Quote:
Originally Posted by Prometheus
The belief in the importance of weather protection is misguided. The most attractive facades (retail or otherwise) are usually heritage buildings unblemished by awnings. It is no accident that Vancouver's most enjoyable and charming pedestrian experience can be found in Gastown, where awnings are scarce. And it is no accident that the more stylish, high-end tenants in Gastown are usually found in the buildings that don't have awnings, while the tackier, lower-end businesses are usually found in the buildings that do.
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Brilliant!! Most, if not all of the upscale shopping streets in Northern Europe are devoid of awnings with the exception of marking an entry point to a business. Specifically in London, with much the same climate as Vancouver, you'll rarely, if ever find awnings, regardless of whether you're on high streets like Oxford our elegant upscale streets link Bond Street or Sloane Street. These street have survived and prospered for, in some cases, hundreds of years with no awnings.
Awnings for the most part, are a blight in Vancouver, horribly applied, horribly maintained and are the #1 contributor, IMO, to many of our commercial streets looking like shantytowns, the majority are filthy, in poor repair and contain signage, telephone numbers and other unsightly graphics that are far too large, then are horribly back-lit by a fluorescent tube.
Fabric awnings are particularly horrible for the pedestrian when viewed from below, usually a cheaply made, rusting frame with a fluorescent, often in disrepair, light fixture, and many leak and drip. As far as signage, they are close to useless, they are not visible from the sidewalk as they face the street, they are often angled up at a 45 degree angle away from the passer-by. They are also of huge detriment to the appearance of a facade and make it virtually impossible to create a slick, architectural / modern shop-front.
While on the South Granville BIA for many years, I was a huge advocate of awning-less facades and perhaps I'm to take a little credit for why South Granville has far less awnings on it's shop-fronts than many other commercial areas of Vancouver.
Weather protection needs to be integrated into the facades, by the architects if it's to exist at all. Fortunately, it looks as though the trend amongst upscale and design savvy business owners is to forego and / or mitigate the appearance of the awning altogether.
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