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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

Part of me thinks this building might be better in the ownership of a public institution. Too bad UofC found its new School of Architecture.
Being in such close proximity to Arts Commons and various museums, it would be a perfect location for a downtown AUA campus.

EDIT: Nimbus and I are thinking along the same lines! 👍
 
Fantasy thinking, but the Alberta University of the Arts would be a potential great fit.
It would be pretty cool. The only concern might be the square footage, as the current location and the Bay building are both around 300K, but it wouldn't leave room for expansion. There's always a possibility the university could expand into the buildings next to the Bay building, or upwards a couple of floors? If going into the Bay building it would be nice to have an atrium built in to allow some good natural light.
It would be very cool though.
 
I love what TL Housing did with the Bay building in Victoria:
1755266926406.png

1755266995704.png

Blow out the centre and building new around a centre courtyard to reduce the floorplate size to residential. Leave retail at-grade obviously.

They appear to have very similar footprints:
1755267168215.png


So using this idea/model here is what I would ideally like to see the Bay building downtown do going residential on the upper floors:
1755267230006.png
 
This one, no matter what is going to be very expensive. That building has been falling apart for awhile. I think it will take a public institution taking it over to do it right, I just don't trust a private developer, and honestly I know a public institution will probably take 15 years to do anything but it should at least be done right.
 
This one, no matter what is going to be very expensive. That building has been falling apart for awhile. I think it will take a public institution taking it over to do it right, I just don't trust a private developer, and honestly I know a public institution will probably take 15 years to do anything but it should at least be done right.
I think that is a fair perspective. Don't want an even more prominent Barron Building issue with this one.
 
It would be pretty cool. The only concern might be the square footage, as the current location and the Bay building are both around 300K, but it wouldn't leave room for expansion. There's always a possibility the university could expand into the buildings next to the Bay building, or upwards a couple of floors? If going into the Bay building it would be nice to have an atrium built in to allow some good natural light.
It would be very cool though.

I actually really like the AUA idea, keep the current facility and its awesome view, and use the Bay building as the expansion.

Might seem like a bit much, but with main floor CRUs, and a floor for a public art gallery would use a food chunk of it, and whatever floors aren't needed immediately by AUA could be divided up into artist studios until further expansion is required.
 
The idea of AuArts "moving into a new building downtown" has been around since atleast when I was there (and that was...checks notes...jeebus, 20+ years ago!). The problem is that AUArts has zero money, and not much outside support...either from the government or private donors. It's been struggle city there financially for a really long time... so unless someone really steps up big, they aren't going anywhere.
 
I don't know if this has been posted yet but here's a proposal from Mckinley Studios from their instagram that will go on the cowboys/BMO parking.

"A first look at a bold concept for a four-tower mixed-use development centered around a vibrant, community-driven plaza"

View attachment 673781View attachment 673782View attachment 673783
Snippets were posted in this thread or another one, but I don't think we had official confirmation of the location then. The sentiment around that was nice build but a little too dense for the lot, and will probably be one of those phase 1 is twin towers, and the other two are never built. Pretty sure the BLVD it faces is one of those, where a phase 3 is a mini parkette.
 
Apart from the density, It seems like projects with these elaborate indoor/outdoor courtyard proposals rarely seem to materialize as envisioned. They make for great renderings, but not sure how realistic they are in our climate. I'm sure it would be VE'd down.
 
I love what TL Housing did with the Bay building in Victoria:
View attachment 673618
View attachment 673619
Blow out the centre and building new around a centre courtyard to reduce the floorplate size to residential. Leave retail at-grade obviously.

They appear to have very similar footprints:
View attachment 673622

So using this idea/model here is what I would ideally like to see the Bay building downtown do going residential on the upper floors:
View attachment 673623

I never realized that Calgary's Bay building isn't a rectangle. The north facade is two lots wider than the south one, due to the two Stephen Avenue buildings that are currently occupied by Social Beer Haus. I love the Victoria redevelopment. Calgary's Bay's west facade is also blank and could be balcony-ized like Victorias.
 

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