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-   -   [Moncton] Centre Avenir Centre | 26.65m |~6 Fl | Completed (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=203545)

Monctoncore Jan 16, 2013 4:49 PM

[Moncton] Centre Avenir Centre | 26.65m |~6 Fl | Completed
 
After going through the threads I feel its time we have a thread dedicated to the Events Centre, especially since we are going to seeing more plans and more happening in the next year on this project.

NADEAU SOUCI ELLIS

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3f0731a5.jpg

EXP. ARCHITECTS INC.

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8bcd055b.jpg

ARCHITECTS 4

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/...ps157a58d4.jpg


ARCHITECTURE 2000

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/...psa4461204.jpg

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/...ps224c4c71.jpg



The location chosen for the proposal

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/...ps95202820.jpg



All the images are taken out of the Moncton Downtown thread and all photos from the Moncton City Website.

MonctonRad Jan 16, 2013 4:55 PM

You may be right, but this is still nothing more than a proposal at the present time, so if you don't mind, i might request one of our new mods (ahem Myles, Greg) to change the title of the thread to something like:

[Moncton] Downtown Events Centre (proposal) :)

While you're at it guys, for the sake of maintaining naming conventions, perhaps you could change the Moncton Ideas thread to:

[Moncton] Ideas

Here's the URL for the webcam at the events centre construction site. Enjoy. :)

http://www.moncton.ca/Visitors/Web_C...own_Centre.htm

Monctoncore Jan 16, 2013 4:56 PM

Agreed

SignalHillHiker Jan 16, 2013 6:28 PM

Ahhh! :D Specific project threads for Moncton, I love it!

Is this the incredible shrinking event centre you joked about, MonctonRad?

MonctonCore, you should dig up whatever information has been posted in other threads and consolidate it here. And get a picture (even just a Google Street View capture) of what the site looks like today.

Here's the thread for ours, just to show you what I mean. And if you have any ideas how we can make ours better, easier to read, whatever, please don't hesitate to comment there.

Taeolas Jan 16, 2013 7:03 PM

That is the ever shrinking Event Centre. At this rate, it'll be built sometime in 2120, and it will consist of an unpaved parking lot and a park bench in the middle of it. :)

Until then though, there was a lot of discussion about it in the Inside Wheeler thread, including the proposals that were made for it.

JHikka Jan 16, 2013 7:04 PM

As far as i'm concerned if it holds any less than a capacity of 10,000 it's a letdown.

MonctonRad Jan 16, 2013 7:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker (Post 5975759)
Ahhh! :D Specific project threads for Moncton, I love it!

Is this the incredible shrinking event centre you joked about, MonctonRad?

MonctonCore, you should dig up whatever information has been posted in other threads and consolidate it here. And get a picture (even just a Google Street View capture) of what the site looks like today.

Yes, this is indeed the Incredible Shrinking Events Centre :haha:

Probably about 40% of the posts in the [Moncton] Centre (inside Wheeler) thread are about the events centre, so I don't think it is practical to move them all here, but I agree that some of the more important posts should be moved. I will do that tonight or within the next couple of days.

BTW, with this new thread, I am worried about some confusion with the name of the existing [Moncton] Centre thread. I am therefore proposing the following change:

That the [Moncton] Centre (inside Wheeler) Developments thread be renamed to the [Moncton] Downtown (inside Wheeler) Developments thread.

I have already PM'ed Myles about this. Greg handled the other change quite expeditiously....

It's so great having local moderators!

:banana::banana::banana:

JHikka Jan 16, 2013 7:40 PM

Removed the (Inside Wheeler) portion of the thread title. I think we all know where Downtown Moncton is. :tup:

mylesmalley Jan 16, 2013 7:55 PM

My bad haha. Form autocomplete gets a bit ambitious sometimes!

MonctonRad Jan 16, 2013 8:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHikka (Post 5975898)
Removed the (Inside Wheeler) portion of the thread title. I think we all know where Downtown Moncton is. :tup:

When I created the thread, I was trying to divide up Moncton into neighbourhoods so that we could have neighbourhood focussed discussions, I thought we needed some idea as to where the dividing line between "downtown" and the "northwest end" and "Moncton east" was. I arbitrarily used Wheeler Blvd as the dividing line.

I thought a definition was necessary because some people would have a very narrow view of where "downtown" Moncton is. For example, some would claim that downtown is bounded by Vaughan Harvey, Mountain Rd and King St. North of this you would have "north central Moncton" and west of this you would have the "west end". I just didn't want to get too neighbourhood specific.

Still, the original title of the thread was pretty cumbersome, and as long as everyone maintains the understanding that "downtown" means "within the confines of Wheeler Blvd", then I am cool with changing the name of the thread to [Moncton] Downtown Developments :tup:

MonctonRad Jan 17, 2013 3:24 AM

OK - I will select a few posts from the Moncton Downtown thread dealing with the events centre proposal.

