"Ethan, Daddy needs to make dinner. Take your crayons and colour all these circles."

The coloured circles proposal seems so unrealistic to me, and the wacky design doesn't fit the scale IMO. I could see a design like that working on a smaller infill with medium height, and that would work anywhere (big cities like TO and MTL or smaller centres even like Victoria or Halifax). But this substantial size project looks ridiculous with that design. It is an absurd assault on the eyes, too big, and also very questionable on how it executes. Kudos on not being a cookie cutter glass tower and all, but encouraging alternatives to glass doesn't mean they have to lose their marbles and throw them on a building LOL! Again, smaller scale and only on one building would be acceptable, but not here. Just my two cents.

I think that's a great description. It's vibe really does evoke the playful, naive innocence of a child which really goes to show that not everything needs to be high brow.

This will look fun from a distance which is where the vast majority will view them from. My first thought was WTF! But now I kind of like them. It's too bad it will be value engineered as Whipper pointed out. If this was downtown I'd want the windows to fill the circles.

This isn't a proposal but I'm wondering if there ever has been a proposal at this spot. In my excursions on Google maps I noticed there is a prime waterfront area in Calgary west of downtown that's occupied by some car dealerships:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0468...UzSAFQAw%3D%3D

I suppose maybe decades ago it was fine for such a use, but nowadays it seems like a wasted opportunity. I would think that with the money those dealerships could make from selling their land they could build the fanciest car dealerships ever somewhere else in Calgary. Has there ever been proposals there?

Yeah, there's been proposals

https://gecarchitecture.com/projects...art%20facility.


The site is heavily contaminated and no one wants to pay for the clean up.

https://www.alberta.ca/contaminant-m...anada-creosote

I like it!

I guess that explains it. Makes you wonder about the car dealers that are there. Are they not concerned about the contamination?

Me too! I can definitely see this one being very divisive between those who like it, and those who hate it.

I feel like this is one of those projects that will either turn out fantastic or turn into a metaphorical flop, and there is no in between.

Perhaps a lot of the contamination is only an issue when you have to start digging and stirring up stuff that seeped into the soil. If so, there'd be less risk if all you need is a paved surface and buildings on a slab with no basement. There would need to be a little digging for plumbing but that would probably be much shallower than a basement or underground parking levels. Just a guess though.

The proposal above is reminiscent of the BC Cancer research building, however the circles are much more repetitious; it brings a lot of imagery from mid century modern, usually a good thing overall, but I think some more contrasting elements would be better.

edit: designed by the same firm

If the colored things were black, and the windows were smoked glass, it might look better. It would just be black holes punctuating a white surface.

Also, that white surface should be white aluminum. Like on this. It will age much better.

perhaps a monochromatic colour scheme would help, but this is literally the ugliest thing I've seen in a while. It's like a giant Plinko board.
Have you pets spayed and neutered.

I see a multitude of "pause" buttons. Which is a sign.

If any Waterloo student housing were actually built by a serious architect with an ability to successfully execute projects, perhaps.

It's certainly an audacious proposal, at least. Love it or hate it, it would no doubt be a bit of a landmark for the area.

I like the Podium... but I really hate the colour palette. And the different sized windows in the tower is something I don't really like either :shrug: .

However, I LOVE the risk they took with this along with the design form. I think it just needs a couple of updates and evolutions for the envelope and then it could be even revered as beautiful.

Kinda freaks me out a bit haha. Like a lotus pod. Yuck.

You must suffer from Trypophobia.

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