Winnipeg | Downtown | Portage Place | Redevelopment | U/C

[WestEndWander]

Originally Posted by Winnipegger

$60 million in tax breaks and all we get is a red box?

I wish our burgeoning "private sector development almost entirely contingent on public sector grants" industry could at the very least match the architecture seen Nordic countries. I'm sure places like Nuuk, Greenland are also very contingent on public dollars to get stuff built, but their public realm architecture seems to be of a significantly higher quality.

Yikes. That's.......something. One of the more uninspired buildings I've seen posted on here unfortunately.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by WestEndWander

Yikes. That's.......something. One of the more uninspired buildings I've seen posted on here unfortunately.

The rendering also showed this tower just plunked down on top of the existing mall, so i'm guessing this is an extremely early concept.

[trueviking]

Thanks Wpg Guy and leftcoaster.....Saved a young guy’s job in my office.

[bomberjet]

Soo I missed that haha. Damn.

[Sheepish]

You're fortunate...I can't 'unsee' that rendering now.

[bomberjet]

Me frantically googling Portage place questionnaires lol all I see nothing is is surprising or shocking to my eyes. So I guess we'll wait for more official renders to come.

[Unbending]

Since we’re on the topic of leaks, anyone want to leak information or renderings of the rumoured 50+ story tower?

[drew]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Thanks Wpg Guy and leftcoaster.....Saved a young guy’s job in my office.

ha! you aren't THAT young...

[trueviking]

we can add these back for discussion....they are on the questionnaire.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by drew

ha! you aren't THAT young...

ha ha...i aint young at all!

[TRSTN]

Originally Posted by trueviking

we can add these back for discussion....they are on the questionnaire.

Is there a reason the images are done with the current Portage Place design and not with the renovated version? I imagine the context of the whole project together would help showcase how this building fits in better.

[FactaNV]

Sheepish, what are you not fond of in regards to the tower? Maybe TV can push back a bit and you guys could have a good discussion about it.

[bomberjet]

Maybe that is the value engineered design? It does show the Edmonton atrium removed.

[Sheepish]

Thanks for asking! I look at images (wishful for sure) of concepts for Graham and Southwood, and the wishes for what could be on the empty lots on Donald...and read the critique of the redesigned TV building on Donald/St Mary, as well as some of the concepts in the exchange, and I think that Portage Ave downtown has to have some visual interest and creativity. This looks like something from 1970. Flat...dull...frankly it looks like a low income housing project. I was particularly skeptical because it was plopped on top of the old PP...which I was under the impression was going away...as we know it. I also thought that the new residential tower would bare some design relationship to the East tower. Frankly, I would be happier to see a lower rise structure that spans more of the frontage on Portage ave, and possessed some more dynamic design features than the red box we are seeing in the rendering. I don't mean to be insulting anyone here, it just seems that there is one opportunity to really breath life in Portage Ave...and the concept in the rendering (whether this is real or not) doesn't do it for me.

[zalf]

I for one liked it. There are certainly attractive buildings scattered around downtown, but on a whole Winnipeg can be a pretty Soviet-looking city. This adding some colour (corten?) would be most appreciated.

[trueviking]

[Sheepish]

Surely you jest! First of all, Chicago is home to some of the most stunning architecure in North America, in a sea of towers with each more interesting than then next (with the exception perhaps of the Trump hotel !). If Winnipeg was to house even have the concentration of interesting towers I wouldn't pay much attention. But given the otherwise mostly drab structure that line Portage, this doesn't move the needel. Second, the red building is also more interesting and alluring than the one in the redndering. Again...not here for a fight or argument...I just want to see something that is more thoughtful and intersting.

[Unbending]

Can someone clarify if the mall structure is also getting a facelift? In earlier renderings the exterior of the mall looked completely different. In today’s rendering, it looks like the exterior of the mall is the same.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Sheepish

Surely you jest! First of all, Chicago is home to some of the most stunning architecure in North America, in a sea of towers with each more interesting than then next (with the exception perhaps of the Trump hotel !). If Winnipeg was to house even have the concentration of interesting towers I wouldn't pay much attention. But given the otherwise mostly drab structure that line Portage, this doesn't move the needel. Second, the red building is also more interesting and alluring than the one in the redndering. Again...not here for a fight or argument...I just want to see something that is more thoughtful and intersting.

You mentioned the new PP tower looks out of the 1970's and TV ominously posts 333 South Wabash, CNA Center, in Chicago, a red tower built in 1973, you weren't far off from the inspiration!

[Sheepish]

Lol!