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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

Wonderland does attract plenty of traffic, despite its location.

I personally despise Family of Man. Not sure if it is because its monolithic proportions reinforce the brutalist bleakness of that part of DT, or maybe due to its hippie style. I reflexively hate all things hippie.
That CBE building is stunning example of brutalist architecture, and is especially important because we've demolished most brutalist buildings. I really hope it gets a good adaptive reuse.
 
According to the DMAP a new gas bar is slated to be built there. https://developmentmap.calgary.ca/?find=DP2019-2919

I don't think those improvements to Crowchild will be coming anytime soon, the plans to make that stretch free flow are very long-term https://www.calgary.ca/transportati...rail-upgrades/medium-and-long-term-plans.html
Well making that stretch free - flow is part of the “Medium Term” plans which “could” begin construction after 2027 so not that far away. But in reality will likely not begin construction until the 2030s at least I’d say.
 
That CBE building is stunning example of brutalist architecture, and is especially important because we've demolished most brutalist buildings. I really hope it gets a good adaptive reuse.
Couldn't agree more. Sadly it's been sitting fenced off for about 5 years now, so I imagine the building is in pretty rough shape.
 
Or The Bow's big head for that matter. or the former CBE's Family of Man statues. Two of our best installations with a high degree of interactivity both locked forever in a boring corporate plaza. They would make perfect additions to an urban plaza or river pathway where people could interact with them more regularly.

The route of all the issues with public art is that the art funding is connected to the location. Build lots of highway overpasses, get lots of highway overpass art. Build a big shiny office building and get a big shiny head at it's base. As others pointed out, this is dumb - it's completely divorced from where art can best be enjoyed. Melbourne's functional highway art is a cool idea, but more fundamentally - no one has ever visited Melbourne or enjoyed living there (or any city) because the highways look pretty.

I kind of get how we got here through politics. Having a public art budget disconnected from infrastructure as a standalone budget so it had the flexibility to be placed where art makes more sense would be just as much of a political lightning rod in some circles in this city as the current process. Further it could be even easier to defunded. That's not an endorsement of the current process, but understandable how it evolved as a negotiated outcome to connect the projects that get all the funding (highways) with the ones that get much less (art, sidewalks, pathways).

The key, as usual, is the public realm and pedestrian spaces. That's where art should be and where it would be best enjoyed. The Big Blue Circle is actually great and a nice bicycle ride to go check out in an otherwise fairly destination-less Nose Creek pathway - but I would have taken either a Nose Creek pathway extension further towards the edge of the city and no art or the circle located in a more prominent public park if I was offered a trade.
The Family of Man would look so at home in Riley Park, or over at the Peace Bridge plaza.
 
Wonderland does attract plenty of traffic, despite its location.
True - but anything more prominent would attract even more people.

The Family of Man would look so at home in Riley Park, or over at the Peace Bridge plaza.
Exactly! Turns out its current location - in an gopher-hole covered field, next to the abandoned fenced-off former CBE headquarters surrounded by 5 lane high-traffic one-ways and zero local population or destinations - is about as bad as you can get to put public art.
 
Couldn't agree more. Sadly it's been sitting fenced off for about 5 years now, so I imagine the building is in pretty rough shape.
I think GWL did asbestos remediation, and before that remediation after the 2013 flood, and hopefully left it winter proofed to the degree that a likely water heated building can be.
 
Couldn't agree more. Sadly it's been sitting fenced off for about 5 years now, so I imagine the building is in pretty rough shape.
One of the main reasons brutalism failed, IMO, is the use of materials was way ahead of its time in relation to building science technology. It lead to very rapid degradation and as a result, a lot of neglect. If we were to build the same thing now, we'd take a much different approach. So every brutalist building that undergoes restoration/rehabilitation needs very extensive intervention anyway.

If Calgary only rescues one brutalist building, it should be the CBE. It's remarkably well suited for an active street frontage and a rooftop patio/bar. It'd likely involve an addition on the west side to make it financially viable, but it deserves some love.
 
One of the main reasons brutalism failed, IMO, is the use of materials was way ahead of its time in relation to building science technology. It lead to very rapid degradation and as a result, a lot of neglect. If we were to build the same thing now, we'd take a much different approach. So every brutalist building that undergoes restoration/rehabilitation needs very extensive intervention anyway.

If Calgary only rescues one brutalist building, it should be the CBE. It's remarkably well suited for an active street frontage and a rooftop patio/bar. It'd likely involve an addition on the west side to make it financially viable, but it deserves some love.
Can't find it quickly, but there was at least a design study done of the CBE building reimagined as home to Contemporary Calgary. All I can find is this even more fantastical exploration: http://www.spectacle-bureau.com/Educational Oversight.html
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I had no idea “BowForth Park” was a thing. I think this is the land that the monastery donated to the city! The fenced in off leash area is perfect.

We were walking by and I was surprised, so we went in and Aurora got to have her second time trying off leash and she did amazing 🥺🥺🥰

F3B2B236-CC6E-4D26-A174-05F2928186AF.jpeg
 
It is barely a thing, and it is temporary (although, talking years here)..... The land (might have been donated, not sure) is owned by The City, and will eventually be used to pull 4th Ave away from the river and realign it, along with 5th and 6th, to the west of 11th street as part of the West Village redevelopment. This will allow a larger, wider riverwalk style river pathway go in adjacent to the river.

While I can't comment to the dog park (no dog family), I hope the fence comes down on the part in your photo this spring. It has been 2 full years fenced in like that, waiting for the grass to take. The city doesn't water it though, so it is having a rough go.

They did put sod in on the south side of the lane however. It does make a nice lawn space, and we would take our son there on occassion. However, it is simply an empty field, with one or two rocks and a picnic table in it. That is it. I would kill to have even the rejected playground equipment from Humpty Hollow Park in the Beltline put in, this patch of grass would become an anthill of activity with all the families in the surrounding towers. But alas, it is just a piece of grass. Apparently it was quite a fight to get even just this (both the DWCA and even some planners at the City), and keeping costs down was very much the driving factor in design/construction.

It is really quite frustrating. the Downtown West End pays more property tax on a per acre basis than any other residential neighbourhood in the city, yet this is the best amenity we can get. Even Shaw Millennium Park gets the bare minimum. No flowers were planted in that park last year, the beds round the obelisk clock (that doesn't seem to work or is never turned on) were just overgrown weed beds last year.
 
The fenced in area (off leash park) has no grass, it is entirely gravel. I hope it stays for exactly as long as it takes to get that riverwalk expansion you mentioned. Until then, it should stay unless they actually put play equipment in or something. That sucks about the lack of activation for kids/families for sure. At least you guys are pretty close to Prince's Island and Riley Park though? It is always nice to have that sort of thing inside thee neighbourhood though. I'm surprised Millennium Park doesn't have a playground. For a small area with a population density of 6000/km2, you'd think the West End would have something.

From what I recall, this little park was always just supposed to be temporary, though I thought it was until something was built on it. Glad to hear it will be used for city-building instead.
 

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