Cambie Corridor Updates

[BodomReaper]

So sick of these wedding cake designs mandated by the city. Especially on a street like Cambie, what the hell is setting-back the top 2 floors by a meter going to achieve other than stultifying design uniformity?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by BodomReaper

So sick of these wedding cake designs mandated by the city. Especially on a street like Cambie, what the hell is setting-back the top 2 floors by a meter going to achieve other than stultifying design uniformity?

"Vancouverism." Duh.

/sarcasm

[officedweller]

More of Cambria from YF:

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

Mosic, I suppose its the tallest wood made condo in Vancouver..

20160117_123248 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20160117_123156 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

20160117_123050 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20160117_123013 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

20160117_122917 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20160117_122950 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by quobobo

^You sure? There are a lot of younger people in the chunk of Marpole with lowrise apartment buildings: http://generationedcity.uwaterloo.ca/2014/10/16/where-do-young-adults-live/lq_webmaps_vancouver_v4/

As a belated aside, that map is a pretty damning indictment of how young adults have been driven out of the West Side of Vancouver by affordability issues.

[csbvan]

Which explains why the west side is becoming devoid of anything interesting, or any character.

[quobobo]

Originally Posted by whatnext

As a belated aside, that map is a pretty damning indictment of how young adults have been driven out of the West Side of Vancouver by affordability issues.

Yes. Desirable residential neighbourhoods + policy that explicitly limits additional housing supply = sky-high prices.

(As a former UBC student who had a long commute from East Van, I'm a little bitter)

[WarrenC12]

I'd love to see that zoning map for all of Metro Van.

[officedweller]

Vancouvermarket.ca on the NW corner of Cambie & King Edward Ave which will have 50 units of market rental apartments.

As we've seen before, it's a design by Arno Matis - same architect as South Creek Landing near Cambie Bridge.

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2016/02/10...g-planned-for-cambie-king-edward-corner/

http://www.arnomatisarchitecture.com/king_edward_rental_architect_vancouver.html


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2016/02/10...g-planned-for-cambie-king-edward-corner/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2016/02/10...g-planned-for-cambie-king-edward-corner/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2016/02/10...g-planned-for-cambie-king-edward-corner/

[LeftCoaster]

I like the tower, but its interaction with the corner is a problem. This is a major intersection, it shouldn't wall itself off from the corner.

[Jebby]

Intersection of two major roads, across the street from a rapid transit station....no retail at grade, of course.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Jebby

Intersection of two major roads, across the street from a rapid transit station....no retail at grade, of course.

Retail works best in groups, and there's nothing on that block (or that intersection) except trees and housing.

[osirisboy]

The corner of that building is a let down. And what's with that massive set back from Cambie.

Also, Doesn't seem like a lot of social housing going in along Cambie

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Retail works best in groups, and there's nothing on that block (or that intersection) except trees and housing.

Well first, Two of the four corners of that intersection has commercial/retail

The main drawback is that it's walled off and hugely set back from the street. Even if there's no retail the building could interact better with the street

[officedweller]

My guess is that the City wanted to preserve the "park-like" outlook towards the south since that is the start of the Cambie "Heritage" Boulevard.

The real test will be whether retail fills in the blocks north of 24th up to 19th or 20th.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Well first, Two of the four corners of that intersection has commercial/retail

The main drawback is that it's walled off and hugely set back from the street. Even if there's no retail the building could interact better with the street

Technically just the NE corner, and it's one carpet store.

Point I'm trying to make is that since South Cambie fizzles out long before it gets to King Edward - and very few people are going to cross the street from the station to get to one shop/cafe - they might as well make it all-residential and fade it into the rest of the housing.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Technically just the NE corner, and it's one carpet store.

Point I'm trying to make is that since South Cambie fizzles out long before it gets to King Edward - and very few people are going to cross the street from the station to get to one shop/cafe - they might as well make it all-residential and fade it into the rest of the housing.

My point is two of the four corners are much more than trees and houses

Like I said. They don't have to add retail here. Even making the building interact with the street better. Putting the lobby the manitou space etc facing towards the street would be better than this

[officedweller]

I suspect that the wall facing King Edward is in response to the grade of the site. It looks like they've established ground level at the south end of the site, so at the north end of the site, the underground box for the garage will be five (!) feet above the sidewalk.
That probably also serves to prevent passersby from easily looking into the ground floor units.

I guess alternatives would have had half a floor of units (and lobby) at grade facing King Edward (with storage or parking uses built into the grade to the south). They may not have wanted the building entrance to be near the bus stop.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Well first, Two of the four corners of that intersection has commercial/retail

The main drawback is that it's walled off and hugely set back from the street. Even if there's no retail the building could interact better with the street

That's true, but they are on the north side of King Ed. It makes sense to enhance the existing Cambie Village retail by filling in to the north, rather than south. The last thing we need is yet another dreary miles long strip of streetcar retail. Vancover has too much of that already.

[squeezied]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

Well first, Two of the four corners of that intersection has commercial/retail

The main drawback is that it's walled off and hugely set back from the street. Even if there's no retail the building could interact better with the street

The setback was always there. It's city land, no developer can build on it. Private property begins inside of the sidewalk.

See google maps: https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.2483555,-123.115703,166m/data=!3m1!1e3

This is at the start of the boulevard where it's at its narrowest point, correspondingly the setbacks (at both sides of the street) are at its widest point.

The interaction with the street could be better. But as officedweller has stated, they've established ground level at the south end of the site, thereby elevating the building at the north end. The reason why the elevation of the building can't be substantially lowered is due to the neighbouring site to the south. The parking ramp of the neighbouring site will be shared with this development which essentially determines the P1 elevation and every other floor elevation as well. As a result, the ground floor elevation at the north end is about 9ft above the sidewalk on King Ed, which unfortunately makes a wall the most practical solution. If the landscaping fronting the wall is attractive enough it could turn out quite well. I've never been disappointed with projects from Arno Matis so I'll wait and see how it turns out.

[Jebby]

Whatever happened to the plan to building something on top of the King Ed station?