The Dorian | 98.45m | 27s | PBA Land Development | Gibbs Gage

General rating of this project

  • 1 Great

    Votes: 12 18.5%
  • 2 Good

    Votes: 43 66.2%
  • 3 So So

    Votes: 6 9.2%
  • 4 Not Very Good

    Votes: 3 4.6%
  • 5 Terrible

    Votes: 1 1.5%

  • Total voters
    65
Nice to see a project like this go forward...but I'm not feeling very confident about this design. It has the typically Gibbs Gage quality where they throw 50 different things into the design of it, instead of having one clear and well executed vision.
 
So unexpected to see this break ground now. This city keeps you on your toes.
 
Ambitious! Design is meh, would like to see a bit more detail before I judge. Rant time:

I appreciate the push for the downtown hotel crowd to cater to the "Calgary as a destination". Calgary - Banff is such a critical link that the city seems to almost ignore in it's planning historically IMO, my guess because we have been too small / too distracted by corporate oil and gas office market to really consider the tourism draw of a major city. Banff has long been a mega-destination, Calgary seemed to be happy to let those tour companies skip right by from the airport straight to the mountains. Not that I can blame the tour companies, for many years Calgary's city centre wasn't particularly remarkable or worth visiting.

However, the fact is that central Calgary and Banff remain two major economic anchors of the corridor and are inextricably and increasingly linked. Given the obvious connection, it's surprising how long it took to get regional public transit along the corridor at all, even more surprising it took a whole year for the pilot transit project (On-It Transit) to realize downtown is the other anchor, not Crowfoot LRT (although they inexplicably still stop there which increases their travel times for no reason).

As Calgary's core continues it's trend toward being a better destination - more lively, more residents, more amenities, more services, more hotels, more architecture (Peace Bridge, NCL, Studio Bell etc.) & better pedestrian infrastructure etc. - it should strengthen its appeal as the other anchor in the corridor. We may never be a Montreal, Toronto or New York where we are known for our urban experience, but we are fast outgrowing our "small-town, nothing happens here" irrelevance as well. Combining a major city's offerings with a major natural tourism hub only an hour away is a great pairing for visitors.
 
Our first public look at a full length render. I actually like it, it's a little retro funk. I don't think it'll be too bad of an addition. The trees for the rooftop restaurant patio are definitely a nice touch, and will be cool when viewed from Harley Hotchkiss Gardens.

hotel_full-exterior.jpg
 
One cool feature with the hotel will be the rooftop patio restaurant. It sounds like it'll be open to the public, which could be very cool.
 
To me this one will depend on the materials. It's a tall slender building that could look good with the right glazing...or look bad depending. The rooftop patio restaurant is a great idea so long as they make sure the inside part of the restaurant has a good view also. A good chunk of the year will be too cold or windy for the outside patio.
 
Hi All,
If Anyone Saw the Friday June 1st Edition of the Calgary Herald, There was a Topic about this Project in the 1st Section of the Paper. Construction Will B
Starting This Summer so Expect to See Crews with their Picks, Shovels and Other Toys on the Site sometime soon.

Tnx,
Operater.
 
Construction may be imminent. Saw fencing going up today, at first I thought it might be for stampede event, but it has Ellis Don written on the side.
 

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