ATTAbotics HQ | 34.14m | 7s | MoDA

General rating of the design

  • Great

    Votes: 30 90.9%
  • Very good

    Votes: 3 9.1%
  • good

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • not so good

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Terrible

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    33

Surrealplaces

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Thread for the new Attabotic HQ building designed by MoDA. DP to be submitted soon.

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191952

191953


Hmm... central staircase that spirals upwards, check... prominent use of light colored wooden paneling, check... slight elongation of the whole circular structure situated dead center in the building, check... overall beautiful design that will make photographers in Calgary drool at the mouth, check. Does anyone get the feeling we've seen this one before? It looks eerily familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it.
 
I'm on the other side once again. It's sprwaly and hostile with not one original idea once you delve deeper in these renderings I find it pretty unimaginative for something as artistic.
 
And I'm on the opposite side of that. I love the building. There's very little, if anything in the architecture world that's an original idea, so I couldn't care less about that. The rooftop terrace with walkable steps is original enough, as it's not something I've ever seen before. The angular massing isn't the first but it's different enough from the norm. The oculus is great, and more common, but who cares if it's been done before? It's still great. I love the large swaths of glass and the vertical louvers.
'Sprawly'? IMO it's the opposite of 'sprawly' Virtually every other suburban office building in the city is a one or two storey flat box - the very definition of 'sprawly'. Unimaginative? Virtually every other suburban office building in the city is 'unimaginative', this is the only one that isn't. Not one person driving down the Deerfoot past this building won;'t notice it. To top it off, it's functional. They've combined manufacturing and office space into the same building and made it look cool.
I'm on the other side once again. It's sprwaly and hostile with not one original idea once you delve deeper in these renderings I find it pretty unimaginative for something as artistic.
 
Something doesn't have to be completely original to be original. There's a difference between taking an idea and rethinking it over copying and pasting. Sprawl to me is more of a philosophy than a minimum height or density. All the ground floor needs is a moat and draw bridges, I wasn't comparing it to buildings that are wholly built for functionality. I don't find a valued comparison. Style will always win. Most of the acclaim world architecture suck at interacting with its present or future surroundings. The Bow's property, for example, is an absolute wasteland in the heart of the CBD. They get away with it because the statement pieces are pretty.

This is just a fancy office park building at a time when the suburban minded don't even want to work in office parks. I commend them for putting an emphasis on design. I repeat that it's pretty unimaginative for the attempt. It's a clone of a well known building with the base of the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg.
 
And I'm on the opposite side of that. I love the building. There's very little, if anything in the architecture world that's an original idea, so I couldn't care less about that. The rooftop terrace with walkable steps is original enough, as it's not something I've ever seen before. The angular massing isn't the first but it's different enough from the norm. The oculus is great, and more common, but who cares if it's been done before? It's still great. I love the large swaths of glass and the vertical louvers.
'Sprawly'? IMO it's the opposite of 'sprawly' Virtually every other suburban office building in the city is a one or two storey flat box - the very definition of 'sprawly'. Unimaginative? Virtually every other suburban office building in the city is 'unimaginative', this is the only one that isn't. Not one person driving down the Deerfoot past this building won;'t notice it. To top it off, it's functional. They've combined manufacturing and office space into the same building and made it look cool.

I'd go as far as to say this is a candidate for the most imaginative suburban office development in the country, at least a contender. There is nothing about this project that isn't exceptional, given its location, scale, and also the fact that it's a local architecture firm. An absolute home run if there ever was one.

However, I will note that the Oslo Opera House (designed by Snohetta) is a prominent example of a building with a terraced/walkable roof.
 
I'm on the other side once again. It's sprwaly and hostile with not one original idea once you delve deeper in these renderings I find it pretty unimaginative for something as artistic.

Far be it for me to say anything positive about sprawl. However, in this case the building is clearly placed next to the airport for strategic purposes. The area will never be anything other than a sprawling warehouse and office park district. The only interaction the public will have with this building is driving past it on the Deerfoot. I think it serves its purpose well. Sure, it's not original on the global architectural stage, but it is exceptional design for Calgary.
 

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