Vancouver Infill & Lowrise Updates Discussion

[logan5]

I dunno. The older retail units that are there now will be replaced with something generic, so I see it as a the neighbourhood losing some of its character.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by logan5

I dunno. The older retail units that are there now will be replaced with something generic, so I see it as a the neighbourhood losing some of its character.

Agreed, Hastings-Sunrise is a great up and coming neighbourhood, but it likely won't get a chance to fully come into its own before being demolished and rebuilt. That older, green pin-striped building is nice, adds character. An unfortunate loss. The facadism of the other heritage building is terrible.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by whatnext

There's a heritage building buried in that bland mess? Seriously, why even bother, its the worst kind of facadism.

My buddy on the project said it was forced by the city to save it, and to save it in that way. It's wood and stucco from the early 30's. So I doubt it'll be saved as is, but a neat restaurant is going in there he said.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Agreed, Hastings-Sunrise is a great up and coming neighbourhood, but it likely won't get a chance to fully come into its own before being demolished and rebuilt. That older, green pin-striped building is nice, adds character. An unfortunate loss The facadism of the other heritage building is terrible.

Most of the retail on this section of the strip will be playing music retail chairs for the next few years. Between about 4 projects in the area. Banks changing locations, drug stores re-opening, insurance places taking new homes on their existing streets. There isn't a lot of loss of businesses for the current buildings proposed.

As for the green building, which I like the style and the colour is something new and wouldn't be repeated in a redevelopment, he said the City wasn't interested in keeping it, but would on the adjacent site potentially. How do you build a nice looking building that's 6-storeys and has a 2 or 1 storey Character building along the street?

Again these are not "Heritage Buildings".

[GenWhy?]

Just the few projects coming up (Kaslo, 2 on Penticton, and the Lakewood Dr sites along Hastings) will really add some new energy to the strip. More residents, which in turn feeds the businesses there. The current businesses on the Penticton-Hastings site are an insurance place, seafood place, and, before it relocated a while back, a framers and a dental place, then the thrift store. I think those are fairly generic businesses.

[GenWhy?]

What I'd like to see is a similar approach as I think in Copenhagen where they passed a by-law where banks cannot be on the first floor along a street, or so I read a year or so ago. From Nanaimo to Penticton alone there are 6 banks and 2 cash advance stores. Vancity has the newest location that is an abomination to the street by killing the entire corner. Thankfully new design rules don't allow that (or as much), but all the other banks are in older 1 storey buildings that will be seeking new digs. Banks love corners.

[Feathered Friend]

The pre-app open house for this project was the same night as the Passive House on Grant St, and the other event for the Penticton - E Hastings project. While I tried to get the hat trick and attend all three, the laws of time and space only allowed me a double.

Happily, I've obtained boards for the project. My feelings are that the design isn't my favorite, but it makes good use of a difficult site. Obviously I think this stretch of Kingsway could support more than a 6 story building, especially with no shadowing concerns and the nearby hospital. I will say, I do appreciate how the building pops out and follows the curve of Kingsway.

This project does mean that the Black Lodge will be closing it's red curtains, so probably best to go in one last time and have a drink with Killer Bob, Agent Cooper, and Audrey Horne. That said, the funeral home next door will remain.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

What I'd like to see is a similar approach as I think in Copenhagen where they passed a by-law where banks cannot be on the first floor along a street, or so I read a year or so ago. From Nanaimo to Penticton alone there are 6 banks and 2 cash advance stores. Vancity has the newest location that is an abomination to the street by killing the entire corner. Thankfully new design rules don't allow that (or as much), but all the other banks are in older 1 storey buildings that will be seeking new digs. Banks love corners.

That would be nice wouldn't it? Then we can always have 2-level CRUs, with the banks designated to be located on the upper, freeing up the first floor for other more interesting stuff. People are going to the banks regardless, so they don't really need to have a strong street presence.

[GenWhy?]

If anyone is interested, the City is going to implement a new pilot program for affordable rental housing, similar to the Rental 100 20 sites program prior. Looks very interesting.

Really targeting the same mid-rise forms but in every zone across the city.

[Feathered Friend]

https://twitter.com/Stranddev/status/933450064025886720


Great to see a site that has such low density be improved with the addition of so many units. From the Google reviews the location of the event (the Polish Community Centre) seems decent, so it could be a fun one to go out to. Hopefully it supports a good design as well.

[osirisboy]

Well hopefully this is a start of many projects to replace SFH

[GenWhy?]

Issue is always buying all the single-owned properties. The policy is in place. Glad to see more use the program and for another 135 units. They'll have some nice views.

[Feathered Friend]

[officedweller]

Too bad the facade facing Spruce has so much solid surface.
It's on a corner, but the tower design could just as easily be for mid-block.

[LeftCoaster]

That was my thought too, the solid surfaces facing the inside of the block make complete sense but the facade facing Spruce should certainly be opened up, not only for the pedestrian experience but for the residents as well.

[GenWhy?]

I'd say most likely for energy efficiency. Neat little project.

[BodomReaper]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

That was my thought too, the solid surfaces facing the inside of the block make complete sense but the facade facing Spruce should certainly be opened up, not only for the pedestrian experience but for the residents as well.

Isn't the high % of solid area required by city code?

[officedweller]

Probably, but the design could have distributed the solid surface differently to avoid the large blank wall.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by BodomReaper

Isn't the high % of solid area required by city code?

Yes, but like OD said there are graceful ways to do it rather than just ham-fisting it all into a solid wall facing a street.

[SFUVancouver]

I think that there's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" mentality for the addressing the City's energy performance requirements for south- and west-facing walls. If the architect cheaps out and uses window-wall with metal panels or glass spandrel, they are dumped on for doing a half-ass job of architectural design and they're still barely following through with meeting energy performance targets. If they use a "real wall", they typically end up with awkward blank painted facades that weather poorly and wouldn't be the logical design response to their south- and west-facing views. Really, as I see it, their only real response would be to use a combination of tools: punched windows (to lower the % of vision glass), appropriate use of blank walls, and some use of spandrel for window wall units.

For this project, I think that they've done a passable job, but the light-coloured painted concrete will likely weather poorly in our climate and not age all that well. For symmetry, they've essentially duplicated the western elevation on the eastern side, where it isn't needed, but that makes for a prominent blank wall on Spruce Street that's going to be visible forever.