Winnipeg Construction VIII - Page 378

1ajs · #**7541** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 6:28 PM**

i dont think u could easly do that to the medical arts building as the walls apear to be structural wheres the one u show is just a skin on a steel framed building

buzzg · #**7542** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 6:40 PM**

I think my least favourite part of that Portage Ave picture is the Rogers building... go that thing is hideous. I'm no Radisson fan either but at least it shows some recognized form of architecture and won't really ever look unkempt, where Rogers (or whatever the name is) just looks old and in dire need of updates.

esquire · #**7543** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 6:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzzg

I think my least favourite part of that Portage Ave picture is the Rogers building... go that thing is hideous. I'm no Radisson fan either but at least it shows some recognized form of architecture and won't really ever look unkempt, where Rogers (or whatever the name is) just looks old and in dire need of updates.

Really? I think the NewPort Centre is awesome... it has a really nice style and somehow looks bigger than it really is. The only downside is all the clutter on the roof which is really obvious from a distance.

One of the better looking buildings downtown if you ask me

Source:loopnet

buzzg · #**7544** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 7:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

Really? I think the NewPort Centre is awesome... it has a really nice style and somehow looks bigger than it really is. The only downside is all the clutter on the roof which is really obvious from a distance.

One of the better looking buildings downtown if you ask me

Source:loopnet

I just think all the panelling needs an update, looks very dated to me. I do like the shell though, and the main floor.

esquire · #**7545** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 7:23 PM**

^ Yeah, it's a bit dated, no question... but that midcentury modern style, which was kept nicely intact when they replaced the windows and panels a few years back, is part of its charm!

Urban recluse · #**7546** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 9:46 PM**

Yes, that building is in need of a facelift.

LilZebra · #**7547** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 10:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzzg

I think my least favourite part of that Portage Ave picture is the Rogers building... go that thing is hideous. I'm no Radisson fan either but at least it shows some recognized form of architecture and won't really ever look unkempt, where Rogers (or whatever the name is) just looks old and in dire need of updates.

To each his own.

When I was 5 yrs. old in 1971 and my Dad took me downtown to pay a parking ticket.

I was awestruck when I saw the Bank of Montreal building for the first time.

It was more beautiful than the ugly (to me) Richardson monstrocity.

The problem with the ROGERS building is the ROGERS corporate sign. It's in bad scale with the building. The sign needs to be larger.

The Bank of Montreal/ROGERS building has a certain architectural style. Think of the United Nations building in New York. That's what it reminds me of.

trueviking · #**7548** Posted **Nov 7, 2015, 10:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Personally, I like it... I think it's underrated. But I can understand why it isn't a beloved building.

Radisson and Bank of Montreal are my two favourite Winnipeg towers.

The Jabroni · #**7549** Posted **Nov 8, 2015, 4:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

That is very true. What could be:

I highly doubt that Radisson would vacate just to completely renovate the building like that. It would simply be cost prohibitive if they want to maintain a presence in Winnipeg. Based on just looking at the building, I don't think re-cladding is possible.

Then again, that would be the engineers to figure out if they want to modernize it with more of a glass and steel curtain, which to me is starting to wear out a little from a design perspective.

It may not be the greatest looking building in town, but I think it has a character in its own way. Plus, it definitely represents the era that it was in for its time period, when the experimentation and integration of the use of concrete and its ability to hold various shapes.

That photo seems to bring that building from its brutalist stage to the modernist stage from the 60's to the 70's/80's respectively.

esquire · #**7550** Posted **Nov 8, 2015, 9:31 PM**

I was driving so I couldn't get a picture of it, but there is a small townhouse-style condo complex under construction at Dufferin and McGregor in the North End. There was a sign advertising it as "Luxury Living Downtown" or something to that effect, which struck me as optimistic in the extreme, but whatever. There was an identical sign on a vacant lot about a block east as well...

Pinus · #**7551** Posted **Nov 8, 2015, 10:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

I was driving so I couldn't get a picture of it, but there is a small townhouse-style condo complex under construction at Dufferin and McGregor in the North End. There was a sign advertising it as "Luxury Living Downtown" or something to that effect, which struck me as optimistic in the extreme, but whatever. There was an identical sign on a vacant lot about a block east as well...

