Winnipeg Construction IX

[Urban recluse]

Beautiful buildings do not need to be all glass. This design sucks.

[Bluenote]

Originally Posted by Urban recluse

Beautiful buildings do not need to be all glass. This design sucks.

True. More Radison style buildings. I want concrete highways to the Sky.

[Urban recluse]

Oh you!

[buzzg]

I think the Stradbrook proposal is pretty good - it's impossible to tell what materials will all be used (although likely stucco). They at least put some thought into the design - it's not just a rectangle, there's some interesting edges and corners on it like 300 Assiniboine. If anything can be learned from 300, maybe a slightly darker colour, or perhaps using 2-3 paint colours can make a big difference on a "plain" tower like this, rather than all beige.

It's appropriate for the area - hopefully the live/work spaces are well designed that we actually get some retail there, which is a huge part of the TOD idea. Don't want to see quasi-retail spaces always closed by curtains that has happened to some other live/work spaces that juts end up "live" - like Ship Street Village for example.

In terms of the glass thing - I do like glass towers a lot, but agree that when there's a lot of them, they all look boring and the same. But so would a lot of towers like these. We need variety. That's actually one advantage Winnipeg has from its slow/steady growth - a lot of buildings from a lot of eras. I was in Vancouver for the first time a few weeks ago and while it's obviously nice, I was actually kind of blown away how EVERYTHING looked the same.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by buzzg

In terms of the glass thing - I do like glass towers a lot, but agree that when there's a lot of them, they all look boring and the same.

We are far far far from having a skyline choked with too many glass towers. We barely have any.

Hearing people complain about this possibility in the Winnipeg context is like the guy who walks into the gym for the first time and says "I don't want to get too ripped"... one step a time there, buddy.

[buzzg]

I was not complaining about that at all - just that it does happen in other cities. I know we're nowhere near it.

[LilZebra]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I think the Stradbrook proposal is pretty good - it's impossible to tell what materials will all be used (although likely stucco). They at least put some thought into the design - it's not just a rectangle, there's some interesting edges and corners on it like 300 Assiniboine. If anything can be learned from 300, maybe a slightly darker colour, or perhaps using 2-3 paint colours can make a big difference on a "plain" tower like this, rather than all beige.
.

I think the student housing near Port. and Memorial / Stella's is UGLY. They could have done better.

To compare, I love the (what I think of as) as Calgary-style building at the U of M for student housing, Pembina Hall ... that hi-rise...don't know what it's called... Now that is a beauty. It's light coloured red brick.



What is another one...oh the Alt Hotel also comes to mind...Nothing wrong with "Glasshouse". ... but the Alt bldg. is horrendous looking.

Both of those are recently constructed, with more than two colours on the fascade.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

I think the student housing near Port. and Memorial / Stella's is UGLY. They could have done better.

To compare, I love the (what I think of as) as Calgary-style building at the U of M for student housing, Pembina Hall ... that hi-rise...don't know what it's called... Now that is a beauty. It's light coloured red brick.

The glass on the side is very reminiscent of 300 Main's new facade.

[esquire]

^ Both are Ray Wan projects. That guy is everywhere around town these days!

[trueviking]

.............

[Authentic_City]

Originally Posted by LilZebra

I think the student housing near Port. and Memorial / Stella's is UGLY. They could have done better.

To compare, I love the (what I think of as) as Calgary-style building at the U of M for student housing, Pembina Hall ... that hi-rise...don't know what it's called... Now that is a beauty. It's light coloured red brick.

Keep in mind that the UW building is not strictly student housing. Anyone can rent those apartments - student or not. It contains some affordable housing units and is not fully subsidized by the university as a student residence. It is operated by an arms-length corporation with a mandate to redevelop urban land and *ideally* make money (UWCRC). Hence the cheaper (ahem, more cost-effective) design. The building isn't really part of campus.

The UM building is a physical part of the main UM campus, is fully controlled and operated by the university and used as a student residence building - it's not part of a scheme to try to make money and leverage government subsidies for affordable housing. Hence, it's a better building that is fully integrated into campus.

[CoryB]

^^ U of W fully controls the UWCRC and UWCRC2.0, yes there are two of them. They are legally separate from the school and make their own decisions but the majority owners is still the U of W, especially for UWCRC. Part of the reason for UWCRC2.0, from my understanding, is to give it further distance from the U of W and perhaps spin it off into a fully independent organization down the line.

As for being "a scheme to try to make money and leverage government subsidies for affordable housing", UWCRC was created to meet a very really need for decent, affordable, student housing near the U of W campus. Before U of W undertook its student residence projects there was an agreement in place to house students at Lion's Place which was intended as a seniors housing unit. UWCRC was likely setup under the suggestion of the government on how it could meet the needs of both the U of W and the community at large.

[buzzg]

^Yeah, and UWCRC2.0's main focus after this project will be to assist other organizations in building affordable/mixed-income housing in the West End/Downtown/Inner City. Doesn't sound like there'll be many more (if any) projects they will take on on their own. It actually kind of sounds like for this one it's set up as UWCRC2.0 assisting UWCRC to build this...lol. Meaning going forward, any UW owned/operated facilities will be under UWCRC, while the "helping" arm is 2.0.

[Authentic_City]

^All of this is to say that UWCRC and UWCRC 2.0 operate under very different conditions than the UM. And don't kid yourself. When these shell corporations and their buildings are trumpeted to the university community and the board of regents, there is plenty of talk about how they are going to generate revenue and leverage government support.

[hexrae]

"Bell MTS Place" signage up on the cylinder portion of the arena.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by hexrae

"Bell MTS Place" signage up on the cylinder portion of the arena.

Because the typeface is much thinner, I find the signage a lot less visible now.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by tree

really sorry to post this here as I'm not really sure where it fits. It's more a Winnipeg building related question.

I was driving down Hendersen a few years ago - apparently for my first time or apparently the first time I was able to look around and notice this - but was surprised to see this skybridge between two apartments at 'Oakland Gardens' (210 Oakland avenue)



(Image on Google Streetview is clipped a bit so the bridge may look 'cut' a bit in the middle)

Inconsistent (matches the penthouse but not the rest of the building) and kind of awkward looking placement / location. High enough up that I'm not quite sure of the purpose of it.

Does anyone know anything about this thing? Am I the only one who finds it bizarre? Where should I post questions like this in the future - starting a new thread seems like overkill lol.

It connected both residential buildingsoff Henderson to MERTEEN'S, an Austrian style dining room formerly owned by the developer Martin Bergen. Niakwa was Tiffani's.

[BAKGUY]

I was out of town for a week. Can someone explain what 2 ..twin towers were announced please?

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by BAKGUY

I was out of town for a week. Can someone explain what 2 ..twin towers were announced please?

Phase two of true north square, Sutton place hotel and residence.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Originally Posted by hexrae

"Bell MTS Place" signage up on the cylinder portion of the arena.

agreed, but WOW does the BellMTS Place atrium facing Portage ever light up in blue now, looks so great. I saw it when it was still dark at 6 am today!