Macleod and 78 Ave SE. Another used car lot (and Tandy leather) bites the dust.
To be replaced with DP2025-00776, Bluebird Self Storage:
To be replaced with DP2025-00776, Bluebird Self Storage:
|
|
|
General Construction Updates
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
CBBarnett
Senior Member
The premise of signs like this is kind of flawed from the beginning.
It stems from a clumsy interpretations of an idea everyone always says in public engagement that sounds something like "Marda Loop is unique and unique places need clear boundaries. People should know they are there when they are there!
Most obvious way to do this - put up a giant sign. It's not subtle but checks the box.
Problem is that the act of putting up a sign like this is often counter to the very area it's announcing. Welcome to a walkable urban community via and oversized highway sign installation on an offramp! It's out of scale, it's painfully car-oriented. It's awkward also because it's only one sign - it's implying that only main "gateway" Marda Loop is EB 33rd to Crowchild. A neighbourhood has many gateways and entrances, elevating the trashiest entrances that has the least in common with what the neighbourhood actually is is a common mistake in car-oriented planning.
Here's the old one for comparison - same problems.
Does a sign like that break the bank? Not really - a few hundred grand on signs like this in a $50M project isn't really much cost savings. It's also clearly a demand from public engagement, so that's worth something. I don't see the value though IMO.
IMO a less obvious "gateway" feature would be more meaningful - such as grand sidewalks and planters to resolve how bad it is to cross Crowchild into Marda Loop on foot. A gateway that actually improves access rather than just symbolizes access to a destination, kind of thing. Probably would have cost more than the sign though!
It stems from a clumsy interpretations of an idea everyone always says in public engagement that sounds something like "Marda Loop is unique and unique places need clear boundaries. People should know they are there when they are there!
Most obvious way to do this - put up a giant sign. It's not subtle but checks the box.
Problem is that the act of putting up a sign like this is often counter to the very area it's announcing. Welcome to a walkable urban community via and oversized highway sign installation on an offramp! It's out of scale, it's painfully car-oriented. It's awkward also because it's only one sign - it's implying that only main "gateway" Marda Loop is EB 33rd to Crowchild. A neighbourhood has many gateways and entrances, elevating the trashiest entrances that has the least in common with what the neighbourhood actually is is a common mistake in car-oriented planning.
Here's the old one for comparison - same problems.
Does a sign like that break the bank? Not really - a few hundred grand on signs like this in a $50M project isn't really much cost savings. It's also clearly a demand from public engagement, so that's worth something. I don't see the value though IMO.
IMO a less obvious "gateway" feature would be more meaningful - such as grand sidewalks and planters to resolve how bad it is to cross Crowchild into Marda Loop on foot. A gateway that actually improves access rather than just symbolizes access to a destination, kind of thing. Probably would have cost more than the sign though!
1875
Senior Member
difficult to be worse but it gave it a go
1875
Senior Member
fwiw they replaced the median as well, whether that was needed or not
Anyone have an image of the old, old one? I moved into the area in 2006 and I remember it being at 33 Ave and 20 St. It was painted blue and covered 4 sides of the intersection. Then a car hit it and they made a one-sided black one and installed it closer to Crowchild.
I found a Herald article that says it was there from 1989 to 2006, but Google Street View only seems to have images from late 2007, when temporary lights were put up after the accident.
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
That would be a great spot for a monument, the art at the building on the corner of 34 and 20 is a better nob to the neighbourhoods past as an end of the line community of a street car.
adamyyc
Active Member
Renderings of Marc and Mada show a giant “M” & a film reel (presumably a nod to the old theatre) in the plaza at this corner.
I’m sure this will change as the development progresses.
adamyyc
Active Member
To be fair, they did return the “lollipop” signs at 33 Ave & 19 St and 34 Ave & 20 St:
And the design does call for “Marda Loop Gateway Features” in the east end 33 Ave & 14 St, 34 Ave & 14 St (future phase), as well as at a couple other locations throughout the Main Streets. Who knows what those “features” will look like.
That said, I also don’t really like the new sign. It’s a bit cartoony for my taste, but maybe it’ll grow on me. I think they could have done something more subtle.
Last edited:
CBBarnett
Senior Member
Yeah totally - I just don't buy it when plans call out things like "gateway features" being worth highlighting. It's mostly a bit too vaguely "urban designy" for me, and doesn't get at what is the whole point of a "gateway" is.
The urban design approach is all about using "gateway features" to signify a transition between places, telling users of a corridor that they are entering a new and different area worthy of a gateway. The problem is this gateway feature doesn't do that.
It can't - the interchange and road design forces the actual transition between areas here, people and driver behaviour only begin to change at 22 Street intersection because you exit interchange car-world, and enter urban grid, pedestrian retail main street world.
Most attempts at using a sign as a gateway don't do the job for this reason - the roads, buildings and more structural elements of cities form gateways, not signs. Just spend the effort to design the place the plan says you are trying to build rather than a sign that tells people that.
adamyyc
Active Member
I went to the movies at Market Mall tonight and drove past the gateway to UD off of Shaganappi. I quite liked UD’s signage.
adamyyc
Active Member
I found images of the old sign on the BIA website.
History Project - Visit Marda Loop
www.visitmardaloop.com
whatchyyc
Active Member
Can we talk about how insanely terrible the TWSIs were done on 33rd??? Left a gap in the sidewalk that was left for months filled with gravel, sand, or literally nothing but a giant gap! Once they finally came around to installing them they were shoddy concrete blocks that aren't level and leave edges or gaps exposed, and they're expecting the visually impaired to benefit from these... it's as if they handed off the drawings to a contractor with zero experience installing tactile strips or some worthless attempt at longevity. Forgetting even all of that, they have poor contrast and don't follow the standards for decision points so they would still suck if installed perfectly 
Last edited:
adamyyc
Active Member
I hope they at least address the pavers that are uneven when they complete inspections in September/October.
I also thought the paver path was bad in some areas, especially where it is next to the tree wells. I also thought they should have just bit bullet and cut that tree down that they saved and built a raised planter around. Probably not much they can/will do about this now.
Do the pavers need to be sealed or did they just do a rushed job of installing them?
I also thought the paver path was bad in some areas, especially where it is next to the tree wells. I also thought they should have just bit bullet and cut that tree down that they saved and built a raised planter around. Probably not much they can/will do about this now.
Do the pavers need to be sealed or did they just do a rushed job of installing them?
thecivilengineer
Active Member
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
I'll go support the A&W at lunch.