, yes. That's exactly what it's always been.

[buzzg]

Yeah. Would make no sense in any way to put sprawling one storey heavy engineering labs/garages downtown.

[windypeg]

Originally Posted by tree

Sounds like more to do with with the programs at the Notre Dame campus then the new downtown campus. I guess by splitting it Notre Dame was left with mostly trades / technical fields - which are still likely predominantly male. RRC ought to move everything downtown so it doesn't feel isolated, boring and homogeneous.

The student experience is 1000% better at the downtown campus. Notre Dame is a wasteland.

[Ando]

Well I guess that goes without saying doesn't it?