Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

[DiscoStu]

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.

 

[Roaring Flames]

The greenery in those renders definitely don't match Calgary. And they give a bit of a neo-brutalist vibe without that greenery.

 

[JoeUrban]

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.

 

[trtcttc]

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.

They require way too much maintenance where nobody really "owns" the space. Especially when it's not covered. The Well in Toronto has one of these indoor/outdoor malls but most of it is fully covered so it works snow/rain/shine. The renderings will change for sure, the second floor seems to have some sort of balcony? I'd imagine this would become retail or housing units, but unlikely to have a publicly accessible "hangout spot" given the area.

 

[Mountain Man]

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'm all for adding more residential to the core, but DON'T TOUCH THE FACADE!!! I'd 100% rather see that building kept as retail if possible, especially give the prominent location on what should be our premier retail street. Add food courts, retail pop ups, restaurants or anything else that fits on Stephen Ave, but do no ruin this building for the love of god!!

 

[Surrealplaces]

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

It's definitely better than the empty lot that's there now, though it is a bit on the monolithic side. If this and Stampede Station were to be built the area would be an absolute highrise forest.

 

[FCC1982]

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

That last rendering is weird - Stampede Park is all dug up and the Big 4 has been replaced by …. something.

 

[whatchyyc]

That last rendering is weird - Stampede Park is all dug up and the Big 4 has been replaced by …. something.

It looks like for the background they used AI upscaling that just redraws the image

 

[FCC1982]

Yeah I figured AI was involved.

 

[Cowtown]

This is a little all over the place, but there's a new podcast by David Zipper (MIT senior fellow, mobility reporter at CityLab, Vox, Slate, etc.) and Wes Marshall (U Colorado Denver civil engineering prof, author of Killed By A Traffic Engineer). The third episode opens with a brief discussion of Wes' recent visit to Calgary and Banff, not a detailed site visit but someone who was here as a tourist taking a quick trip.

Key points about Calgary (there's also some on Banff):
Good stuff:

• Multi-use pathways along the river and separated from roadways
• A really good mix of housing - SFD, apartment, townhouse all together in the same area

On the other hand:

• "Every time you turn around there's another highway"
• "Downtown, they seem to have these five-lane arterials that seem to have almost nobody on them."

The podcast is interesting overall, if you're the kind of person who is interested in a 10 minute discussion about speed humps, which I wager more than a couple of you are.

It’s a pretty good commentary, I think the points about Calgary were spot on and very fair. Some of the dude’s comments about Banff, not being a utopia and needing a car, etc. were kind of funny.
Sometimes I get the feeling that people from Colorado are jealous of Banff lol

 

[Cowtown]

I posted this pic in the skyline photos thread, but I’m posting it here also. As much as we complain about Calgary and empty parking lots, this photo gives me hope. Seeing how many new buildings of risen up in this photo over the last 20 years, makes me excited for the next 20 years.

 

[DougB]

It’s a pretty good commentary, I think the points about Calgary were spot on and very fair. Some of the dude’s comments about Banff, not being a utopia and needing a car, etc. were kind of funny.
Sometimes I get the feeling that people from Colorado are jealous of Banff lol

Those things are very fixable. Converting 9th, 6th, 5th and 4th Avenues to 4 lane, 2 way streets with widened sidewalks would be very easy as would reconfiguring the west side of dt to reduce road footprint. I'd also like to see the section of Memorial between the flyover and Deerfoot shrunk to 4 lanes. It bottlenecks at the bridges so the extra lanes are pointless

 

[Red Star]

Those things are very fixable. Converting 9th, 6th, 5th and 4th Avenues to 4 lane, 2 way streets with widened sidewalks would be very easy as would reconfiguring the west side of dt to reduce road footprint. I'd also like to see the section of Memorial between the flyover and Deerfoot shrunk to 4 lanes. It bottlenecks at the bridges so the extra lanes are pointless

Even adding bus only lanes on 5th, 6th and 9th Ave. would do wonders for traffic management.

It would be nice if the city made significant streetscape improvements to the sidewalks in DT, but I get the impression that there are a ton of utilities under the sidewalk which would make it challenging.

 

[badc0ffee]

Not a lot of info for that one. It looks to be a 2 storey residential care building.
New: Residential Care (1 building);
2-storey (11 metres) in height; and
24 dwelling units, 2,517 square metres in size.
The current Land Use District allows for this type of development

There's another proposal that was more of a concept also on Veteran's Way, but to the west. At first I thought it might be that one.

Looks like this is called Parkdale Home.

 

[Mountain Man]

Did he mean you need a car in the town of Banff, or in the National Park? When I go to Banff (town) I park my car and walk everywhere, even if it's -20! Never taken the bus to any of the ski hills or attractions in Banff, just the Moraine shuttle.