The Nines | 22m | 6s | Opus Corporation | Gravity Architecture

MichaelS

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A project at the NW corner of Elbow Drive and Southland Drive SW now has some images up on their website, but no DP has been submitted yet. Opus got the zoning changed though a few months ago, so there is movement on it:
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A project at the NW corner of Elbow Drive and Southland Drive SW now has some images up on their website, but no DP has been submitted yet. Opus got the zoning changed though a few months ago, so there is movement on it:
View attachment 426900
Basic and correct form. Elbow Drive is one of the only streets that stretches deep into the 1980s-era burbs that hasn't been eroded by slip-lanes, widenings and excessive car-oriented uses. Great boost to an area with zero redevelopment in recent decades.
 
Not bad. Hopefully redevelopment spreads to the old and too small to be useful Southland Library to the west, and old medical clinic to the north. The real opportunity to build out the "missing middle" is on sites like this: underutilized strip mall sites, as well as disused schools, and undeveloped urban reserves set aside for schools that were never built,.

Most of the Elbow Dr burbs developed in the 50's. Haysboro and Southwood date to the 60's. Only Canyon Meadows is from the 70's. I grew up in 5 different houses in Canyon Meadows. When my family first moved there in the mid 70's, Elbow was gravel south of Anderson. All of Anderson Road was gravel as well.

I wonder how long before the awful Canyon Meadows Shopping Centre site is redeveloped. It is a strange site in terms of its interface with the high school to its west. Another site begging for redevelopment is the former Viscount Bennett School / Chinook College. It has a substantial asbestos remediation requirement.
 
Looks okay for the most part. If you squint at it it looks a lot like a 1960s motel/hotel, but this is a basic simple design that suits the purpose for that parcel.
 
What's with modern architecture and wood? Do they not know it goes out of style the day after they install it? Have we not learned from 60's and 70's?
Have you see Hotel Le Germain? It's about 10 years old now and still looks great! Wood is a nice warm material that always looks great when done properly.
 
Have you see Hotel Le Germain? It's about 10 years old now and still looks great! Wood is a nice warm material that always looks great when done properly.
Ah yes I have seen this one. They did do it right! Looks decent. But from a distance it is hard to tell that it's wood or wood-like.

Just IMO: Wood or artificial wood is too risky and too easily done wrong. Colour, texture, pattern, placement....mess up on anyone of those and it's back to an older era.

When I say it's too risky, I am also talking about how easy it would be for our society to outdate it. The variations of the colour brown cycle in and out of society about every 5 years. Some areas it makes sense like the interior of the new library where whether it looks new or old, it's still appealing for that setting. Exteriors, however, are a different thing.
 

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