PLATFORM | 21m | 6s | CMLC | Kasian

[darwink]

We've had conversations about this before, but the biggest reason it will probably always be a no-go is that the floor plates are sloped. Do you know of any people that like to work/live on a slant?

I think part of it could be cool, Pike Place market eccentric style, but alas, would be pretty hard to do.

 

[CBBarnett]

As a non-engineer, non-architect, but long time watcher, participant in total refurbishment of old buildings, and remember'er of the last set of DP/BP drawings, the entire parking component of the structure is slanted. The staircases and elevator shafts would have potential for reuse. Everything else would likely need to go.

Yeah I recall that too. Like many things, I think it's a neat idea, creative use of funds otherwise stuck, and in theory could work out cheaper. That said, it's weird so would require a pretty dedicated developer that is bored of more normal opportunities - plus is predicated on the city having a strong opinion and clear direction to convert and/or sell. How we ended up here is the city does not have that strong opinion, that's why a compromised development was reached in the first place. Given how silly and immune-to-logic parking discussions in local affairs, I doubt a bold vision will emerge to formally convert a public parking garage, regardless on if it's technically easier to do so or not.

My bet is nothing will happen until it's time for lifecycle replacement, then they will explore what to do and if this future-proofing idea from 30 or 40 years in the past is actually viable or not.

 

[Woosh]

Do you know of any people that like to work/live on a slant?

Everyone would have great calf muscles after a few months!

I found an interview with the architects: https://www.canadianarchitect.com/p...ue-parkade-innovation-centre-calgary-alberta/

"Early sketches and diagrams showed that the block-long project would allow for parking floors with two-way traffic winding all the way to the top on slopes of only 1%-2%, without internal ramps. Hurme and Radulovic determined that office and workshop uses to come could readily tolerate slopes of this order. Any future housing would require new wood-framed floors, which could be designed for flatness."

I haven't walked around the floors myself, but would imagine framed floors would be required for offices too. I'm sure you'd see a lot of runaway office chairs otherwise.

The renderings they proposed are pretty neat.

 

[DiscoStu]

My biggest issue with Platform is not the obviously never-gonna-happen conversion story, it's that it always looks like a building that is either currently under construction or being demolished. It looks unfinished.

The only redeeming quality is that it offers some pretty good spots for photography of the surrounding area (or car shots within the parkade).

 

[dazzlingdave88]

As someone who's side gig startup is a member of Platform Calgary, the outside does it no justice to what facilities it offers inside. This week was Innovation Week in Calgary and the place was very busy. In fact, it is busy every time I visit. It offers a perfect spot for our boooming tech sector to meet and have working spaces. Lots of events are held inside. I could see the need for the reduction of the parking stalls in the near future, because the space has already become heavily used.

 

[Roaring Flames]

I still don't see it ever being converted. Especially if the province's rail plan is initiated and we get that grand central rail terminal a few blocks away.

 

[darwink]

it is busy every time I visit

The ultimate question is if it can survive trends in different governments. Incubators, accelerators, they fall into and out of trend, plus they live and die by their superconnectors--staff, board members, funders who seem to effortlessly connect people who need to be connected for positive outcomes for both. Almost like a gardener, they're tending the ecosystem. Anyways, funding drops for a year or two due to a government program change, and the thing the supper connector likes doing gets canned, and the entire enterprise retreats back into the more boring versions of itself.

This is 2023:

 

[CalgaryTiger]

The ultimate question is if it can survive trends in different governments.

The answer is it couldn't survive the funding loss, at least right now. We're a burgeoning frontier and I do think the funders understand that. The consistent good news help, as you always want to be seen as funding a winner. IMO they're in control of their funding in the sense that if they continue to be successful they will continue to get funding. Don't make yourself easy to cut. Some (a lot?) isn't in their control but control what you can, and keep punching above your weight.

 

[darwink]

if they continue to be successful they will continue to get funding

The feds used to fund incubators and accelerators in a big way. Then they initiated a program to establish metrics and attach those metrics to funding. It collapsed in on itself. The space is a weird one, it is valuable, but proving the value is really hard. Much of the value comes from getting people in the same room over and over, and adding new people, and forming new connections. But how does one justify to someone that makes $50 grand a year that buying muffins and coffee so people who seem relatively fancy will spontaneously connect? Its hard. The space is always operating on borrowed time.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

The feds used to fund incubators and accelerators in a big way. Then they initiated a program to establish metrics and attach those metrics to funding. It collapsed in on itself. The space is a weird one, it is valuable, but proving the value is really hard. Much of the value comes from getting people in the same room over and over, and adding new people, and forming new connections. But how does one justify to someone that makes $50 grand a year that buying muffins and coffee so people who seem relatively fancy will spontaneously connect? Its hard. The space is always operating on borrowed time.

Asking because I don't know... Where is the self-generated revenue coming from? Is that not a measure?