Courtyard 33 | 21.64m | 6s | RNDSQR | 5468796 Architecture

[Beazley66]

Being “better than what was there before” is not the bar we should be setting for this city. I liked the restaurant in the nice old house that was there before, so it’s not even really that much better. And yes, of course the added retail will be nice.

I think this is a great response @UrbanWarrior. The bar needs to be set higher. I’ve been thinking about the mantra “thinking outside of the box”, but now think that designers such as myself, create other boxes that end up being decorated crutches thinking it is exemplary. I now believe that we need to rewind, rethink etc . It’s a larger discussion.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

Couldn’t agree more.

 

[1875]

probably safe to say the neighbourhood is going to have an aneurysm.

 

[ActiveTruth]

Being “better than what was there before” is not the bar we should be setting for this city. I liked the restaurant in the nice old house that was there before, so it’s not even really that much better. And yes, of course the added retail will be nice.

Totally agree, they should. But pretending that this city will turn out world class projects and then being shocked and disappointed when it doesn’t is something of a repeat on this forum. This is Calgary, my expectations are low, I’m happy to see anything that used to be a parking lot or old housing with a new build on it.

 

[adamyyc]

Being “better than what was there before” is not the bar we should be setting for this city. I liked the restaurant in the nice old house that was there before, so it’s not even really that much better. And yes, of course the added retail will be nice.

I’m pretty excited for Diner Deluxe!

 

[Surrealplaces]

I think the building overall has a lot of positives, but the corrugated cladding is where things changed. In the rendering the panels are of a similar color, but different texture. If those original panels were used, the building could have looked similar to the rendering, and the consensus would be different.

Not sure why the change to corrugated...maybe when it changed from condo to rental? I don't mind the corrugated paneling in the courtyard, but I'm not a huge fan of it on the outside. Still, I don't hate the building.

 

[MichaelS]

Totally agree, they should. But pretending that this city will turn out world class projects and then being shocked and disappointed when it doesn’t is something of a repeat on this forum. This is Calgary, my expectations are low, I’m happy to see anything that used to be a parking lot or old housing with a new build on it.

I think part of the concern (most of it?) is the fact the project was granted extra height/density over what the approved council policy allowed for this parcel, based on the fact the renderings showed a "world class project". It even won some Mayor's Urban Design Awards if I recall. Should there not be any accountability for that? Or, is it just a major loophole in our process, that some developers have been able to exploit (probably way too harsh of a word, as I do honestly think RNDSQR had the best of intentions when this project was planned 5 years ago...).

 

[potatopizzafan]

Being “better than what was there before” is not the bar we should be setting for this city. I liked the restaurant in the nice old house that was there before, so it’s not even really that much better. And yes, of course the added retail will be nice.

that's not where that restaurant was, its still an empty lot

 

[Mountain Man]

This just replaced a couple 1950s bungalows. 100X better than what was there before in my mind.

 

[CBBarnett]

I think part of the concern (most of it?) is the fact the project was granted extra height/density over what the approved council policy allowed for this parcel, based on the fact the renderings showed a "world class project". It even won some Mayor's Urban Design Awards if I recall. Should there not be any accountability for that? Or, is it just a major loophole in our process, that some developers have been able to exploit (probably way too harsh of a word, as I do honestly think RNDSQR had the best of intentions when this project was planned 5 years ago...).

Do we judge projects by materials for their approval recommendations? I know there's a bunch of comments and back-and-forth throughout the process, but wondering if a planning approvals has ever been contingent on the materials as the critical point where a recommendation is made to reject the development because it chooses one material over another. Part of the messy bit you allude to is the negotiated outcome (political) part where extra height/density is given in most cases with a seemingly wide variety of compensations - from nothing to a bunch of public realm design and materials improvements. It seems to change randomly by neighbourhood, by project and by scale.

The CY33 project really does do a ton of innovative design, is dense in the right place, adds to a main street and is a great scale. I love the metal look because Marda Loop is so vanilla otherwise, but totally get the argument that it's not what was promised from a materials perspective. I just don't know if that's something the process would/could have guaranteed?

That same approval process also approved West Village Towers, despite doing none of the basics right with it's podium and not delivering on the promised materials. So there's some broader issues with it beyond materials too.

 

[Surrealplaces]

 

[JTron]

They are probably full steam on the interiors, August seems likely even if the cladding is not 100% done

They are doing a lot of interior work. Drywall is being done on the top floor.

 

[JTron]

Courtyard 33 is taking a beating on Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/nrbpl0

 

[Disraeli]

Haha I kinda like it. I mean, we get inner city builds with various shades of shit all the time and no one seems to complain.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I can see why people would bash it, but I still generally like it, and when I was taking pictures of it yesterday, I thought it looked decent in person. I'm still waiting to see the tarp off and the final look.