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

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

I saw this beauty today :

Ugliness has no limits.


https://www.google.com/maps/@46.6439...7i13312!8i6656

All I can see is this:

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by stevanford1

Elbow River Casino's quite bad.

I once saw a druggie steal a busker's tip hat from in front of that Casino.

That intersection is probably the worst on 17th Ave. Here's the other side of the street:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0378...7i13312!8i6656

Our biggest entertainment district in the city and it has a vacant gas station lot surrounded my mechanics and car rental shops. Further up 1st Street you have Alpha House and Sasso / Vetro.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0385...7i13312!8i6656

Here's the whole blighted landscape:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0374...7i13312!8i6656

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

I once saw a druggy steal a busker's tip hat from in front of that Casino.

That intersection is probably the worst on 17th Ave. Here's the other side of the street:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0378...7i13312!8i6656

Our biggest entertainment district in the city and it has a vacant gas station lot surrounded my mechanics and car rental shops. Further up 1st Street you have Alpha House and Sasso / Vetro.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0385...7i13312!8i6656

Here's the whole blighted landscape:

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0374...7i13312!8i6656

I Hate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the Nuera twins. They are a blight on the landscape!


Note the lack of symmetry between the left side and the right side

also on that whole area.......twin much Calgary? (although Toronto has the same glass box over and over again so I am not judging).

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by stevanford1

[/B]

I Hate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the Nuera twins. They are a blight on the landscape!


Note the lack of symmetry between the left side and the right side

also on that whole area.......twin much Calgary? (although Toronto has the same glass box over and over again so I am not judging).

Nuera is actually worse than Sasso Vetro imo due to the mustard coloured stucco and the disgusting spandrel crown. As for twins, that’s Calgary’s schtick. Why build one nice tall tower (except for the Bow and Telus Sky) when you can build stubby twins? Funny enough Encana originally wanted twins and Foster talked them out of it.

[MonkeyRonin]

Well here's a depressing before & after:




https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2020/03...ay-design-haus

[jonny24]

I don't actually hate that.

[niwell]

Bike by that one often (or did, before wfh started!) and it has to be one of the uglier recent projects. I get that it will essentially be a student dorm, but even the bunker down the street is somehow better. Not like that's saying much though.

[esquire]

I'm not a fan but I have come to accept that schlepping tall glass towers on top of modest lowrise residential/commercial blocks has somehow become Toronto's thing.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I dream of facades being preserved here. Regina would have bulldozed the building beside as well to accommodate some surface parking for the area.

[TorontoDrew]

The discription by the design team on that one makes my eyes roll.

"the project team behind Shiu Pong's Design Haus came up with a new tower base designed to match the general character and materiality of the old buildings, without being required to precisely replicate what existed before."



Where does it match anything? It should have been half the height, 9 not 18 floors. Also brick or even pre-cast would have looked nice. That grey spandrel is horrible. Also is it two tone or is that just the sun setting and a shadow being cast on it by the hideous U of T res building?

source: urbantoronto.ca



It makes this ugly beast look nice(ish). https://www.google.com/maps/@43.6723...7i16384!8i8192

[J.OT13]

The materiality of the tower reminds me of the Andaz Hotel in Ottawa. Very disappointing design, especially for a high-end hotel. No suprise coming from Claridge (developer).


https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/andaz-luxu...22nd-1.3026868


https://www.tablethotels.com/en/otta...-byward-market

[someone123]

Here's one from Halifax.

Before

(Google streetview)

After

Source

[someone123]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

"the project team behind Shiu Pong's Design Haus came up with a new tower base designed to match the general character and materiality of the old buildings, without being required to precisely replicate what existed before."

Fixed version:

"the project team behind Shiu Pong's Design Haus came up with a new tower base designed to match the general character and materiality of the old buildings maximize profit, without being required to precisely replicate what existed before while technically satisfying minimal requirements."

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's one from Halifax.

It looked far better before the "renovation"...........

Why couldn't they have just refreshed the stucco???

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It looked far better before the "renovation"...........

Why couldn't they have just refreshed the stucco???

I don't hate it honestly. I know its cheap siding, but to the untrained eye, it gives the impression of a light coastal blue board-and-batten.

Restoring it back to its original brick (one would assume lives on under the stucco) would have been the best option from a heritage perspective.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It looked far better before the "renovation"...........

Why couldn't they have just refreshed the stucco???

Halifax is full of quasi-slumlord properties that are rented out to students. They buy old heritage buildings, let them fall apart over decades, and they eventually devolve into vinyl-clad boxes.

This has been banned in parts of the city that have design requirements but this apartment building is farther out (West End). The planning rules for this area were recently refreshed but I'm not sure if blue vinyl siding is still on the menu or not.

Here's another one:

Originally Posted by someone123

More here: https://halifaxbloggers.ca/noticedin...0/02/cornered/

This could all be fixed by raising minimum standards. Market rents in central Halifax are more than high enough for landlords to pay to maintain brick or wood siding.

[someone123]

Some wooden apartment buildings in North End Halifax:


(streetview)

The orange one has nice Victorian-style detailing, the green one is a mix of decent wood detailing and inappropriate (vinyl?) windows, and the one on the left is a complete disaster, what happens if you buy one of these buildings and operate it as a slum property for 30 years. The shoes dangling from the lines are a nice touch.

[O-tacular]

This belongs here:

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Saskatoon - Baydo Towers - 29 storeys - ~75 meters

I wouldn’t be as offended by these unequivocally horrible buildings if they weren’t going to be the 3rd or 4th tallest in the city. Thankfully this is only one stain on an otherwise very impressive string of development in Saskatoon in recent years. It’s a pretty big stain though :/

[O-tacular]

Calgary's West Village towers have a decent silhouette but Cidex has decided to take a massive dump on Calgary with these abhorrent materials:

Mmm spandrel!





The bunker:





The crown will likely be as shovel faced as Nuera's.

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Calgary's West Village towers have a decent silhouette but Cidex has decided to take a massive dump on Calgary with these abhorrent materials:

Mmm spandrel!





The bunker:





The crown will likely be as shovel faced as Nuera's.

Nothing we couldn't predict. Rancid!