326 replies to this topic

[amor de cosmos]

before & after





http://changingcityb...7-east-georgia/

that one in vancouver is along an alley so of course it would be a bit different here. I think what matters though is that something narrow & relatively unobtrusive like that would be good for covering that ugly side of the macpherson while also activating that corner of that square. well more than those trees that are there right now.

[Mike K.]

You just gave city council a collective myocardial infarction.

[amor de cosmos]

What's the problem? I guess in that photoshop it's a bit wider than I first imagined it would be but who could like that side of the MacPherson the way it is?

[aastra]

The old town isn't about buildings. It's about the absence of buildings where buildings used to be. I'm surprised they haven't tried changing the name to "old empty space" or something along those lines.

Edited by aastra, 26 July 2014 - 04:42 PM.

[Mike K.]

A parking lot can sit around for decades and officialdom can't see it. Propose a legitimate lowrise that complies with City Hall's regulations for old town and it'll be mired in controversy.

In this instance that wall is sacrosanct. A modern proposal akin to that example would no doubt be a battle royale.

[Hotel Mike]

I'd rather see a nice mural on the McPherson wall.

[D.L.]

The difficulty with building something alongside the north side of the Macpherson is that that area is used as a loading bay.

[gumgum]

Nothing a little ivy can't fix.

[Nparker]

Nothing a little ivy can't fix.

You were probably joking when you said this gumgum, but actually, I think that would be a really great solution to the aesthetics of this side of the theatre. If it's good enough for the Empress surely it's good enough for the MacPherson.

[gumgum]

I wasn't joking.

[Bingo]

Maybe they could put something like this together.

 

[Mike K.]

Too much density for old town.

[amor de cosmos]

probably not downtown, but when will we start to see houses with simple forms made with blackened wood? these are a lot more interesting than the usual suburban house, and in a forest they'd practically disappear::


http://www.archdaily...flo-arkitekter/


http://www.archdaily...pe-architectes/

or maybe not made with blackened wood but still with that refined gable form. almost like a 21st-century tudor style:




http://thespaces.com...woodstock-farm/

[aastra]

So why have the owners of Harbour Square never done anything with those prime corners on Wharf Street? This building suffers from being such a monotonous block monster, and yet at the same time there are these rather clearly defined little sections that practically beg to be re-skinned and set apart from the main bulk of the building. This is what I mean when I talk about breaking up a long facade and creating the effect of a more diversified streetscape. Ideally you'd replace the bricks on the upper part of that section with some other cladding to more strongly suggest an individual little building on the corner there. But even just remodeling the ground floor would be a huge improvement.

 

 

I went a bit crazy here with the copying and pasting but you get the idea.

Edited by aastra, 09 June 2017 - 07:26 PM.

[Nparker]

Those are some fine Photoshop skills aastra. I seriously did a double-take with the "Brown's on Wharf" image.

[aastra]

These are just quick and dirty but even quick and dirty looks great here. I'm not kidding, these two corners are begging for it. You can paste almost anything in there and you get an instantly rejuvenated streetscape. The Sticky Wicket's faux-historic terracotta, westcoast contemporary... you name it. Anything and everything seems to work.

[Nparker]

...You can paste almost anything in there and you get an instantly rejuvenated streetscape...Anything and everything seems to work.

I guess that's the benefit of starting with a virtual blank slate.

[aastra]

I think it's the way the heavy brick sections outline the corner spaces. It's easy to put something else inside the lines.

 

I've smeared Harbour Square every which way over the years but I'll pay them a compliment now and note how they tried to mix things up with the angled apartments on the one side and that modern interpretation of a historic facade in the middle there along Wharf (at least I assume that's what it's supposed to be). But the whole thing gets taken down by the incredibly excessive use of the same brown brick. In moderation that exact same brick would be no problem. Taken to such excess it just seems so overwhelming and dreary.

 

Let's face it, there was a time there from maybe ~1975 to ~1985 when Victorians just went bananas for excessively bland brick coverage. A grotesque oversimplification of Victoria's architectural inventory.

 

Which reminds me, wouldn't the modern section of the hotel at Broad and Johnson look infinitely better (not to mention more convincing) if those brick-covered pillars were dressed in stone or polished concrete or something? And wouldn't it be better if that space were glassed in right to the pillars?

https://www.google.c...!7i13312!8i6656

 

Edited by aastra, 09 June 2017 - 08:44 PM.

[zoomer]

Wharf Street is so underutilized in this regard. The narrow sidewalks don't help. The Keg.. that location, no patio, WTF! Widen the sidewalk, do some aastra makeovers and encourage patios or better business 'outreach' to the street.

[aastra]

Yeah, as part of the remodeling of these spaces you could inset them a bit to gain a bit more sidewalk.