Reminds me of the Blue Cross Centre in Moncton

I took another look at this today as I was in the area. I think the red brick is the problem. That has been a staple of institutional buildings in Halifax for decades and in this particular context it makes this building look quite plain and pedestrian. I happened to drive past the Velo development on Gottingen later and even though it is not supposed to be a posh development like this one is, the use of different colors and styles of brick on the exterior makes it look far more upscale.

I agree with you about the red brick vs. the cladding on Velo completely.

There's something about the massing of the Keep I feel is awkward, but I can't quite tell what. Maybe it's not subdivided into smaller lengths of streetwall or something - the Velo building also does a better job of bringing variety to the massing.

Agreed. Although I believe it may be real brick on precast panels... not faux. But yah. Pretty plain 1990’s style institutional finishes. And zero articulation. And clunky “block of cheese” proportions.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4742/...0333140b_b.jpg20180128_135346 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

Yikes. Not looking very nice on any aspect currently. Very institutional indeed. Hoping they pull off a miracle on this one with the finishing touches.

That telephone pole on the corner just wrecks it.

Hopefully it looks better in person than in pictures. Dreary winter weather is unflattering, and it'll probably look a lot nicer when the balconies and storefronts are finished. The storefronts look okay. It is good that the ground floor cladding extends a bit above the windows. Presumably awnings will go there. Many other similar buildings around the city have unattractive low-slung storefronts.

I never really liked this style. It is an uncomfortable mash-up between faux historic elements (brick and precast instead of stone) and more modern elements (glass/spandrel). In the picture, the seams between panels are about as noticeable as decorative elements like the cornices. The cornice ends awkwardly at the black paneling.

I wonder if the cornice installation just isn't finished yet, or if the design changed. If you look at the rendering, the black cladding portions are surrounded by brick and precast, and the cornices extend along the entire facade. The upper cornice is much larger.

It looks a lot nicer:

http://thekeephalifax.ca/images/uplo...ok-thekeep.jpg

The brick also has a more textured appearance in the rendering. I think that is more attractive too, although I could also see this being an issue of resolution in photos. Maybe it looks better in person. In photos it looks like ugly tinted precast.

It all reminds me a bit of those photos people take to compare products delivered with ads:

https://piximus.net/media2/47042/mis...s-online-6.jpg
https://piximus.net/fun/miserable-te...m-dress-online

The rendering shows a layer of brick below the cornice on the curved section, but the as-built has glass there. Would brick/cornice be installed over the glass, or has it been a design change?

I had great hopes for this one, but the details are turning it into a "meh" for me. Hopefully it will look better once done.

The streetside relationship still looks like it will be good, though. :2cents:

https://78.media.tumblr.com/259a046a...jdq8o1_540.jpg
Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

Starbuck's is now open in the corner unit.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/02463fb7...dq8o1_1280.jpg
Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/859/4...5f50593c_b.jpg20180724_103938 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/846/4...b6f5b516_b.jpg20180724_114639 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

The awnings from the rendering appear to be absent. It's unfortunate because I think they helped the street level appearance.

I had been assuming they were still going to install them up until the retail signage started to go up.

Yeah, I was wondering about this too. There are big blank spaces above the storefront windows. Unfortunately this is another change that makes it look worse than the rendering.

It does look like the size of the space above the store front windows holds with the rendering. Fingers crossed that they'll be installed soon.

I wouldn't get your hopes up. The Trail Shop's sign appears to be a permanent fixture (multi-dimensional, back-lit metal work).

The development agreement says awnings MAY be installed, but doesn't require them.

This one gets a big ol' "MEH" from me: better than what was there, far below what could have been there, and below what they had proposed before all the cohesive bits got "value engineered" out.

It's interesting to consider how much money they saved and how much of an impact those savings had on profits. I'd guess the impact is pretty small since for one thing the exterior finishings must be just a small part of the whole (with money going to planning and design, land, the basic structure and services, and interior finishes). By this I mean that the changes that happened to the Keep wouldn't be able to make the difference between losing money and making what are considered to be good returns for a development like this (if that is the case and the development market is competitive, this means you *have* to use these tricks to stay in business! Hopefully it's not that bad.).

Like I said before I think this process is a bit slanted against curb appeal. Even though they cheaped out on exterior aesthetics, they are still marketing the building using the prettier rendering, and when buyers visit the units they will be mostly concerned with the interiors.

Ironically the buyers will also care about their views, which depend on the curb appeal of the other buildings around them but not the one they are in! This is a classic economic externality, and something that usually requires regulation to fix.

One way to fix it would be to put in design requirements (Centre Plan?). Another might be to require more specific plans and be stricter with variances after approval. Another might be to require more faithful marketing materials and more explicit disclosure ("building may be uglier than it appears" :)).

https://businesstech.co.za/news/wp-c.../McDonalds.jpg
Source

The McDonald's ad seems similar except the real and fantasy burgers are arguably structurally more similar. An analogy to the architectural version would be if they cut the pickles and sesame seeds.

A very disappointing building.