Quote:
Originally Posted by Arts
I only wish the holiday inn would look as good as most of the ones on the ugly building list. Some of those are certainly controversial but at least they are interesting. Maybe as a function of the cost/function, they are the most ugly, but plainly the majority of Saskatoon's buildings would topple any of those as far as for architectural appeal.
The curvy canopy on the top will atleast be something new to look at, the one thing about it that disappoints is knowing they are more concerned with rooftop appeal than street appeal... why not put the interesting curvy stuff where the public actually is?
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTR200
I agree with everyone here. The new holiday inn is not only unattractive, but the material being used is dissapointing also. It is being built as thrifty as possible.
|
While I'm not going to suggest that the Holiday Inn should be receiving any design awards, I am a little surprised by the amount of negativity directed towards this building. Remember that prior to the commencement of this project, the corner of 22nd and Pacific was home to another one of Saskatoon's fabulous downtown gravel parking lots. The developer took the initiative to spend his money constructing a downtown hotel that will help recitify a glaring deficiency in Saskatoon's hospitality landscape.
As for the lack of street-level amentities, I may be wrong, but I don't believe that many of our downtown hotels offer much for main floor attractions other than lobbies. There will be curves in the glazing along the front of the lobby and that part of the hotel should be OK to look at. I believe, however, that the curved roof feature of the penthouse level fell victim to budget cuts and the final product will be a more cost efficient straight sloped structure.
Although the decision to construct an above-ground parkade, as opposed to making an arrangement with the Midtown parking lot across the street, is a somewhat puzzling one, it certainly can't be said that it was done to save money. At approx $30K per stall, the inclusion of the parkade will have added somewhere in the range of $4-5 million to the cost of the hotel. You can buy a lot of nights of parking across the street for that type of money.
Similarly, the choice of exterior finishes, while not to everyone's liking, is far from the least expensive material available. I believe that the horizontal AD300 panel on the faces of the parkade looks like crap, but think that the insulated metal panels on the faces of the rooms looks considerably better that the panels below. A far more cost-effective finish would have been to provide EIFS to the builidng envelope, but the developer made a conscious decision to provide what he felt was a premium finish to the building.
So, while I think that the project has been a fiasco to date, - taking 15 months to top off an 11 storey structure - I do believe that the developer deserves some credit for putting his money on the line and building something that will stand out in downtown Saskatoon. Like it or not (and I'm pretty sure where most posters on this forum stand), you can't say that it blends in with everything else being built.
Prev
I agree
. It would be surrounded by an “urban plaza” that includes include grassed terraces , patios with pavers as venues for concerts or other art performances, and a water feature that can be used a skating pond in the winter, a reflecting pool with fountains in the summer, and when drained, as audience space for performances or concerts.
.
Linear Mode
