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Calgary I Westbrook Residential I 26M I 7S I LOLA Architecture

Cowtown said:
Between this, and the Truman project beside it, there is finally some good action building up at Westbrook.
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A few projects get built and the area will take off, it's just a matter of time. I remember Bridgeland seemed stuck in neutral for a while, and once it started going it never looked back. Now it's on fire.
 
darwink said:
Empty retail activates the street even less. Not every residential building needs retail at the bottom - given the narrow side faces 33rd, this is fine.
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Who said it's gonna stay empty next to an LRT station, library, and thousands of planned future units? I can't think of a better street to include retail on. Truman is pushing for a Mainstreet and this development not having retail somewhat defeats that purpose. Plenty of examples of narrow ground retail that works. Something like a barbershop would fit in nicely.
 
CBBarnett said:
Usually I would agree about ground-floor retail, but the location isn't really as good as the Truman parcels as this is the last site to abut the Bow Trail blast zone. Sorry not an architect and I can't draw straight today:

View attachment 320395

The "street" to the north is just an alley combined with a weird slip access to the parallel road to Bow Trail. Immediately to the north is a bunch of power boxes installed as part of the LRT construction and I assume will never get developed. You also start all the slip lanes and medians for the 33rd and Bow Trail intersection right in front of the site so it's where the cars start acting like it's time to merge into a no-stopping right turn, rather than approaching an urban intersection and slowing down. Here's the top view for a better look at all that high-speed pavement nearby:

View attachment 320398

So whatever you put at the ground floor will have 60 - 80 decibel traffic noise permanently, plus a bunch of high-speed cars turning right a few metres away. This building fits into that category of doing everything right on it's own, but it's car-oriented environment holds back some of the possibilities of what's realistic. What's stellar is the minimal parking and reasonable, human scale height - so it's part of long-term, transit and human-centric solution.
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The CTH development still makes an effort of some sort of ground floor activation even though being surronded by a busy highway.This size of plot of land would be a gold mine in Europe where there forced to be creative with every little inch they have. That means no room for medicore land scaping, grass ,etc. Again nothing against the development, it'd be a bonus to have the street activation.
 
haltcatchfire said:
In a building that size by the time you have parkade ramp, bike room, waste and it’s loading, vestibule, mail room, lobby, electrical room, service shafts, structural columns, stairwells, elevators, elevator lobbies and egress corridors what’s left for retail?
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That's what I mean, I would've liked to see it engineered into the building. Now it's obviously too late. Just my nitpick, but the scale of the building could have easily accommodated retail away from the alley side for a small shop or something. Like I mentioned above, in parts of the world where space Is limited, they make every inch work out. What I'm thinking is Westbrook didn't approach the street with the same vision as Truman seeing I can't find a 33 st Mainstreet plan from the City.
 
gsunnyg said:
That's what I mean, I would've liked to see it engineered into the building. Now it's obviously too late. Just my nitpick, but the scale of the building could have easily accommodated retail away from the alley side for a small shop or something. Like I mentioned above, in parts of the world where space Is limited, they make every inch work out. What I'm thinking is Westbrook didn't approach the street with the same vision as Truman seeing I can't find a 33 st Mainstreet plan from the City.
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"On the east boundary of the area, 33rd Street SW has a sensitive interface with the adjacent low-density residential neighbourhood"
"Signage along 33rd Street SW should be designed in a manner appropriate for adjacency to a low-density residential neighbourhood. This includes avoiding back-lit signs."


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