Recent content by retrofiturbanism

I hate brutalism. Hate, hate, hate it. But we should preserve the CBE building. It is a unique building and should be preserved. Density bonus the crap out of it and build a massive tower next to it.

Iran.

Banks will always have branches. Not because online banking isn't growing, but because banks have so much damn money to throw around, just having street presence is worth the rent.

Here is a thought- keep the northern cluster (1105, 1107, 1113, 1115) and the southern cluster (1135, 1137, 1141, 1145, 1147) (sorry 1129 you are just in the wrong place) and designate them all as a condition of the rezoning. Give the rest of the parcels 6 storey density and height. That gives...

Thanks for this. Just want to point out that Calgary's densest neighbourhood is less dense than the AVERAGE density of Paris (20K/km2) or Barcelona (16K/km2).

I have to respond to this, because I hear it over and over again. The assertion is that places like Mexico, Paris or Barcelona are quite dense, but have few buildings above 6 storey buildings. This is a fallacy (I call it the urban tourist fallacy) and I'll tell you why. First, large swaths of...

Could be cool to do a mix of transparent glass and opaque glass like the library does. Can be a bit of a nod to the library design, while also helping a bit with insulation (architects and building science people correct me if I am wrong). Protecting heritage doesn't always mean limiting the...

Yup, that is the presentation I saw. It was actually fairly rigorous in terms of the financial modelling, but IIRC the cost was covered by land sales of the purchased land from CP. Interesting idea.

I saw a presentation by a group of students (planners and engineers) from a University in the Netherlands that proposed this, and actually costed it out (they did a discounted cash flow and everything), but also did rough estimates on land sales/property tax/etc from the land freed up for it...

This is true.

We have never had, nor will ever have a 10% growth rate. The most we have seen in the last 2 decades was 3.73% in 2006. The highest growth rate globally was 3.83% in South Sudan in 2018. 10% growth is off the charts and almost no city has seen growth of that level in a single year, let alone...

Might be controversial to say this, but we shouldn't care whether people who drive to Stephen Avenue are accommodated or not. To be honest, they are not the market for night time activity, and make up a ridiculously small percentage of the people who use the street. Same thing with 17th avenue...

The additional benefit of living in Royal is that a few of the larger stores nearby (Best Buy, Canadian Tire, Mount Royal Village) have security that do patrols at night, so its pretty safe. Depends on where you are coming from, but Calgary in general is a lot safer than most anywhere, US...

Hi Sky of Blue. I would suggest in terms of safety, The Royal is your best bet. The area around is quite active and with the Urban Fare and Canadian Tire, there will be quite a bit more security and surveillance around. There are a few bars nearby, but this area of 17th is actually pretty laid...

It's pretty cool looking. Not a stunning masterpiece, but the design is decent. Tower facades are mostly aluminum composite panels (looks like a white and a light brown, almost wood colour), but have big wood vertical sections that go from base to nearly the parapet. Don't quote me on this, as I...