kora
Active Member
They didn't even bother with trees on the 4th Avenue streetscape. Just giving up there. I hope this project is rejected on design grounds.
Riverview West 4th Avenue | 78.5m | 24s | Trico Homes | S2
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
CT (Chinese_T)
Active Member
This entire block is just the worst this city has to offer... Hopefully, this project gets sent back to the drawing board.
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
I get the criticism but I also can't dismiss that although this seems like a good location being so near the DIC I can't help but just be happy something could be built here. Maybe my standards are too low but EV coming to a standstill is probably the reason behind my happiness for anything (I know there are those ones near the Library coming and they're high-quality).
crisp
Active Member
Then make it a ten-foot wall down 4th ave at ground level, no CRUs no townhomes. Add human sized pigeon spikes down the entire wall.
I'll see myself out...
Albertasaurus
Active Member
Honestly, for that partucular site, it's probably as good as it's going to get. I see it as excellent news thst they are still planning on building something. A 9 storey building of mediocre design is still better than a slightly better looking 24 storey tower proposal that never gets built.
A friend of a friend owned a unit in Carlisle's tower next door, that I think he bought at time of construction. He sold it recently and STILL lost over $100k compared to what he paid, in North America's fastest growing big city. So that's the economics for that part of downtown at the moment, unfortunately, and why I see anything happening on this site as great news.
A friend of a friend owned a unit in Carlisle's tower next door, that I think he bought at time of construction. He sold it recently and STILL lost over $100k compared to what he paid, in North America's fastest growing big city. So that's the economics for that part of downtown at the moment, unfortunately, and why I see anything happening on this site as great news.
CallmeCatbread
Active Member
Absolutely insane that a site like that right next to the riverwalk is so undesirable, but that's the sad reality of how badly the city messed up that part of town decades ago
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
I think the problem area is concentrated into a small area, this parcel just happens to fall within that area. People do drugs and loiter all over downtown and the beltline but the immediate area is especially problematic. I work right on the edge of this portion of downtown in the image. It is an area you don't want to be doing anything but walking through, with the exception of the riverwalk. For the average person, outside some restaurants and the superstore there is nothing that would make you want to do anything but walk through the area.
boreal96
New Member
It's also completely isolated from the rest of the "neighborhood". Crossing 4th and 5th Ave is a horrible experience, you have to wait 10 minutes for the light to go green for pedestrians, if you remembered you to push the button.
Nawads
Active Member
That's one thing I really noticed after being in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, the lights here as a pedestrian feel really long. In Vancouver's downtown, most of the lights change after only 20 seconds, so you never have to wait long.
CBBarnett
Senior Member
Yes! This will be a bit of tangent, but signal timing is central to this site's "close to everything yet isolated completely problem".
Long signal phases is one of those small anti-pedestrian things that Calgary does that isn't that common in other cities. Combined with generally unpleasant street corner designs, it makes life as a pedestrian that much more frustrating here - waiting at a corner is actually long, but also feels even longer because of unpleasant conditions for pedestrians.
Signal timing is part of a of "black box" decision process in transportation engineering and roadway operations that seem almost immune to public feedback in any material way. Not that there's an immutable engineering law either about how long a signal should be - Vancouver and other cities have way shorter signal phases and make different choices. But there's no real way to advocate or influence the decisions that go on that just randomly set the length of waiting as a pedestrian.
Least favourite is the "safety" upgrades that are sold as pedestrian infrastructure but actually undermine walking. Replace a button-activated flashing beacon with a controlled signal and I guarantee you've just added 3 to 5 minute delay for any pedestrian that is uses that route. It may be safer? But it also won't be used as pedestrian traffic will divert to faster routes nearby.
This site is the pinnacle of this auto-centric thinking - surrounded by arterials with hegemonic focus on auto-volume throughput and speed rather than any reasonable crossing distance or wait time.
Last edited:
Mountain Man
Senior Member
This one looks quite disappointing, but it's a tough site!