Quote:
Originally Posted by atbw
The design on this one really surprised me, especially with it being right next to the brickyard townhouses. Huge missed opportunity to integrate it into the neighbourhood. Judging from the render it looks like it has a forgettable facade and then a monotony of glass behind it.
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"Integration" attempts in Halifax have a pretty bad track record and don't seem to be any better than modern style buildings on average.
The Waterford was okay, and so were the small faux buildings around the base of Vic Suites (but most of Vic suites is modern and actually not too different from the Portland Pl building). Around Portland Place, the small newer brick building that went up looks pretty good while the Brickyard townhouses for the most part look like cheap knock-offs of the historic buildings nearby. When you see the old and new brick townhouses nearby one looks like a skilled work of masonry and one looks like a Lego version.
I think it's more accurate to say that there are high and low quality buildings. The high quality ones tend to look good whether they have modern or historical designs. They have more elegant designs and tend to use higher quality materials like stone or nicer glass curtain wall, and are more customized. The low end buildings seem to use more generic brick and precast blocks or siding.
I'm not sure we can expect all buildings in the North End to be high-end buildings right now, although maybe that will change in the future. I think it's better to just encourage a lot of development (as long as few old buildings are lost) to drive up land values and make the area attractive rather than hold out for expensive buildings, but the city probably could push a bit more for better designs. This is going to happen as the Centre Plan comes into effect.