Recent content by CBBarnett

Podium is all that matters in this location really, and it seems to be decent at ground level. Fills one of the last gaps in 1st Street. Good stuff I thought it looked familiar and finally clicked - it's the International Hotel 2.0:

I am bit skeptical of this kind of analysis - not that I don't believe them that old facilities are much less efficient, just that I think it's a key message that is misleading and is applied to justify the wrong conclusion (that we need larger, more multi-use facilities so they are cheaper). It...

Great project. I am always skeptical of how they figure the surface parking they need for these kinds of things, because it's clearly a total guessing game that's pretending to be some sort of established science. Proposal is for 548 surface parking stalls, so about 1/4 of the land area of the...

What a neat development, I hope they can pull it off. This project would cement 14th Street SW in this area as one of the most peculiar "main streets". A half-block off the street will emerge a pretty top-quality designed mid rise tower, complete with a museum. Meanwhile the corridor itself...

Awesome if this project happened! From the land and design vision available, it will be a good opportunity for the City and YMCA to work through a more "urban format" recreation complex with a tighter footprint, more focused amenities and way less bloat that really negatively impacted the...

Such a sneaky conversion. Big one too - 264 unit's is huge. That's another 300 - 350 people living as central as it gets, with a Plus-15 connection right into Suncor's new podium renovation. Would be a weird place to live, but ultra-accessible to so much stuff someone would want it live here...

In the economics world, you're describing a great example of an individual's decision-making that, when added up with the thousands of other individuals making location decisions, creates a concept called "agglomeration economies". From the perspective of a resident, downtown remains an...

Definitely the type of project that would be very cool to see the behind-the-scenes costs, design choices, processes etc. Could give hope to the countless forgettable buildings out there from this era that there's actually hope to rejuvenate them and we don't have to just wait until we tear it...

Overall my position is it's as exciting as a 2000s-era Cineplex but wanted to give it a little more effort below. For iconic and important public civic buildings, beyond the functional requirements of the space, two of the main architectural goals are: Try to be unique - rarely does this me in...

Annoying as more snow is, this is starting the summer off with some well-timed, significant precipitation. Will help things pop off and get green quite quickly in a few more weeks.

We see this repeatedly in downtown design aesthetics in Calgary, the arena lobby is so painfully corporate and outdated feeling. Perhaps unsurprising in our city, and also arena projects in general in North America that are largely corporate/public projects, maybe it's nearly impossible to...

Nice find - that changes my opinion. When you see drops in volumes at Bow/Sarcee to such an extent, it strikes me as a reason to push this one off by 30 years rather than request it now. Recall the Green Line is pushing out the Stephen Ave Subway 30+ years from the modelling they did on how...

Yeah that's one of the ideas - I assume if you are moving that amount of earth and raising everything up tens of metres, makes sense to put tunnels for pedestrian access in. I don't think I am opposed to the project - lots of benefits for cars, bicycles and pedestrians on a busy intersection -...

Interesting small update for the proposed Bow/Sarcee Interchange - cost estimated at $336M. Appears to be in the mix for possible funding in the next budget. https://www.calgary.ca/planning/projects/sarcee-trail-bow-trail-s-w-interchange-and-improvements.html?redirect=/sarceebowimprovements...

Now that it's getting close to complete, it really is a bizarre little project. Lots has been commented on the vertical part, but the base and ground-orientation is pretty weird and hostile. Something about this area and the Macleod Trail car-sewers dominating the experience around here really...