gsunnyg
Senior Member
I recall reading an urban development article once where it addressed the issues with perceiving many modern mid-rises as "human scale". The problem with associating the term "human scale" with midrises/low-rises is that it's practically never implemented the right way in most cities anymore. When I think human scale I think of 8th ave whereas newer midrises being designed today take up almost a whole block. Hence, just because a building is smaller in height doesn't make it "human scale."
Compare these two buildings for example:
Hopewell developement on 4th st.SW.
vs.
Lister block down the road.
The Hopewell building is a midrise but it spans a whole block, still a nice building though but not human scale.Whereas Lister building is a better example of human scale because its smaller in width as well as height. Even though it's more of a lowrise, you could pile on an extra 2 floors ontop of the building and yet it would still be relatively "human scale" compared to the Hopewell development. The problem with building smaller scale midrises with high quality design is that they aren't as economically feasible due to labour costs. Nowadays, developers prefer to have a midrise be wide enough to accommodate enough residential units on top with retail on bottom. We're seeing this with more developments throughout the city like in Inglweood with AVI and South Bank. At the end of the day its not ideal but money is the name of the game.
In addition, there are plenty of mainstreets around the world that incorporate the odd highrise here and there yet are still vibrant and pleasant to walk down. I think well designed stepback podiums are the best cure to allow highrises to exist while maintaining a more "human scale." Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case with this development from ASI, still I don't mind one odd highrise popping up on 17th as long as it doesn't become a pattern. Like Mountain Man said, that article by Corbella is more of a 2 minute opportunity to blabber some nonsense against Nenshi during tax season than an actual intellectual opinion.
Compare these two buildings for example:
vs.
The Hopewell building is a midrise but it spans a whole block, still a nice building though but not human scale.Whereas Lister building is a better example of human scale because its smaller in width as well as height. Even though it's more of a lowrise, you could pile on an extra 2 floors ontop of the building and yet it would still be relatively "human scale" compared to the Hopewell development. The problem with building smaller scale midrises with high quality design is that they aren't as economically feasible due to labour costs. Nowadays, developers prefer to have a midrise be wide enough to accommodate enough residential units on top with retail on bottom. We're seeing this with more developments throughout the city like in Inglweood with AVI and South Bank. At the end of the day its not ideal but money is the name of the game.
In addition, there are plenty of mainstreets around the world that incorporate the odd highrise here and there yet are still vibrant and pleasant to walk down. I think well designed stepback podiums are the best cure to allow highrises to exist while maintaining a more "human scale." Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case with this development from ASI, still I don't mind one odd highrise popping up on 17th as long as it doesn't become a pattern. Like Mountain Man said, that article by Corbella is more of a 2 minute opportunity to blabber some nonsense against Nenshi during tax season than an actual intellectual opinion.