1570 Main Street West | ? | 12 fl | Proposed

[thmx]

source

A design concept for a 14 floor, 168 unit residential building on the site of an existing church. The church would occupy space on the double height ground floor along with 2 commercial units facing Main Street and residential units with private gardens along the two side streets. A large rooftop garden at the 8th floor accommodates urban farming as a natural amenity and food source for residents.

Google Maps | 1570 Main Street West, Hamilton

[catcher_of_cats]

I love the idea of a redevelopment here but I can't think of anything nice to say about the massing, aesthetics, etc. This is Hamilton, so people will complain about its height and not its disgusting street presence.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by catcher_of_cats

I love the idea of a redevelopment here but I can't think of anything nice to say about the massing, aesthetics, etc. This is Hamilton, so people will complain about its height and not its disgusting street presence.

Nonsense - some of us will ALSO complain about its disgusting street presence.

While the bubbles windows is sorta interesting yeah this is meh to me. And it's always disheartening to see something like a church knocks down for a lego block building design.

[ScreamingViking]

I don't mind the scale, though I bet the taller section is cut down to appease those against such height here.

Definitely needs to be more street-friendly and less alien.

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by thomax

source





Google Maps | 1570 Main Street West, Hamilton

Any idea who the developer is?

[thmx]

Originally Posted by hamilton23

Any idea who the developer is?

Scholar Properties

[hamilton23]

Originally Posted by thomax

Scholar Properties

Thank you! I like this area... I will wait to see future rendering before making an opinion on the design.

[Crapht]

Crew on site today taking core samples.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Brandon Simon at UT

"Going to Design Review Panel on December 12, 2024
- The new developer is Kindred Works and new architect is KPMB
- Reducing from 14 to 12-Storeys
- Units increased from 168 to 176




"

[SteelTown]

1570 Main Street West | ? | 14 fl | Proposed -> 1570 Main Street West | ? | 12 fl | Proposed

[Chronamut]

Why is it that every single redesign is exactly built to look like these? Like they ALL end up looking the same, modular, rectangular, bland - is the city against angles and curves? It's odd..

[catcher_of_cats]

Those shade trees planted on the roof in like 1 ft of soil at best are really dishonest for renders. There will never be trees there.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Chronamut

Why is it that every single redesign is exactly built to look like these? Like they ALL end up looking the same, modular, rectangular, bland - is the city against angles and curves? It's odd..

Is it the city, or the architectural style of this era? Style and it's probably cheaper for the developers.

I do hope the greenery happens, but I too share the doubts of catcher_of_cats.

Main West is going to be a very different street. Which is a good thing.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

Main West is going to be a very different street. Which is a good thing.

This. It's going to be vastly improved with all of this increased density.

[catcher_of_cats]

A Main Street West flanked by 8+ storey buildings from Osler all the way past downtown is something that might actually happen in our lifetime. They don't all have to be beauties, just not soul-sucking monstrosities that permanently damage the cityscape.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

This. It's going to be vastly improved with all of this increased density.

Density does not necessarily = improvement - look at all the apartments east of east gate - just made it slummier.

You have to actually have a good environment first.

And it seems every design that was once innovative keeps getting rejected by the city UNTIL it looks like one of these bland designs, then it gets approved - look at the build across from the alien park downtown - it went through 3 designs and each time it was less impressive until by the time it was modular and bland it was approved. I hate the "style" of this era if this is what it is - stacking rectangles upon each other is not a style - it is literally the bare minimum in design you can do. You can't even call yourself an architect or a designer at that point.