#1 - regarding my impressions from attending the intial presentation at Moncton City Hall chambers nearly a year ago:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad (Post 5664409)
OK - in a nutshell this is what happened.........

Moncton City Council invited four local architectural firms to submit renderings as to what they think the proposed events centre and ancillary developments could look like. There is no guarantee that any of these renderings will reflect what the final project will look like, or even that the events centre will definitely be approved in the first place.

This presentation therefore was made to fire the imagination of those in attendance, and to garner further public support for this project.

The presentation was made in a packed city council chambers. It was standing room only will people spilling out into the lobby outside. The energy in the room was very positive and the atmosphere was charged with excitement. The mayor and a number of city councillors were in attendance as well as Robert Goguen, the federal MP for Moncton.

Personal observations:

- All four presentations referred to the project as the Moncton Centre. I presume that this is the official "placeholder" name for the project until something better comes along.
- All four presentations were good, but I agree with mattyy that two in particular stood out. These were the ones by Architects Four and Architecture 2000. These were the most professional and included CGI flyby animations, but aside from this, they had the most impressive features.
- All four proposals would site the arena where the current Highfield Square is located, with a mixed use development being built on the current parking lot which includes retail, commercial and residential components.
- In all cases, Highfield Street would be extended south to lie between the arena and the mixed use development. In one case, vehicle access would be limited. In another case, Weldon would also be extended south and a roadway would be created encircling the arena.
- In two cases, the proposals included an extension of the project to also include lands on the south side of the railway tracks (as suggested on our forum :)), with one of these proposals including mixed use and parking south of the rail lines while the other proposal included an innovative integrated transit facility for Codiac Transo, VIA Rail and possibly Acadian Lines. This would be accomplished by relocating the VIA station to the new transit hub.
- The Architects Four proposal for the arena had the arena oriented along Main St with a strong streetfront presence with retail and restaurants lining the facade. The Architecture 2000 proposal had the arena obliquely oriented, parallelling the rail line rather than Main St. This allowed for a plaza in front of the arena facing Main St. This proposal also envisaged restaurants and pubs lining the streetfront, but the plaza in front allowed for patios in front of the restaurants.
- all four proposals included public spaces but these were in completely different locations depending on the proposal. The concept of an integrated convention facility was brought up a couple of times. One proposal included an art gallery.
- None of the proposals indicated any linkage to the Aquillini block across the street, but this could easily be addressed.

In essence, this is a transformative project that will completely resculpt two or possibly three city blocks (four if you include Aquillini). The downtown will most definitely never be the same if this project moves forward......

It was actually quite emotional watching these presentations in the council chamber. I don't think I was the only person who felt this way. :yes:


MonctonRad Jan 17, 2013 3:27 AM

#2 - pierremoncton posted this, including a link to a city hall website with numerous architectural renderings for review:


Quote:

Originally Posted by pierremoncton (Post 5664934)
The city has posted 56 renderings here: http://www.moncton.ca/Moncton__Our_T...Renderings.htm

A couple of interesting ones:

Density:
http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12115

Lunar base:
http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12140

Source: posted link


MonctonRad Jan 17, 2013 3:30 AM

#3 - mctnguy provided this link to a youtube video of the presentation (very informative, a must see really):


Quote:

Originally Posted by mctnguy (Post 5665814)
Here's a video of the presentation:

Video Link


MonctonRad Jan 17, 2013 3:34 AM

#4 - further thoughts by myself regarding each of the four different proposals:


Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad (Post 5666476)
Further thoughts on the four different presentations for the downtown Moncton Events Centre:

Exp. Architects Inc.

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12126
Overview of events centre from Main/Highfield intersection

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12125
Looking towards mixed use part of the development on current parking lot.

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12124
Looking down Highfield St extension. There would be limited vehicular access, and the very end of the street would be occupied by a semi permanent stage for outdoor concerts and events.

This is easily the most modest of the four proposals, and therefore the most affordable and as such likely would be the closest to what will actually be built. I like the design of the arena, but I don't think putting condo units in the arena building itself, facing Main St is very practical. I also am not sure about closing off the end of the Highfield St extension and turning it into a hemmed off plaza. It would instead be better to open up the development some more, so that it is more inclusive of the railway lands in some way. It's also important to form a linkage to the lands south of the rail line. This would help to spur on development in the south end of the downtown

Architects Four

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12101
Overview of events centre as seen from Main/Highfield intersection. The arena itself is at the back end of the property with mixed retail/commercial in an attached building facing Main St. This proposal has a strong street presence.

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12103
Looking north from the CN tracks. Arena in the foreground. There is an attached convention facility (on the left), along the southwest corner of the arena building. The architects envisage extending both Weldon and Highfield, creating a street that would encircle the arena building.

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12104
Looking east from the Weldon/Main intersection. You can appreciate the strong street presence of the building on Main St. Also, in the distance you can see a large parking facility (and some apartments) on the other side of the CN tracks. I'm not sure how the parking structure is connected to the events centre, but a pedway would suffice. Again, you can see mixed use on the current Highfield square parking lot.

