West District | ?m | ?s | Truman

Looking great! So what’s the consensus on which district is turning out better, UD or WD? I haven’t had the chance to walk the WD yet (only going off pictures), so at this point I’ll give the edge to UD.
 
The Familia said:
Looking great! So what’s the consensus on which district is turning out better, UD or WD? I haven’t had the chance to walk the WD yet (only going off pictures), so at this point I’ll give the edge to UD.
Click to expand...
From what I’ve seen in person, they’re both turning out well, and both are very similar for the most part.
The main difference is location, each site has its advantages, UD being closer into the city, WD being only a short hop from the mountains and the ring road.
 
UD is on more of an island, flanked by institutions and hostile barrier roads so it doesn't integrate as well with surrounding neighbourhoods. Which isn't necessarily a big problem, just makes it skew more urban and less family.

WD has plenty of integration challenges, too - OBCR and 85th are still pretty hostile (I find myself waiting 45+ seconds any time I want to cross 85th), and the churches/broadcast tower are fenced off in a way that requires unnecessarily long detours. Even the commercial development north of the new Sobeys is fenced off so you can't easily walk between them. But overall it blends more seamlessly with surrounding areas, which are low density residential and make it all skew more family.

I wouldn't judge either better or worse; both can cater to all lifestyle types/stages, but each has a slightly different vibe/niche. I might say UD is suburban urbia and WD is urban suburbia
 
IMG_3874.jpeg
 
With all the development in West District and Springbank Hill, there should be a new rec centre on the west side. The Westside rec centre also just got a renovation and maybe slated for more being on the GamePlan wave 1 project list.
 
West Side Rec (69th Street and 17th Av) does not have a library, and does appear to be pretty busy. The recent renovation was relatively minor, I think they have a much bigger one planned. But yes, with all of the growth on the west side of town, both facilities would be very well utilized.
 
Just want to clarify that the above YMCA design is just an indicative one only; YMCA is currently in the process of selecting the prime consultant/architect for the actual project.
 
It's also not funded right? I assume the request will go to council for 2027-2029 cycle this fall, along with the rest of the Game Plan stuff. This one makes quite a lot of sense given the density boost in the area, and having an operator and land in place. What always surprises me with the SW is the lack of a private club like Glencoe or Winter Club, especially compared to the number of private schools there.
 
IceCreamMan said:
Just want to clarify that the above YMCA design is just an indicative one only; YMCA is currently in the process of selecting the prime consultant/architect for the actual project.
Click to expand...
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 accessibility and cost of the mega-facilities of the 2000-2020 era.

The recreation centre here is using something closer to 1 hectare v. ~10 hectares of the previous era of projects. I am being generous by cutting out the related storm pond infrastructure that was also build as part of the Rockyridge YMCA as an example:
1776884733931.png
1776884828982.png


Of course a 200,000+ sqft building will have more amenities in it than a 70,000 sqft building, however a return to more community-scale facilities is what the doctor needed here. Much of our failure to maintain or upgrade inner city recreation facilities the past 20 years, despite rapid growth, seemed to stem to a combination of suburban focus and inflexible facility standards that kept all efforts focused on major regional scale, multi-use, multi-sport mega complexes that required a ginormous amount of land. There didn't seem to be much of an appetite to try to figure out how to work in a land-constrained situation, or how we could upgrade or expand something like Eau Claire, Beltline, or Inglewood - instead the solution is to close "non-standard facilities" and just bolt on yet more stuff to MNP (as the inner city's mega-suburban-style recreation complex).

Of course, the great irony is that after 20 years where the obsession with suburban recreation centre design prevented renewal of inner city recreation facilities; the very first urban-format recreation facility may finally be built ... in the suburbs.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top