UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
Oh really? I was going to say the Alt is a pretty decent design. It's on par with the EV, Saskatoon, and St. John's Alt's, which are the three nicest in the chain's portfolio. Not that that's a high bar, but yeah.
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General Construction Updates
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
gsunnyg
Senior Member
I think Ive said this earlier about the alt hotel on one of the forums, they tend to look like something out of soviet russia, particularly due to a bulky and relatively glassless design. I don't think a building over 10 storeys should be built with such a lazy design. It becomes an eye sore relatively fast. Such a new area should be promoting creative designs, all I see is a wide box stuck up. Sucks what we've been getting down here lately in Calgary vs over in Vancouver/Toronto.
Golfing guy
Active Member
If I recall the Alt Hotel in East Village is all glass on the exterior. Not sure where you come up with your observation
gsunnyg
Senior Member
When Im talking about glass, i dont mean cubical sqaures of windows cut out like in east village. The east village one is just as flop, when u have such a prominent area and u end up building such a bland building. Older buildings such as bankers hall and suncor have been able to test the age of time with todays modern building because they were created with a vision to last. I can already see the Alt in east village becoming outdated and an eye sore in 10 years. You would have to check some of the developments happening over at the vancouver and toronto skryise pages to realize what I mean when I say Calgary has been throwing out some sloppy designs minus a few exceptions. Maybe its the economy and its more cost effective to have simpler designs right now but I feel that if ur gonna do it once, do it right. Its also astounding that not single skinny highrise has been put forth like the trend going on in NYC and toronto
maestro
Senior Member
The East Village and this one look pretty good. I don't see a Soviet connection. What I don't like about the one in the University District is how it meets its neighbour. The gap in the streetwall created by the two storey podium is a little awkward. This is a win compared to older Alt designs.
Vancouver and especially Toronto have developments much much worse than this.
Vancouver and especially Toronto have developments much much worse than this.
Golfing guy
Active Member
Seems like alot of glass too me
Attachments
I think Toronto and NYC, especially in Manhattan tall thin designs are more common due to land cost, and available land in general. In Manhattan, even if you can afford half a block of land it usually isn't available. I look at the Toronto and New York pages all the time, and like a lot of the buildings going up. I'd love to have some of that stuff here, but I don't see it happening in a city this size. I think we're lucky to have gotten buildings like Telus Sky, 707 5th.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
and even slightly larger windows in the revised design (the one you posted was the original)...
Nimbus
Active Member
Calgary still has way too many large plots of land before we start to see skinny tall skyscrapers like NYC. Same reason (plus our up and down O&G economy) we get so many shorter twin towers versus one single supertall.
maestro
Senior Member
Not really. The skinny towers in NYC need a lot of spare density to achieve their heights. The towers have remarkably low lot coverage as density limits are not much higher than Calgary. This is accomplished through low rise podiums, open plazas, and spare density transfer from nearby, lowrise, heritage buildings. The reason NYC build them and no one else is purely economics. Only in NYC, are people dropping 25 to $100 million on an apartment.
Cowtown
Senior Member
They must do a lot of density transfers because a lot of the new buildings that are tall and skinny (9 DeKalb, 432 Park, 111 West 57) have no public space or much in the way of podiums and are crammed onto small skinny parcels.
darwink
Senior Member
^ Yes. And they use bonusing and bonusing transfer to encourage certain private use public benefit facilities, like theatres. A history of it is in this document: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/plannin.../transferable-development-rights/research.pdf
gsunnyg
Senior Member
Well it still doesn't explain why its become a recent trend for many developers in other cities. I would assume they are more cost efficient, plus they look sleek. My problem with the ALT hotel is that its looks like a very lazy design to me, a bland rectangular box with windows cut out (im talking about the rough sketch of the university city one). Its just my preference. I think such designs would work well in smaller cities like Saskatoon but not where we are today as Calgary. Id rather have a more proportionally less bulky looking glazed building like the Residence Inn over in the belt line. Buildings like those may seem basic but they can last for decades before they become a an eyesore.
maestro
Senior Member
They do pay tens of millions to transfer density over.
Floor space ratio for 432 Park is roughly 16.
Tower coverage maybe 25 to 30%
http://www.worldofarchi.com/2012/12/432-park-avenue-floor-plans-and.html
podium
https://www.google.ca/maps/@40.7618...=345.4928&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192
podium/open space
https://www.google.ca/maps/@40.7612...4!1sC0lWnNWIVFPNN357msWLew!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Golfing guy
Active Member
Was driving down Macleod Tr this afternoon between 90ave and 94ave and noticed what looked like an old 4 storey hotel/motel being ripped down. It is on the east side just south of the Carrige House. Anyone know what hotel it might have been or if something is being built there after?