Just found another one at the SP thanks to David Hutton.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/9538/rlsscene672.jpg

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/3738/rlsscene662.jpg

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Congratulations Saskatoon for finally getting this thing going :)

The part I don't like is it looks like there is a driveway or roadway of some sort between the residential tower and the plaza. Would it not be better to have a bigger plaza.....

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/busine...?size=620x400s

Me thinks that all of that will be part of the plaza.

Echoes posted this on the Saskatoon thread:

"The Meewasin Valley Authority will consider the Parcel Y proposal at its Development Review meeting this Friday.

A site plan and rendering package is posted on their website for the office tower portion ONLY (Phase I of the project).

http://meewasin.com/development/deve...rent_projects/"

I am personally a bit disappointed with the rendering of the office tower, but may just be the drawings. I certainly hope that the condo portion of this project (if it should go ahead) will be more inspiring!

Edit: sorry, here is a working link to document

http://meewasin.com/development/deve...rent_projects/

Love it! Start the equipment up now and get this thing under way!

office tower south and east elevations
 

South elevation

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/56830891/rlv...0elevation.jpg

East elevation


http://dl.dropbox.com/u/56830891/rlv...0elevation.jpg

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Beautiful addition to 19th street!

A bit jarring, refreshing though. The strong horizontality of the base will tie the adjacent blocks together nicely. I like that it has four distinctive faces. Sort of multidimensional -- if an office tower can be.

Not a fan of the expansive wall of stone on the east side (see above)...too cold and grey during the winter.

The winter garden looks inviting :)

Maybe it's a little underwhelming, but by no means is it ugly. In fact, I really don't mind it. Once it is tied in with the Hotel and the Condo this project will offer something our city has been waiting on for quite some time!! Start digging!

I'm on side with Ruckus and S'toon Goon. By no means is the design groundbreaking, but it is still quite nice. It has a clean, refreshing look, and I can imagine it looking very good when viewed across the river from Rotary Park. How this tower turns out will be in its execution and quality of materials used. Looking at some of Gibbs Gage's recent work in Calgary, Eighth Avenue Place and Centrium Place, I think that the final product in those cases are top notch:

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...MG_3443720.jpg
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http://www.gibbsgage.com/public/file...6.46122134.jpg
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It's interesting about the glazing that is currently depicted as gold. The note on the diagram explains that the final colour of the feature glazing will be determined pending building tenanting. Imagine, say, Cameco as an anchor tenant with its signage at the top and the cool blues of its logo reflected throughout the south elevation. I have to say that I like the podium as well, except for the stone wall on the east side. However, it shouldn't stick out too badly as the condo tower on that side should abut the office tower podium very closely.

Thars them sailboats on the South Saskatchewan river again!

I spent more than a brief moment thinking about that element.

I have my doubts about a company color scheme. Too ostentatious for a company like Cameco. It is an interesting design choice though. With exception to some bank HQs, I can't think of an office tower that projects a firm's character as strongly through the architecture.

EDIT: ...drape it in Mediamesh :cool:

• Video Link

Pretty cool!!! Where is that Bayer building located? (I wonder as to what their power bill is as well - LOL!!!) :tup:

That is pretty spectacular with all kinds of potential...wonder what the building looks like in the daytime, though???
I also wondered about the energy cost to this, Skydivepilot! Perhaps if Cameco or Areva built a small reactor close by, it could be energy efficient...lol

It's Bayer's former headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany. Not sure about their power bill haha


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Ya, I can't find a photo of it during the day. It's like a transparent mesh material.

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MVA approves concept plan for Parcel Y office tower.

http://ckom.com/story/concept-plan-r...approved/60490

Man...this sure seems to have to go through a lot of approval stages and I would imagine there are still a few more to come. Had to chuckle at Nasser's comment about even his wife asking "when is this going to start?" :haha:

Let's cheer her on. She probably has more leverage than the media or us to push this along....

As for the approvals, it would be good if the city and MVA working on setting things up so there were not both driving the permit process.

From Saskatoon Construction:

thanks, echoes. I still have to say I am a bit uninspired by the design. It's not that it is not aesthetically pleasing or impressive in scale...I guess I was just hoping for something truly innovative and creative. Having said that, I would be MORE then ecstatic if this can start by late summer this year. I will say again...sure wish it would be built all at once, as it seems to me, economy of scale could reduce costs in the long run.

One question...is the 'crosswalk' across Spadina a street level one? I'm thinking it may be more pedestrian friendly to build a pedestrian 'overpass/bridge' over Spadina to join the plaza and riverlanding park. Just a thought.

So glad to see this moving forward through all of the approval stages...guess patience is a virtue we all need to practice!

I was thinking/hoping for a shared vehicle pedestrian space with pedestrian priority like on Granville island in Vancouver. As crazy as it sounds, it works really well. Drivers proceed slowly with the recognition that they do not have right of way, and pedestrians for the most part, try to stay out of the way of the cars - even though they don't technically have to. Changes the whole dynamic. Nobody needs to be driving 50km/h through River Landing as it won't be a commuter route.

So they've added five storeys to the hotel and list it as "hotel and residential", so I guess the extra five are penthouses. I also hope they allow rental of plaza space for retail stalls, it would seem like a waste not utilize such a large area, that and the section of the buildings they allotted for permanent retail looks quite small.

I'm happy we're getting closer but I have a bad feeling we'll be saying, 'next spring...', pretty soon.