Canadian City Proposals - Page 375

isaidso · #**7481** Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 11:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

That's the most oft-cited reasoning elsewhere in the city, yes. However, many areas of downtown (especially along Harbour Drive) are built on top of rubble pushed into the harbour from the Great Fire of 1892. They say the ground isn't suitable for building down in these areas.

But, who knows...

They also say they can't replace the wooden hydro poles for the same reason - yet they have no trouble doing it in new neighbourhoods.

Sounds like they just don't want to invest the money.

SignalHillHiker · #**7482** Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 11:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

Not sure about Atlantic Placebit where 351 is located was once the harbour.

I'm not sure, but I believe almost all of Harbour Drive was once harbour - as well as most of the city blocks between Water Street and Harbour Drive.

For most of its history, Water Street was the first street in St. John's. We built it such that the small warehouses at the back of buildings along Water Street were on the edge of the harbour.

You can see here how the blocks weren't nearly as wide as they are today:

(Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage)

After the fire, you can more clearly see just how little space there was between the Water Street buildings and the harbour - presumably not enough for the entirety of Atlantic Place:

(Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage)

But, as I said, I'm not sure.

SignalHillHiker · #**7483** Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 11:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

Sounds like they just don't want to invest the money.

Yeah, I think so. Don't want to or can't afford to... but nothing is impossible today, least of all comparatively simply things like these.

EDIT:

I sent the developer/architect of the APP Hotel a little background information about Atlantic Place, how despised it is, why, and included this picture from a friend's trip to London as an example of how they might consider breaking up the building and making its visual scale (its most hated feature) more appropriate for a city dominated by smaller, heritage structures:

Fingers crossed.

It's still REALLY early in the design process.

Chadillaccc · #**7484** Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 1:24 PM**

That would be cool! and much more "St. John's" for the developer to do that. I think it would be great and the perfect building to do that to.

SignalHillHiker · #**7485** Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 9:15 PM**

Edo tracked down the actual material that the screening on the parkade portion of the hotel would be made of:

• Video Link

Chadillaccc · #**7486** Posted **Jun 15, 2013, 8:43 PM**

Another incredible one for Metrotown. Modello, 37 stories, probably about 120+ meters. Set to begin construction this fall at the corner of Beresford and Willingdon, directly between Patterson and Metrotown skytrain stations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klazu

Another sleek tower going up this fall in Metrotown area. Looks good to me.

"Designed by Chris Dikeakos Architects, this elegant building is scheduled to launch this autumn: a 37-storey skyrise with 170 high-end residences (ranging from 623 – 1,706 sqft) emerging from a 4-storey podium base, which will present a 60 foot streetwall along Beresford as well as Willingdon Avenue."

someone123 · #**7487** Posted **Jun 15, 2013, 9:57 PM**

In Halifax it is the same setup -- Water Street was originally where the harbour itself started, and everything on the eastern side was wharves built out onto the water. Today there is a long strip of 1-2 blocks' worth of fill.

I remember similar comments about how it would be hard to develop underground parking on that land because of the fill and because it is below sea level. A condo complex called Bishop's Landing was built on one of these sites around 2000, however, and it has underground parking.

I suspect it's one of those things developers would prefer not to shell out money for, but it is clearly feasible.

PoscStudent · #**7488** Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 12:56 AM**

Things have to make economics sense too.

TallBob · #**7489** Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 5:30 AM**

Modello: Damn nice proposal! Looks taller than 37 floors.

kwoldtimer · #**7490** Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 11:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Edo tracked down the actual material that the screening on the parkade portion of the hotel would be made of:

• Video Link

Hmmmm. Turning ugly buildings into (cough, ugly) electronic billboards around the world. We have the technology.

giallo · #**7491** Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 2:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallBob

Modello: Damn nice proposal! Looks taller than 37 floors.

I counted 41 floors.

Rico Rommheim · #**7492** Posted **Jun 17, 2013, 4:06 PM**

Some new renders for the Jardins de babylone project on Rene-Levesque and Guy.

Airboy · #**7493** Posted **Jun 18, 2013, 3:48 PM**

OK it's not a city but a town but it is a neat project. $142 mil High Arctic Research Centre.

