Surrey City Centre Redevelopment Plans

[paradigm4]

Originally Posted by deasine

It's amazing to see so much happen to Surrey so quickly. Watts is like playing Sim City, but in reality. It's interesting to note, other than within Surrey Central, the density increases are actually a little bit off the main "highway" routes.

What I find most interesting is how the density tends to correlate with the topography of the city. In any case, the density shifts that have occurred over the past 5 years or so are primarily due to the market - less land to build on, higher costs of housing, etc. have led to more townhomes, smaller lot houses, and 4 storey condos.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by vitc

I would definitely vote for her provincially...she really has impressed me.

giggity giggity goo!

[vansky]

Originally Posted by paradigm4

What I find most interesting is how the density tends to correlate with the topography of the city. In any case, the density shifts that have occurred over the past 5 years or so are primarily due to the market - less land to build on, higher costs of housing, etc. have led to more townhomes, smaller lot houses, and 4 storey condos.

i like tall condos with flashy multi-story shopping malls under them, eg. metrotown

the city feels dead having too many 4 stories...

perhaps they should densify with taller condos throughout the region...

[paradigm4]

Originally Posted by vansky

i like tall condos with flashy multi-story shopping malls under them, eg. metrotown

the city feels dead having too many 4 stories...

perhaps they should densify with taller condos throughout the region...

While I agree in that I too prefer taller condos, there's a big case to be made for the 4 storey wood frame building.

Most of Europe's density comes from medium rise buildings. It's also been determined that 4 stories are the most "human scale", thus why so many of our podium towers have the 4 storey walk ups at their base.

[Canadian Mind]

What does it mean to be human scale?

[metroXpress]

Originally Posted by vansky

i like tall condos with flashy multi-story shopping malls under them, eg. metrotown

the city feels dead having too many 4 stories...

perhaps they should densify with taller condos throughout the region...

I think this would definitely be planned for Surrey City Centre....high rises

[go_leafs_go02]

I like this focus on Whalley, it needs its help desperately.

However, I noticed Newton is very quickly falling into disrepair, it's now the crime hot-bed, and personally I feel safer walking in Whalley than in Newton.

[WaxItYourself]

Originally Posted by go_leafs_go02

I like this focus on Whalley, it needs its help desperately.

However, I noticed Newton is very quickly falling into disrepair, it's now the crime hot-bed, and personally I feel safer walking in Whalley than in Newton.

Ms Watts plans to bring some types pf Rapid Bus os LRT from Surrey Central to NEwton. I'm sure as soon as that happens there will basically be two large city center that she'll have to deal with in a number of areas. The crime rate is just one of those areas.

[cornholio]

i dont think she is particularly special but just a good politician aka sales person. i supose i would vote for her though, anythings better then that other one.

[paradigm4]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

What does it mean to be human scale?

Wikipedia:

Humans also interact with their environments based on their sensory capabilities. So human scale in architecture can also describe buildings with sightlines, acoustic properties, task lighting, ambient lighting, and spatial grammar that fit well with human senses. Human scale in architecture is deliberately violated:

- for monumental effect. Buildings, statues, and memorials are constructed in a scale larger than life as a social/cultural signal that the subject matter is also larger than life. The extreme example is the Rodina (Motherland) statue in Volgograd (Stalingrad).

- for aesthetic effect. Many architects, particularly in the Modernist movement, design buildings that prioritize structural purity and clarity of form over concessions to human scale. This became the dominant American architectural style for decades. Some notable examples among many are Henry Cobb's John Hancock Tower in Boston, much of I. M. Pei's work including the Dallas City Hall, and Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

- to serve automotive scale. Commercial buildings that are designed to be legible from roadways assume a radically different shape. The human eye can distinguish about 3 objects or features per second. A pedestrian steadily walking along a 100-foot (30-meter) length of department store can perceive about 68 features; a driver passing the same frontage at 30 mph (13 m/s or 44 ft/s) can perceive about six or seven features. Auto-scale buildings tend to be smooth and shallow, readable at a glance, simplified, presented outward, and with signage with bigger letters and fewer words. This urban form is traceable back to the innovations of developer A. W. Ross along Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles in 1920.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

What does it mean to be human scale?

