Quote:
Originally Posted by drew
To the bolded... and?
Where was this criticism to the 90210 monstrosities across the street?
When did 127 Bannatyne become an architectural masterpiece? It's also in the same National Historic Site.
Marketlands?
None of these are exactly stunners.
Developers need to build given the financial constraints they face. Or we can be content to leave things as they are.
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and, a National Historic Site deserves better.
This has nothing to do with financial constraints....that is the very definition of a mailed in design...there isn't a single idea....it is literally an extruded floorplan with windows cut into the wall where the rooms are....the cladding is some unidentified taupe material....the ground floor is completely blank....the weird little building perched on top of the heritage building is clumsy and characterless....from what I understand the ground floor is parking....that's not a budget issue...in fact, it's probably more expensive to do that....that is simply misguided priorities causing the building to be oppressive at the pedestrian edge.
Imagine having a project like that on a site like that and not even trying.
at the very least use brick....do a nice window composition....maybe add a canopy or cornice detail.....something....anything...
you may not like the 546 buildings for personal aesthetic reasons, but every single inch of them have been carefully considered and thoroughly designed. I personally think they are beautiful, but even if you don't like their aesthetic, both create interesting public spaces at the ground. Both have retail spaces on the main floor. Both have huge glass walls along the sidewalk. You may not like the cladding of the new building but it is custom designed and fabricated....is this designer investigating new cladding types?
The same can be said for Marketlands. It will be clad in white brick with integrated photovoltaic cladding on the south side. It has two big floors of glass along the ground and fronts a big new public space.
Also. Waterfront drive and the Marketlands sites are not in the national historic site.
127 Bannatyne is in the historic site and it is absolutely beautiful. There is no comparison in the quality of design...or materials....it has retail uses at the ground, uses brick, big walls of glass along the sidewalk...has a nice step back after the fourth floor....i wish I had designed it....it's awesome.
New development in the exchange doesn't have to be a 'stunner', but it needs to be designed....and they need to use good materials....no passes are given for economic constraints....a good architect can do good work on any budget.....they can be clean and simple and still be elegant and timeless....even if the buildings end up being ugly, we need better at the ground floor....no parking at grade ever....no blank walls along the front sidewalk.
we are so lucky to have the exchange district and we need to treat it with the respect it deserves....we are well past the 'any development is good development' stage in Winnipeg....we need to get over that insecurity and we need to demand better....especially in sensitive areas like this....this is a major building that will be there for 100 years....it deserves more design effort.
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