Ugly Canada 2 (Only architecture, planning and design faux pas)

[stevanford1]

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.7176...4!8i8192?hl=en

[esquire]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Oh man, I just came across one of the worst McMansion enclaves I've ever seen in the GTA.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.8427...7i16384!8i8192

The scale is ridiculous. They're 5,000 SF+ homes on bungalow-sized lots.

If they did NY style townhouses on those lots instead of suburban McMansions, it could have ended up looking good...

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

How could something so pricey be so banal and fugly? Epitome of a McMansion. Instead of nuggets made from pink slime, mansions made from cheap materials and fashioned from architectural plans whose creators are completely lacking any sense of taste or refinement. this is ugly. It could be a small uni residence. With the Fart McMurray-style garage scheme.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the copy and pasted windows and massive garage was a building I lived in for a semester in University.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Oh man, I just came across one of the worst McMansion enclaves I've ever seen in the GTA.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.8427...7i16384!8i8192

The scale is ridiculous. They're 5,000 SF+ homes on bungalow-sized lots.




This one on the corner takes the cake I think:

I am more tolerant of suburbia than most on here, but those areas almost look like quickly built neighbourhoods for nouveau riche Russian with little regard for planning or standards. That or the mansion developments where people from the "Irish Traveller*" community live in the Southern US (again, built without much attention to planning or standards).

*Look them up if this does not ring a bell

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am more tolerant of suburbia than most on here, but those areas almost look like quickly built neighbourhoods for nouveau riche Russian with little regard for planning or standards. That or the mansion developments where people from the "Irish Traveller*" community live in the Southern US (again, built without much attention to planning or standards).

*Look them up if this does not ring a bell

They are neither in terms of those in the southern US who managed to parlay their lifestyle into a TV show. I'll keep it at that as my opinions of those who specialize in dodgy driveway sealing isn't the most politically correct based on experiences in the UK and Ireland.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

They are neither in terms of those in the southern US who managed to parlay their lifestyle into a TV show. I'll keep it at that as my opinions of those who specialize in dodgy driveway sealing isn't the most politically correct based on experiences in the UK and Ireland.

Now you've made me curious!

(Never seen a TV show about Irish Travellers, unless documentaries count.)

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Now you've made me curious!

(Never seen a TV show about Irish Travellers, unless documentaries count.)

Scripted reality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Fat_Gypsy_Weddings

I've had interactions with this community in the UK and Ireland

[stevanford1]

Airdrie Alberta Main Drag:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2939...7i13312!8i6656

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by stevanford1

Airdrie Alberta Main Drag:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2939...7i13312!8i6656

Make no mistakes, Airdrie is a profoundly ugly community. However, that isn't really the main drag. If I recall, I think this is more or less the "main drag" downtown:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.29271...7i13312!8i6656

I know its not much better but...

[Acajack]

American spelling on that overhead sign (City Center):

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2963...7i13312!8i6656

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by stevanford1

Airdrie Alberta Main Drag:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2939...7i13312!8i6656

Airdrie is hideous by all measures... but how could anyone think that is the main drag? It's a truck stop on the side of one of the busiest highways in the country. Remember, literally 98% of Airdrie has been built since 1976. The saddest part is, what Pavlov posted is actually the best that city (~75,000 people) has to offer All pedestrian scaled development is shot down by the community, and super-centres reign supreme.

I think Alberta's only chance for a semi-walkable, semi-dense suburban city with high rises is St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton. However, even their high rise district never came to fruition... yet.


Edit: Oooof. The American spelling on provincial signage. How have I never noticed that?!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Airdrie is hideous by all measures... but how could anyone think that is the main drag? It's a truck stop on the side of one of the busiest highways in the country. Remember, literally 98% of Airdrie has been built since 1976. The saddest part is, what Pavlov posted is actually the best that city (~75,000 people) has to offer All pedestrian scaled development is shot down by the community, and super-centres reign supreme.

I think Alberta's only chance for a semi-walkable, semi-dense suburban city with high rises is St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton.


Edit: Oooof. The American spelling on provincial signage. How have I never noticed that?!

Is the highlighted right? My impression was that in most any municipality in the country these days, officials and residents tend to favour pedestrian-friendly development, and it's developers who continue to resist it and still try to have their way by hook or by crook.

[Chadillaccc]

Maybe "community" wasn't the correct word, but certainly an incessant vocal minority of nimbys. The City of Airdrie has been looking for more opportunities for a pedestrian scaled, high density district centred on their "downtown" mall across from their city hall and library. It would be a great opportunity, but can never get through engagement with the nimbys.


This is the area in question: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2880.../data=!3m1!1e3 - between the shoppers in the south and the provincial courts in the north along Main Street.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Acajack

American spelling on that overhead sign (City Center):

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2963...7i13312!8i6656

Nice catch. Probably due to our current provincial government’s desire to be the 51st state.

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Nice catch. Probably due to our current provincial government’s desire to be the 51st state.

Airdrie has a city centre?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Nice catch. Probably due to our current provincial government’s desire to be the 51st state.

There is also one in Charlottetown when you come into the city from the east on the bridge. Yeah, I am such a geek.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.23248...7i13312!8i6656

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is also one in Charlottetown when you come into the city from the east on the bridge. Yeah, I am such a geek.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@46.23248...7i13312!8i6656

https://goo.gl/maps/en9ULEegJpf4ijzv6

One closer to home.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

https://goo.gl/maps/en9ULEegJpf4ijzv6

One closer to home.

And yet the official name of the facility is "Kanata Leisure Centre"!

[Proof Sheet]

https://twitter.com/CheapoCrappy/sta...827329/photo/1

Living in this place would make me dizzy.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by Acajack

And yet the official name of the facility is "Kanata Leisure Centre"!

I'd be surprised in anyone questioned the difference in the signs when they were installed and likely ordered from an American sign manufacturers catalogue.