“Human scale" is a watch-word to describe a built environment that features relationships between open space and buildings that feel "about right" with respect to the size of a person.

Ephemerally these spaces can feel open and airy while simultaneously offering a pleasing amount of enclosure without feeling claustrophobic. All of this is of course very subjective. However some commonality has emerged the world over in terms of the size and height of buildings along people-focused streets. A three to eight-storey streetwall is common in virtually every city in the world and this scale has been retained long after the structural limitations of masonry and timber construction were removed with the advent of steel and concrete. Skyscapers are still far and away the exception when it comes to urban buildings. Land economics certainly plays a role as well but this cannot explain away the popularity of the four to six-storey building.

Human scaled built environments can feature buildings that incorporate the golden ratio in their use of setbacks in order to break down the bulk of a building from the perspective of a person on the street. These spaces may also feature buildings that are not much taller than a street is wide. Successful urban public squares and plazas tend to share some similarities as well, such as an active ground level for the surrounding buildings, a sense of enclosure that can be provided by both buildings and a void space such as a lake, ocean, or river. 50 metres is a curiously common dimension for successful urban squares too.

Human scaled buildings feature such basics as street-level access, a limited numbers of entry stairs, visual interest from a person’s perspective at street-level, an absence of unadorned blank walls and unpleasant mechanical or aural disruptions.

[go_leafs_go02]

Originally Posted by WaxItYourself

Ms Watts plans to bring some types pf Rapid Bus os LRT from Surrey Central to NEwton. I'm sure as soon as that happens there will basically be two large city center that she'll have to deal with in a number of areas. The crime rate is just one of those areas.

almost all the crime in Newton happens along the 128 Street corridor...

not KGH.

Newton extends from Scott Road right to 152 Street approximately, and from 96 Avenue down to Panorama Ridge...

[CoryHolmes]

I have issued a memo to Ms. Watts: she's officially no longer allowed to run from premier of BC. I'm being greedy and keeping her allllll for Surrey

[vansky]

Originally Posted by Allen

I think this would definitely be planned for Surrey City Centre....high rises

too bad it's moving slower than ever...

to be a little bold, i think they should just put another floor on top of metrotown, or even two. 5 floor shopping is way more exciting than two/three floors

[mr.x]

There won't be another Metrotown expansion for a long time to come. Municipalities across the region have rightly complained that it's sucking in far too much of the region's retail business, and a five floor mall would be overkill with our current population. Burnaby is also trying to move away from this as it's sucking the life our of their core, which is Metrotown.

You're more likely to see the vast above ground parking lots redeveloped into condo and office towers, and perhaps some mall expansion along with it plus on-street retail facing Kingsway.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by CoryHolmes

I have issued a memo to Ms. Watts: she's officially no longer allowed to run from premier of BC. I'm being greedy and keeping her allllll for Surrey

Too late, we made an agreement with Watts that she'll take over Vancouver's mayoral duties in 2011.

[NetMapel]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Too late, we made an agreement with Watts that she'll take over Vancouver's mayoral duties in 2011.

Watts for White Rock mayor in 2011

[CoryHolmes]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Too late, we made an agreement with Watts that she'll take over Vancouver's mayoral duties in 2011.

Nuh-UH!! She's ours and we're not letting her go! *clutches his Dianne Watts plushie in a deathgrip*

Originally Posted by NetMaple

Watts for White Rock mayor in 2011

So White Rock is going to reconsider it's petulant foot-stomping and come back into the Surrey fold where it so rightly belongs? Excellent!

[metroXpress]

Condos near Gateway station is nice....I think it's a very attractive new community with the new training prep centre..

[surrey1]

http://www.surreycitydevelopment.com/pdf/Civic_Centre_Development.pdf

not sure if this is the final design.. has the new library listed at 85k sq feet