UPTEN | 121.91m | 37s | Strategic Group

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Glass and spandrel looks well thought out, mullions aren't an different colour and don't stand out too much and the rhythm of the windows is pretty good. If the balconies get a good treatment this is what we can call solid rental infill IMO. Take notes Cidex.
 
Calgcouver said:
Glass and spandrel looks well thought out, mullions aren't an different colour and don't stand out too much and the rhythm of the windows is pretty good. If the balconies get a good treatment this is what we can call solid rental infill IMO. Take notes Cidex.
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Boring, functional and dense. If someone can figure out making main floors more appealing on towers like this we are close to a winner formula.
 
CBBarnett said:
Boring, functional and dense. If someone can figure out making main floors more appealing on towers like this we are close to a winner formula.
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Oh I agree with you, the podium is unacceptable and we should be demanding more in our design guidelines, and be much harder on asking for excellent podium design at UDRP.
 
Calgcouver said:
Oh I agree with you, the podium is unacceptable and we should be demanding more in our design guidelines, and be much harder on asking for excellent podium design at UDRP.
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It's weird though. It seems like very few tower project - ever - have built great podiums. The Royal and Underwood being the notably best examples off the top of my head. I am sure there are technical / policy reasons that drive meh retail design in towers - combined with a incentive mis-match ( i.e. Developers: "retail is great, but my main job is build a 400 unit apartment building"). Is it the tower form itself that sets up podiums to be meh? Perhaps too much of the main floor devoted to serve residents above, parking ramps etc. that force trade-offs? Is it MacLeod Trails general lameness that makes all these towers feel like they are missing something on the main floor?

This one isn't that bad, it's just more of the same. Boring and hard to imagine an interesting tenant or service being based out of it. Surely we don't need Royal-level retail designs/scales all over, but there has to be a happy medium between modernist-boring and mega-city urban format. What gives?
 
Issue is probably the sad reality that storefront retail doesn't make sense in the era of online shopping and big box stores. While storefront retail looks nice, it has very little utility. Generally, it can only accommodate small stores which means limited selection and operating hours. The market for boutique wine stores, dry cleaners, gift shops and yoga studios is only so big. The Royal succeeds as it is basically a tower on top of a big box store.That requires developing whole blocks at at time, which isn't easy.
 
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