The story makes it sound unique to use the Inuit in the design process but most major projects in the north have Elders as part of the design process. You should always have people who know the environment as part of the team.
I look back at the Inuit Culture Centre in Clyde River or the RCMP in Iqaluit as 2 examples.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2013/06/17/north-high-arctic-research-station-design.html

lake of the nations · #**7494** Posted **Jun 18, 2013, 3:53 PM**

This project has been approved yesterday. The building on the right was initially supposed to have 16 floors.

http://www.barborange.com/

Chadillaccc · #**7495** Posted **Jun 18, 2013, 5:20 PM**

Looks nice. I wish Sherbrooke wasn't so petrified of height.

Chadillaccc · #**7496** Posted **Jun 19, 2013, 7:50 PM**

Lots of stuff going on in Saskatoon right now. Very great to see! This neighbourhood could one day house 6000 people in just under 1 km sq.

Park over rails in plans
By Charles Hamilton, The StarPhoenix June 18, 2013

Quote:

A massive elevated park could eventually flow over the railroad tracks that cut through the city's north downtown as the city looks to create a new core neighbourhood to house upwards of 6,000 people in a mix of condos, apartments and townhouses.

The 13-acre "land bridge" park in the middle of the yet-to-be-built neighbourhood would connect residents living on either side of the CP Rail line and is surely the most striking feature of the north downtown plans, which were unveiled to city councillors at an executive meeting Monday.

"One of the problems (we) set out to solve was how to get across the CP rail line," said Jeanna South, the city's project manager for the North Downtown Master Plan.

"There is also a need for the green space."

But the 240-acre neighbourhood - bordered by First Avenue, Idylwyld Drive, 24th Street and 33rd Street - would be more than a park. It would also be a model for a new kind of urban living, housing a large population in a very small area.

That has one councillor worried that it could turn into a ghettoized housing project.

"Did we not learn anything from the projects in the United States?" Coun. Pat Lorje asked.

Lorje fears such a densely populated neighbourhood could be full of rental units and therefore disruptive to other nearby areas such as Caswell Hill and City Park.

But South reassured the committee that the new area, while dense, would be an attractive place for people to own and rent. She also said subsidized housing is not in the mandate.

"It won't be any one thing over any other. It will be a mix in order to create the most vibrant neighbourhood," South said. "We will be seen as a very desirable site."

Even though the neighbourhood is still at least 20 years away from completion, parking is still one of the major hurdles for planners.

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Park+over+rails+plans/8539853/story.html#ixzz2WaQFuyFN

Coldrsx · #**7497** Posted **Jun 19, 2013, 7:58 PM**

Excellent looking plan.

'Lorje fears such a densely populated neighbourhood could be full of rental units and therefore disruptive to other nearby areas such as Caswell Hill and City Park.'

Gotta love these kind of people and their informed comments.

Chadillaccc · #**7498** Posted **Jun 19, 2013, 8:25 PM**

Yeah that's exactly what the forumers in the Saskatoon page are saying... basically "what a dumb goof."

Just the fact that Saskatoon is thinking this way, with a majorly dense neighbourhood along the tracks with a park over it, shows how far the city has come, and how far it will go. I think if/when the River Landing Village towers go ahead, it will be a bit of a game changer for downtown, at least in the West End of downtown. The River Landing developments that have already been built as so beautiful and high quality, it would be amazing to see the entire project come to fruition by 2020.

Echoes · #**7499** Posted **Jun 19, 2013, 8:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Excellent looking plan.

'Lorje fears such a densely populated neighbourhood could be full of rental units and therefore disruptive to other nearby areas such as Caswell Hill and City Park.'

Gotta love these kind of people and their informed comments.

She's a Councillor prone to making sensational remarks. Most people take what she says with a bucket of salt.

O-tacular · #**7500** Posted **Jun 19, 2013, 8:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Lots of stuff going on in Saskatoon right now. Very great to see! This neighbourhood could one day house 6000 people in just under 1 km sq.

Park over rails in plans
By Charles Hamilton, The StarPhoenix June 18, 2013

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Park+over+rails+plans/8539853/story.html#ixzz2WaQFuyFN

Daaaammmmn! Now if only we could see something like that to connect Calgary's beltline to DT.