I can't think of anything "luxurious" about that area. And neighborhood rejuvenation of [mod] seems like a pipe dream at best.

Andy6 · #**7552** Posted **Nov 8, 2015, 10:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Jabroni

That photo seems to bring that building from its brutalist stage to the modernist stage from the 60's to the 70's/80's respectively.

They're doing that with the former Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto as well. A great sixties concrete building being turned into yet another glass condo with no architectural merit at all. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...

Andy6 · #**7553** Posted **Nov 8, 2015, 10:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trueviking

Radisson and Bank of Montreal are my two favourite Winnipeg towers.

Also the Royal Bank. The Canada Grains Commission building (don't know what it's called now) was one I liked ... was always trying to replicate it in Lego. It's quite unusual but we're so used to it we don't notice it. Also I always liked the Bank of Canada Building at Lombard Place. In fact, I've always liked (or grown to like) City Hall, the Museum, the Concert Hall and especially MTC and the Art Gallery ... those are minor masterpieces. I don't know what we have in Toronto from that period that compares with those.

Urban recluse · #**7554** Posted **Nov 8, 2015, 11:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy6

They're doing that with the former Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto as well. A great sixties concrete building being turned into yet another glass condo with no architectural merit at all. You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...

Yes I do: a cold concrete slab that contributes to the overall depressing feel emanating from downtown. And to think people stay away from downtown...

jmt18325 · #**7555** Posted **Nov 9, 2015, 2:08 AM**

People don't really stay away from downtown any more though. That's kind of a negative spin on things, at least.

Urban recluse · #**7556** Posted **Nov 9, 2015, 2:24 AM**

I think if you were to poll 1000 people, they would say they avoid it, save the Forks.

jmt18325 · #**7557** Posted **Nov 9, 2015, 3:14 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

I think if you were to poll 1000 people, they would say they avoid it, save the Forks.

It certainly doesn't seem that way, going downtown pretty much any day of the week and even into the evening now.

steveosnyder · #**7558** Posted **Nov 9, 2015, 5:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

I think if you were to poll 1000 people, they would say they avoid it, save the Forks.

I think it depends on your sampling. Most of the people I know tend to not mind it; they don't avoid it, but they don't go out of their way to go there. A small few love it, and about the same amount hate/avoid it.

But all in all, I think it's a generational thing. mid-40s to 60s hate it because they lived through the depressing era of suburban flight and urban decay. 20s-30s find it affordable now with elevated housing prices.

esquire · #**7559** Posted **Nov 9, 2015, 6:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by steveosnyder

But all in all, I think it's a generational thing. mid-40s to 60s hate it because they lived through the depressing era of suburban flight and urban decay.

Interesting thought. You touched on one the possible reasons that boomers tend to have the greatest antipathy towards downtown... they really had front row seats to watching the decline of downtown Winnipeg as the hub for just about everything in Winnipeg into what it is now over a remarkably short period of time... almost all of those changes happened in that 25 year or so span between the closing of the streetcar system and the opening of the Portage and Main concourse.

(Notably, the armies of elderly Eatons and Bay ladies who used to ride buses en masse to shop downtown after nearly everyone else abandoned it as a retail destination weren't put off by downtown's decline despite having seen the same slide... I guess they were old enough when it happened such that the downtown habit was too ingrained to change.)

Younger people tend to be more receptive to downtown, but not many of them truly love it for what it is right now... it tends to be a more hopeful sort of enthusiasm, where the feeling is that downtown holds the potential to be great again one day.

bomberjet · #**7560** Posted **Nov 9, 2015, 6:13 PM**

I'm 30. For me, downtown has always been a waste land. It's better now then I can ever remember. I enjoy going downtown as much as i can. I now work downtown.

But it's really easy when living in the burbs, if you want to call it that, to shop/eat/whatever in the burbs. All my shopping needs are a short 5 min car ride away from home. For everything. There's no need to come downtown. You have to want to come downtown.