This is a very comprehensive proposal that leaves little else to be desired. It has it all. I really appreciate the street presence and, the inclusion of a convention centre and lots of commercial development should help with revenue streams to help finance the project. The commercial component of the building is so large that you might in fact even be able to lure the Bay into coming back! :) Putting a street completely around the events centre helps to integrate it into the rest of downtown and would help to stimulate development behind the Terminal Plaza buildings. The parking on the south end of the CN tracks is a very strong feature of this proposal. I like this a lot.....

Nadeau, Soucy, Ellis

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12132http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12133
http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12138
http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12146

This is easily the weakest of the four proposals as far as I am concerned. My biggest complaint is that I found it all rather confusing and it took me some time to get my bearings with this proposal. The arena does not stand out from the other buildings and I don't like all the curves and offset levels in the buildings. I'm not sure what the function of that big pedway is. I imagine that the architectural complexity of this development would mean that it would be prohibitively expensive. This proposal is a non starter IMHO.

Architecture 2000

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12150
Overview showing the arena on the Highfield Square site, mixed use on the current parking lot, a public park to the south of the Terminal Plaza complex, the innovative transit hub on the south side of the CN line and interestingly, a redeveloped Aquillini block as well. I wonder if Raven Spanier has been talking to anybody in Vancouver! ;)

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12108
Looking south on Highfield. You can appreciate that Highfield will be extended across the CN tracks to provide access to the integrated transit hub. This would also help to integrate the south end of downtown to the rest of the core and help promote further development. The redeveloped Aquillini block is in the foreground.

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12113
Looking west up Main St. It would certainly be hard to miss the arena! :) This proposal also has a strong street presence on Main.

http://www.moncton.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=12114
Looking east up Main St. The facade of the arena is certainly eyecatching and iconic.

This is by far the most ambitious of all of the proposals, especially when you consider the integrated transit facility. This probably puts it out of reach for budgetary reasons, but you never know. Federal money won't be available for the arena but could be available for public transit projects. A strong commercial component (including the Aquillini block) would also bring in more monies. This proposal would do the most to transform the downtown, but in the end might be less practical than the Architects Four proposal. Still, if money were no object, this proposal would be my choice.... :)


MonctonRad Jan 17, 2013 3:40 AM

#5 - pierremoncton posted this additional flyover animation of the Architecture 2000 proposal:


Quote:

Originally Posted by pierremoncton (Post 5672089)
Architecture 2000's downtown centre fly-over -- turn off the audio:

Video Link


Monctoncore Jan 17, 2013 4:24 AM

Event Centre
 
The thing I do like Architects 4's idea because its affordable design, but some changes would be, one the plaza, I find its just really bland, it doesn't look like a place people would want to gather around, I would like to see some color, it could use maybe a restaurant area/bar facing the plaza, some more statues and art work. Two The street presence isn't attractive at all needs entrances form Main st.... actually I guess i'm not a fan of it , if we could just incorporate bits of each would be awesome.

Architecture 2000's is by far the best, I think that it would be affordable if it was done in phases ( except the rail ). The whole project wouldn't be exactly the same, change the transit hub to something similar to the go transit rail crossing in Pickering.

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/...ps348379da.jpg

Bring that across to a redeveloped lot or parking garage/transit hub Codiac Transpo and it would look great. Basically my point it Architecture 2000's render is affordable especially if its tweaked a bit, but keeping the beautiful colours and art work like in the video.

Photo from the Pickering Go transit site.

magee_b Jan 17, 2013 8:44 AM

I find the North facing view of the Architects 4 proposal really telling. In the bottom right corner across Highfield you can see stairs leading down (underground parking / tunnel under the tracks?), also there appears to be some sort of patio features included in the design - on the upper level of the arena, on the roof of the convention centre space, and as well in the corner of the large plaza facing Highfield (possibly promoting the concept of a sports bar/restaurant). Overall a very practical concept and fitting to the area. I think I find the others unnecessarily flashy to the point of being unrealistic (but this is coming from a modest SJer). The designer also clearly put their attention on the arena alone, whereas my feeling on the others is that the add-ons (surrounding condos/transit centres/etc) are a bit of a distraction from the central purpose of a downtown events centre.

Peter_johnns Jan 31, 2013 3:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad (Post 5976515)
#3 - mctnguy provided this link to a youtube video of the presentation (very informative, a must see really):

Who wants to live in a hockey rink? Residential needs to be separated from the centre...if this or anything close to it ever even happens.

JHikka Jan 31, 2013 4:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_johnns (Post 5994537)
Who wants to live in a hockey rink?

There must be interest.

RyeJay Jan 31, 2013 4:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter_johnns (Post 5994537)
Who wants to live in a hockey rink? Residential needs to be separated from the centre...if this or anything close to it ever even happens.

People aren't literally living in a hockey rink. :haha:
Welcome to the concept of mixed-use, urban living: Living close to sources of employment, to amenities, in a central location.


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