And randomly staggering windows just looks awful. At least these ones line up at certain intervals. I just.. I am so sick of a lack of ACTUAL design. Thank god for core urban.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Designs may not be great, but there will be an improvement in the feel of the street - more people to go to and support businesses, new street level retail. Those factors alone mean these developments will make the area better as the bland churches, strip malls, and abandoned lots they're proposed for contribute nothing positive

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

Designs may not be great, but there will be an improvement in the feel of the street - more people to go to and support businesses, new street level retail. Those factors alone mean these developments will make the area better as the bland churches, strip malls, and abandoned lots they're proposed for contribute nothing positive

LOL new street level retail? Have you LOOKED around? Half the street level "retail" still remains empty - there's no businesses to GO in these places.. and if the place is slummy noone's gonna wanna be on the first floor..

gonna take more than just knocking down churches and building ikea buildings to turn things around.. I'm sick of the "well the architectures not great but at least it'll improve things" argument. I hear it so many times.. are our standards that low that we'll simply accept added density in our city even if it means a sea of mediocrity? As we bulldoze everything noteworthy - this happened in cities in the 80s, it shouldn't be happening now.

Not that I am saying maintain every church, that's unrealistic, but at least replace it with something that looks MEANINGFUL. This is literally box massing with windows punched in.. architecturally, we deserve better.

Only design element it's got going for it is that brick ribbing on the right side on the first floor.. and I know.. my grumbling probably gets tiring to listen to, but it's just the way I feel. I give things credit when they are due it, but it's very rare. Hamilton is like that black sheep child that occasionally makes you proud but for the most part is a disappointment.

Hell look at what they built across from the scottish rite building - and they demolished a nuns convent/orphanage for that.

[Hawrylyshyn]

Have you been to King W lately? It's definitely not slummy feeling and commercial tenants are doing fine (I can't think of any empty retail spots along this stretch). There are a lot of students in the area (more with a these developments) to support them as they tend to not have cars and rely on walking distance restaurants and retail.

And I know we disagree on this - the buildings being super aesthetically pleasing don't really contribute to the livability of an area.

Regarding Hamilton being a black sheep -- how often are you in other cities? Every city is getting tons of fugly architecture in modern times.

[Chronamut]

Originally Posted by Hawrylyshyn

Have you been to King W lately? It's definitely not slummy feeling and commercial tenants are doing fine (I can't think of any empty retail spots along this stretch). There are a lot of students in the area (more with a these developments) to support them as they tend to not have cars and rely on walking distance restaurants and retail.

And I know we disagree on this - the buildings being super aesthetically pleasing don't really contribute to the livability of an area.

Regarding Hamilton being a black sheep -- how often are you in other cities? Every city is getting tons of fugly architecture in modern times.

And yet many are much more mindful of retaining their EXISTING old architecture - look at toronto, they've done a beautiful job of preserving it - true they have a lot of skyscrapers but they have also preserved and retained a ton of old facades. Us? Someone buys them up and waits until they collapse - our practices are abysmal compared to other cities, criminal even. Not that I am saying this church is the epitome of architecture, we have hundreds of churches after all, I am more insulted at the lack of.. creativity in the final results. It hurts my architects background and spirit hehe..

And yes, I am not saying that building generic architecture does not contribute to the livability of an area, but hamilton is unique in the amount of old architecture it has - its why filming takes place here - we need to be mindful of that. It is why firms like core urban existed, because they saw that need to maintain the historic streetscape and add new buildings that could complement that. I mean look at the visceral reaction we all had to the new city center design. Proper design DOES still play a part in our city, at least as far as the podium is concerned. Build whatever monstrosity you want on top of that, but put some effort and thought into the podium, please! I mean, this is an ARCHITECTURE forum, so obviously design is going to play a role in peoples reaction to things.

And I get you get what I am.. getting at lol.. personally we probably need a balance between how I think and how you think. Perhaps THIS area of hamilton isn't doing so bad... but the same cannot be said of everything along king EAST. Mac kinda gives an artificial positive view of our city if one were to look at JUST that region and ignore the rest of hamilton.

Upon saying that though, we each sorta contribute our own flavour to these sorta forums - having people that specialize in different things, so these kinda back and forths are at least still welcome on THIS site, although apparently they turn their noses up at us if we do it on the toronto site..