Urban vs Suburban - 2 styles enter, one style leaves!

[Spring2008]

Sturgess is also pretty close by, in the Beltline.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Kasian is in Inglewood which isn't very far from city hall, but would be about a 40 minute walk...

They used to be in Eau Claire right?

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by fusili

They used to be in Eau Claire right?

That they did. Second floor over Sumo sushi.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

That they did. Second floor over Sumo sushi.

It is amazing that these days you can work with someone, never actually meet them, and have no idea where their offices are located.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by fusili

It is amazing that these days you can work with someone, never actually meet them, and have no idea where their offices are located.

Yeah I've worked with consultants out of Vancouver and never knew they were there until I tried to set up a meeting lol. Gotta love technology.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by fusili

They are. The architecture firms close to City Hall are:
- Gibbs Gage
- Dialogue
- NORR
- Abugov Kaspar
- MBAC (not really big, but they are close)
- BKDI (not as close, but a short C-Train ride away)

Group 2, S2, GEC...

In terms of the large architectural firms in Calgary, I can only think of Riddell Kurzcaba who is not within close proximity to City Hall (CFB West)

Sahuri & Partners are at Glenmore and Blackfoot.

(Good, I think...)

[kw5150]

No, I know that. We deal with most of those firms. I just want them to stay that way and for the engineers to stop relocating out to Quarry Park!

Other firms downtown:

Scatliff & Miller & Murray Landscape Architects
Carson Mcculloch Landscape Architects
LA West Landscape Architects
Bassett and Assciates Landscape Architects
Matrix Landscape Architects
S2 architecture
Graham Edmunds Architects
Gowling and Gibb.....are they still around?
Dialog Architects
IBI (mixed disciplines) is in Kensington
NORR Architects
Ziedler Architects
Mashall Tittemore Architects
Group 2 Architects
Marc Boutin Architects
Casola Koppe Architects
Mcdowell and Associates Architects


Whoops I repeated a few.

Originally Posted by fusili

They are. The architecture firms close to City Hall are:
- Gibbs Gage
- Dialogue
- NORR
- Abugov Kaspar
- MBAC (not really big, but they are close)
- BKDI (not as close, but a short C-Train ride away)

In terms of the large architectural firms in Calgary, I can only think of Riddell Kurzcaba who is not within close proximity to City Hall (CFB West)

[fusili]

Originally Posted by 93JC

Group 2, S2, GEC...



Sahuri & Partners are at Glenmore and Blackfoot.

(Good, I think...)

Yup, S2 is in the TransAlta building, GEC is on the other side of the block from that.

Not sure why I missed those, I have friends that work at both.

Not sure how big Sahuri is though. I was thinking the firms large enough to design towers, etc.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by lubicon

I remember the good old days when I did have a job downtown and didn't have to sit in traffic. Now my job is in an outlying industrial area and I waste so much more time commuting. There are many others that feel this way too.

Different strokes I guess, and everyone has their preferences.

Different strokes indeed. I've never, to date anyway, chosen to take a job that would result in such a predicament for me. I hate traffic and commutes that take too long!

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by kw5150

I was thinking about all of these "satellite downtowns". Dont these cause more traffic problems when people have to drive across the city to go to meetings with each other? Isnt it better to keep things concentrated downtown OR at least be linked very well by transit? I think the satellite downtowns should definitely only be TOD or strictly residential.

I think it really depends on the nature of the work. If you're in a design / architecture company and need to visit all over the place, that's one thing, but most jobs do not actually need you to travel outside a single building. That's reality.

[DizzyEdge]

If the satellite downtowns are linked by LRT where you can jump on the train and get off at the next 'downtown' without having to look for parking that would be advantageous.
Also as mentioned it depends on the nature of the work. Sales calls are face to face, whereas most of my meetings with clients are conference calls or occasionally video conference.

[patm]

I seriously doubt you'll see very much transit use to go from meeting to meeting.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by patm

I seriously doubt you'll see very much transit use to go from meeting to meeting.

Companies that choose TODs inherently wouldn't be the sales-person types. Think we already went over that, but you've latched on to this aspect which is a red herring.

To Fusili's point below, that's absolutely true. While there would be 'some' self-selection for the folks that choose the TODs, the LRT will still be an important and critical infrastructure for them. No different than London England in my books! We can't have the same proponents of public transit and LRT somehow argue against the same systems' utility, now that it justifies intensification around major transit nodes.

[fusili]

Originally Posted by patm

I seriously doubt you'll see very much transit use to go from meeting to meeting.

Lots of people use the C-Train to go between meetings in the downtown. It is pretty heavily used during the day for exactly that reason.

[patm]

Originally Posted by fusili

Lots of people use the C-Train to go between meetings in the downtown. It is pretty heavily used during the day for exactly that reason.

Downtown the ctrain is free and it's a very, very short ride.

This isn't London England where driving a few kilometers can be a disaster. In Calgary it'll almost always be more appealing to drive if it's across town (barring weather and rush hour).

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by patm

Downtown the ctrain is free and it's a very, very short ride.

This isn't London England where driving a few kilometers can be a disaster. In Calgary it'll almost always be more appealing to drive if it's across town (barring weather and rush hour).

Across town, yes. If you're on an LRT line and the once in a blue moon meeting is downtown, then no. Better with LRT.

Of course, some solid TODs may result in strategic extensions of car2go type services.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by suburbia

Across town, yes. If you're on an LRT line and the once in a blue moon meeting is downtown, then no. Better with LRT.

Of course, some solid TODs may result in strategic extensions of car2go type services.

To me issues finding parking downtown would be more of the push to use LRT than the commute itself, so yes car2go which can fit into smaller spots would be advantageous.

[patm]

Originally Posted by suburbia

Across town, yes. If you're on an LRT line and the once in a blue moon meeting is downtown, then no. Better with LRT.

Of course, some solid TODs may result in strategic extensions of car2go type services.

I don't know... For personal experience, when I worked in Sundance people would have meetings downtown all the time and I never once heard of any body taking the train.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by fusili

Not sure how big Sahuri is though. I was thinking the firms large enough to design towers, etc.

And you think Riddell Kurczaba can?

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by patm

I don't know... For personal experience, when I worked in Sundance people would have meetings downtown all the time and I never once heard of any body taking the train.

Well, it is a bit of a stretch to call Sundance Office Park a TOD. It is quite a long walk to the train. Perhaps if it was located closer, your colleauges may have been more inclined to use it.