Calgary's Public Realm - Page 15

ByeByeBaby · #**281** Posted **Nov 26, 2015, 10:38 PM**

There was an open house for the pedestrian strategy on Tuesday; not many braved the blizzard conditions (and chronic sidewalk closures) to go to the CBE, but I think it looks pretty good - although the problem has never been with the City's ability to put good sounding words on paper (the inverted mobility pyramid is a classic example), but rather with the political and institutional will ti actually produce meaningful real-world results; the strategy goes to council early in the new year.

Calgarian · #**282** Posted **Nov 27, 2015, 12:02 AM**

What's the square on the west end of that park? are they keeping some of the lawn bowling?

Spring2008 · #**283** Posted **Nov 27, 2015, 6:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

What's the square on the west end of that park? are they keeping some of the lawn bowling?

"game space" apparently. More renders here.
http://www.calgary.ca/_layouts/cocis/Dir...-park-final-design.pdf&noredirect=1&sf=1

Calgarian · #**284** Posted **Dec 2, 2015, 6:08 PM**

That looks pretty good!

Chadillaccc · #**285** Posted **Dec 3, 2015, 4:46 PM**

I didn't realize that we're going to FINALLY have a Contemporary and Modern Art Gallery as of next year

This should help our public realm in the West End. It's too bad it's so far from the cultural distict though :/

Contemporary Calgary looks forward to new art space
SHELLEY BOETTCHER, FOR THE CALGARY HERALD

Quote:

A team of intrepid Calgarians is creating the city’s first dedicated contemporary and modern art gallery, one fashion-forward event at a time.

Why? Because we need one, says D’Arcy Levesque, a director on the board of Contemporary Calgary.

“Calgary is the only major North American city of its size that does not have a cultural facility dedicated to modern and contemporary art,” he says.

“We think Calgary is long overdue.”

Currently, he notes, art-loving locals must travel to other destinations to get their fill of contemporary and modern art.

“We love visiting galleries in other cities,” Levesque says. “But we want the same kind of experiences in our own back yard.”

Contemporary Calgary will be that space, he says.

Housed in the Centennial Planetarium, the proposed new gallery will be developed in various stages. The first, Temporary Contemporary, is being planned as a 7,000-square-foot pop-up space scheduled to open in Fall 2016.

...

Source: http://calgaryherald.com/entertainment/l...y-calgary-looks-forward-to-new-art-space

nick.flood · #**286** Posted **Dec 3, 2015, 6:10 PM**

delete

MasterG · #**287** Posted **Dec 3, 2015, 7:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick.flood

Do we need to segregate our cultural institutions? Let's have a cultural city and not a cultural district. Plus spread out some of our non-office hour activity, which surprisingly helps downtown vibrancy.

Agreed. I think generally the modernist ideas of creating cultural districts have been shown to be failures in terms of generating street vitality and integrating arts with the wider communities. Other than a few out-sized examples in very large cities, most districts fail to generate much consistent activity and street presence. Calgary's district is a good example of this.

If all the theatres and institutions housed in the Arts Commons (3,000 - 4,000 seats in ~10 theatres of varying size and configuration) and spread them out throughout downtown and the Beltline, it would go a long way to improve access and visibility of art institutions in the city as a whole. All can be quite close to each other, but they hardly have to all be locked in one building surrounded by wide roads and dead streetscapes.

Spring2008 · #**288** Posted **Dec 3, 2015, 9:24 PM**

Pretty sure west eau-claire pathway re-design is a go if they're looking for public art design submissions. I might be tempted to move to eau-claire if this plus a few of those mixed-use proposals get going.

Quote:

Calgary Arts Dev... ‏@CalgaryArtsDev Nov 25
[classified] Call to Artists: West Eau Claire Public Art Pathway Design http://cada.at/1YrORp1 #yycarts @YYCArtsCulture

https://twitter.com/CalgaryArtsDev?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Spring2008 · #**289** Posted **Dec 3, 2015, 9:41 PM**

Some renders Chad posted awhile back.

Plus here's one for the area adjacent to the Peace Bridge:

http://bikecalgary.org/node/4865

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Some renders of three of our many new/heavily renovated parks across the city...

West Eau Claire Park

Full details here:http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Documents/Publications/west-eau-claire-final-report.pdf

DizzyEdge · #**290** Posted **Dec 3, 2015, 11:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Some renders Chad posted awhile back.

