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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

I don't know how/where to find that. On the city website I'm guessing?
 
Mountain Man said:
Iconic building as in the old CBE building? Don't know if I would call it iconic, but I do hope they keep it. Last I heard though, it was definitely going to be demolished.
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What a shame!
 
It's an odd building though, tough to find a use for it, especially given how much better office space is available right now. IF\f it were to be modified like the renders on the last page show, then it would defeat the point of keeping it in my mind. The building is an interesting example of an architecture style that is mostly getting covered up or torn down, and we should keep a few brutalist buildings around if we can.
 
Mountain Man said:
It's an odd building though, tough to find a use for it, especially given how much better office space is available right now. IF\f it were to be modified like the renders on the last page show, then it would defeat the point of keeping it in my mind. The building is an interesting example of an architecture style that is mostly getting covered up or torn down, and we should keep a few brutalist buildings around if we can.
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Wholeheartedly agree. If it's not to be kept with its original brut look then you might as well start from scratch. I'm now wondering if the downturn has saved the building? Whoever purchased it may sit on it for a while and give up on it.

My thoughts for the building? Perhaps the city could partner up with an organisation and buy it,, back for cheap of course. Renovate it and make it into some kind of art space/museum, etc.. I recall the building had an atrium in it. Open it up with a glass ceiling and put in an ascending catwalk Guggenheim style.
 
Moving the Glenbow there would work. The parking compound/square would fit a nice annex, maybe space for offices or condos to defray some cost.

The site is 2.66 acres, with 0.87 taken by the sculpture garden, an acre by the elevated square/parking and 0.75 by the CBE building.

Going by the outside perimeter, the old building has a max flootplate of 22,000 square feet. Probably would only squeeze 10,000 square feet of galleries out of that. Maybe 4,000 on a lower floor. Total 24,000.

Current Glenbow has a floor plate of 30,000 square feet and 7 floors.
 
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I don't know what the purchase price was for the building, but I would guess these days, the land isn't worth as much as it was. Question is, would the owners rather dump it at a loss or hang onto it hoping for a comeback? It might take 10 years for the land to come back to the value they paid. does anyone know who owns it?
 
Mountain Man said:
Iconic building as in the old CBE building? Don't know if I would call it iconic, but I do hope they keep it. Last I heard though, it was definitely going to be demolished.
Click to expand...

"Iconic" in the sense that it symbolizes something greater than itself. In this case, brutalism. The more it gets surrounded by glass towers, the more dramatically it will stand out as a symbol. The Glenbow, by contrast, is just a bunker with little architectural merit other than the reliefs on the south facade. Then again, the Glenbow has a lot more to worry about than architecture, like whether it's a museum that specializes in fine arts or kid's "edu-tainment". Here's a solution: split the collection in half and send the fine arts down to the CBE building.
 
Silence&Motion said:
"Iconic" in the sense that it symbolizes something greater than itself. In this case, brutalism. The more it gets surrounded by glass towers, the more dramatically it will stand out as a symbol. The Glenbow, by contrast, is just a bunker with little architectural merit other than the reliefs on the south facade. Then again, the Glenbow has a lot more to worry about than architecture, like whether it's a museum that specializes in fine arts or kid's "edu-tainment". Here's a solution: split the collection in half and send the fine arts down to the CBE building.
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I'd like to see the Glenbow take over the old CBE building and make it a dedicated art gallery, and keep the current building as a multi-use museum.
 
I'd like to see the Glenbow demolished and completely rebuilt with an architectural style fitting of a proper museum. The current building is literally an embarrassment architecturally speaking. I say move the arts component of the Glenbow to a revamped and renovated CBE building. Once that is done, demolish the current Glenbow (and the old convention center attached to it) and rebuild a new signature Glenbow on the same site. I would then renovate Arts Commons (as Bing Thom proposed) and Olympic Plaza. City Hall and its plaza would be next on the list for a major overhaul (a new façade for City Hall that is clear and 'transparent' and a giant fountain out front). The final piece would be to completely re-do Stephen Ave with a European style streetscape (the current street is a patchwork of different styles and materials and reflect poorly on Calgary's best (and only) truly pedestrian street). Finish off the East Village and build a new arena and stadium and we have ourselves a world class city! Sorry I will wake up now...
 
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