[Halifax] The Dillon (Market Lofts) | 28 m | 8 fl | Completed

[Jonovision]

20170122_123458_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[RoshanMcG]

[kph06]

That will be a lot of blank wall.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by kph06

That will be a lot of blank wall.

Should be only temporary though. Dexel owns the cheque processing bunker that is adjacent to the south and east. Presumably it will be redeveloped in the near future.

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Should be only temporary though. Dexel owns the cheque processing bunker that is adjacent to the south and east. Presumably it will be redeveloped in the near future.

Do you know if they own the frozen yogurt place on the corner as well?

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Do you know if they own the frozen yogurt place on the corner as well?

Appears to be owned by a JOHN C. MANOLOPOULOS.

[Jonovision]

20170204_153838_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[eastcoastal]

I was downtown this weekend and thought that if I were shopping for a downtown condo, I think this would be first on my list, followed by the Roy, then the one on the Y site.

I like the scale and location of this one very much.

[Jonovision]

20170208_165958_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jonovision]

20170307_071643_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20170307_071729_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jonovision]

20170330_153414_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jonovision]

20170401_130644 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Empire]

Originally Posted by kph06

That will be a lot of blank wall.

This building is a blight on the south and east sides. HRM planning has never been able to address the proliferation of blank walls in the downtown. The reason for their existence is the fire code and that someone will likely build and hide the blank wall, assuming they build within the next 30 years to the same height. No building shall have a window closer than 5 or 8ft? from the property line due to the risk of a fire spreading. Because buildings can be built to the property line there are a number of buildings with ugly blank walls in the downtown. The former North American Life building has a 7 storey blank wall facing the mouth of the harbour, 5670 Spring Garden Rd., blank wall facing the Public Gardens, the Joe Howe building south facing blank wall and the Royal Bank are just a few.

Buildings should be required to have a setback and windows over a certain height. Buildings could be allowed windows at the property line if they are the first to build. If an adjacent building were to be constructed then they would have to have a setback to meet the fire code. Also, blank walls could have glass to represent windows. The red siding on the Dillon will make it hard to miss.

The CIBC building on Barrington is a great example of a setback at the property line to allow for windows.

CIBC
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6479393,-...fQLhE49Hy_VDS2gzHCsdQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

5670
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.642256,-6...aqBOwlwBKjRRmzzVKXjTA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Joe Howe
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6469309,-...gZl3xHdWnGFBTJnEoijAw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Royal Bank
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6483565,-...kJzb8d2UvvjZU0Jut7aMQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Brunswick
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6469683,-...35CCnd2IHv5xJlgDjRa7g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Not to be outdone
https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6467215,-...G7VVzFZOYGlP765q4dPpQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Jonovision]

2017-04-17_05-40-13 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[JET]

Remarkable false façade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leinster_Gardens

[Empire]

Originally Posted by JET

Remarkable false façade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leinster_Gardens

I would like to see a requirement for a continuation of the architectural style of the building to include all four sides. Blank walls are visually disruptive to the cityscape and need to be addressed as our blank wall stock is very high now.

Given the potential for future buildings being built to the property line I would hope a resolution can be found. The first step is to recognize that the problem exists.

[IanWatson]

A lot of our blank walls are on property lines though. Building code requires fire rating along property lines, and severely limits windows and other openings the closer you get to the line.

In theory, these blank walls will get covered up by adjacent development. Of course this doesn't always happen on a reasonable timescale (the Credit Union Atlantic building on SGR, and the Homburg building come to mind...). Hopefully it's not too long before the bank bunker gets developed and that red metal wall gets covered.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

A lot of our blank walls are on property lines though. Building code requires fire rating along property lines, and severely limits windows and other openings the closer you get to the line.

In theory, these blank walls will get covered up by adjacent development. Of course this doesn't always happen on a reasonable timescale (the Credit Union Atlantic building on SGR, and the Homburg building come to mind...). Hopefully it's not too long before the bank bunker gets developed and that red metal wall gets covered.

If windows were REQUIRED on all sides, it might have the effect of allowing designers to push the upper levels further away from property lines, creating better point towers.... or may make it impossible to build.

[alps]

I'm not bothered by the blank wall. Besides, something will likely be built to cover it up once that bunker-like building on the same block is redeveloped.

I don't like the artificiality of requiring false facades...it's a city, not Disneyland. False facades are usually not very convincing. And it's wasteful if the facade is liable to be covered up in the future anyway. We don't need more regulation mandating arbitrary setbacks from the property line. The preference for "point towers" over squatter buildings that meet the property line is also a matter of personal preference.

In Japanese cities, many people would consider individual buildings very often basically "ugly". But the cities are highly liveable as a result of dense, walkable urban design with active streetscapes, human scale at ground level, high quality public realm, good public transit, etc. And the cities are beautiful and distinctive when viewed as a whole. So I feel we should definitely encourage good urban design through planning regulations (i.e. mandating continuous, active street frontages), but I feel we shouldn't be too prescriptive when it comes to purely aesthetic matters.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by alps

I'm not bothered by the blank wall. Besides, something will likely be built to cover it up once that bunker-like building on the same block is redeveloped.

I don't like the artificiality of requiring false facades...it's a city, not Disneyland. False facades are usually not very convincing. And it's wasteful if the facade is liable to be covered up in the future anyway. We don't need more regulation mandating arbitrary setbacks from the property line. The preference for "point towers" over squatter buildings that meet the property line is also a matter of personal preference.

In Japanese cities, many people would consider individual buildings very often basically "ugly". But the cities are highly liveable as a result of dense, walkable urban design with active streetscapes, human scale at ground level, high quality public realm, good public transit, etc. And the cities are beautiful and distinctive when viewed as a whole. So I feel we should definitely encourage good urban design through planning regulations (i.e. mandating continuous, active street frontages), but I feel we shouldn't be too prescriptive when it comes to purely aesthetic matters.

Japanese cities tend to have a significantly greater population than downtown Halifax.