Plus here's one for the area adjacent to the Peace Bridge:

http://bikecalgary.org/node/4865

Always thought "the Cove" could be a good place for a midnight swim in the summer

Chadillaccc · #**291** Posted **Dec 4, 2015, 2:59 AM**

Totally in love with West Eau Claire Park. Couldn't be more excited to see it come to fruition. This will be bigger for the city than St. Patrick's Island Park, just because of the breadth (2 kilometers) of it and the location couldn't be any more central.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick.flood

Do we need to segregate our cultural institutions? Let's have a cultural city and not a cultural district. Plus spread out some of our non-office hour activity, which surprisingly helps downtown vibrancy.

That's a really good point.

And wow, I had no idea how massive "Arts Commons" (stupid name btw) was. That's really terrible. If only it were half the size and we had 6 more good sized theatres around the city. Could you imagine how lovely that would be? Jesus...

christmas · #**292** Posted **Dec 6, 2015, 5:27 PM**

I heard there are plans of adding vibrancy to 7 ave SW with advertisements and screens (like Times Square and W 42nd St in New York)
Is this true? And if so how far are we from seeing this happen?

*Stardust* · #**293** Posted **Dec 6, 2015, 5:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by christmas

I heard there are plans of adding vibrancy to 7 ave SW with advertisements and screens (like Times Square and W 42nd St in New York)
Is this true? And if so how far are we from seeing this happen?

I saw the presentation for that a few months ago at the central public library. Basically, what you are talking about is just a vision for the future and not an actual plan made yet. I wouldn't hold your breath. Looks like that's a few years out...

christmas · #**294** Posted **Dec 6, 2015, 8:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Stardust*

I saw the presentation for that a few months ago at the central public library. Basically, what you are talking about is just a vision for the future and not an actual plan made yet. I wouldn't hold your breath. Looks like that's a few years out...

I'm happy enough that it is true. Calgary really needs it. Thanks for the information!

Spring2008 · #**295** Posted **Dec 7, 2015, 8:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Stardust*

I saw the presentation for that a few months ago at the central public library. Basically, what you are talking about is just a vision for the future and not an actual plan made yet. I wouldn't hold your breath. Looks like that's a few years out...

I hope so.

Anybody know when some of our other main streets besides Stephen Ave are converting to white LED lighting? The one's on Stephen Ave make such a big difference at night, would like to see these installed on 17th ave, 4 st, Kensington, Inglewood etc relatively soon, with priority over continuing to install on random downtown streets and other secondary areas across the city that has occurred to date.

mersar · #**296** Posted **Dec 8, 2015, 7:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spring2008

I hope so.

Anybody know when some of our other main streets besides Stephen Ave are converting to white LED lighting? The one's on Stephen Ave make such a big difference at night, would like to see these installed on 17th ave, 4 st, Kensington, Inglewood etc relatively soon, with priority over continuing to install on random downtown streets and other secondary areas across the city that has occurred to date.

Depends on the fixtures. The current project is only dealing with normal streetlights, so the 10,000 or so "decorative" streetlights that exist won't be changed in this go round (and the city says there is roughly 90,000 street lights in total, so its a significant chunk and its due to cost mostly). Details here . So places like 17th Avenue will definitely not be done any time soon. The bulk of the 80,000 that are being replaced should be done by end of 2018.

Spring2008 · #**297** Posted **Dec 8, 2015, 7:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mersar

Depends on the fixtures. The current project is only dealing with normal streetlights, so the 10,000 or so "decorative" streetlights that exist won't be changed in this go round (and the city says there is roughly 90,000 street lights in total, so its a significant chunk and its due to cost mostly). Details here . So places like 17th Avenue will definitely not be done any time soon. The bulk of the 80,000 that are being replaced should be done by end of 2018.

That seems ridiculous the city would replace entire city except these main streets? Isn't it just a simple swap of light bulbs, the actual fixtures are fine. Looks like they replaced for Stephen Ave.

mersar · #**298** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 3:41 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spring2008

That seems ridiculous the city would replace entire city except these main streets? Isn't it just a simple swap of light bulbs, the actual fixtures are fine. Looks like they replaced for Stephen Ave.

The issue from my understanding is that the form factor of bulb used in some of the "decorative" fixtures isn't available in LED form, or not at the right lumen rating. Plus there may be some other internals to the fixtures that may be needed to be changed (I'm not positive if sodium vapor bulbs require any form of ballast, but I know thats one issue with fluorescent bulbs that makes converting them to LED often more expensive)

artvandelay · #**299** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 5:27 PM**

Speaking of LED, here's a photo of Calgary from the ISS showing the transition progress:

https://twitter.com/stationcdrkelly/status/670603687367155712

DizzyEdge · #**300** Posted **Dec 9, 2015, 11:04 PM**

^^ I live basically across the street from Tuxedo which seems to be one of the few communities which has gone LED. I should check out the transition tonight, I never noticed.