1043 replies to this topic

[gumgum]

Random Generator V 2.0 is offended.

[aastra]

We're lumping setbacks in with "odds and ends"?

[zoomer]

Good god, I can't believe I forgot setbacks!!! :shock: Ok, gumgum, you're assigned no setbacks!! Holden West: random photos of unidentified residential dwellings.

And to keep on topic...so can you really spin that globe around?! If so, I'd say that's a really cool piece of art for Victoria. Better yet would be if we could control it through the internet, so we could do it from the comfort of our chair and not have to go out and experience the real world.

My one concern is for visiting American sailors on shore leave. How many will needlessly die by drowning after becoming trapped or pinned underwater...we need warning signs on this thing.

[aastra]

Is it just me or has the public urinal issue been solved?

[zoomer]

arghh!! I ain't playin with that ball then!

[gumgum]

I'm just glad I wasn't assigned to "blank walls".

[Mike K.]

I suppose west coast modernism is alright :roll:

...stupid machine

[zoomer]

People, stop your complaining!! There is no I in Team, and that's what it's going to take to replace Oxford!! Show some respect for VV's Random Generator V 1.0! It's a fairly complex piece of technology, and Jada and I have been doing our best to ensure it's running on all cylinders.

[gumgum]

^Brilliant.
Collective mental note: humorous, photographic analogies are a tasty dish.

[zoomer]

In moderation I agree (I'm a visual person), but then again gumgum, you never lived through the SSP Excessive Google Image Dark Days, when virtually all intelligent conversation ceased and was replaced by humourous (at times tacky) google image posting. Eventually order was restored when senior members asserted their authority and leadership.

Speaking of Centennial Square

from the Uvic site (bolded text by zoomer):

http://www.maltwood.... ... al_square/

The 100th birthday of Victoria was marked by the creation of the Centennial Square. Rod Clack, the city planner at the time, worked with a group of architects including John DiCastri, Alan Hodgson, Bob Sidall, Clive Cambell, Don Wagg and John Wade under the leadership of mayor Biggerstaff Wilson [a rather ironic and unfortunate name for a mayor] . This marked the beginning of a vast scheme to preserve, restore and revive downtown Victoria. Street realignments and the demolition of an old public market allowed for the grouping of the McPherson Playhouse (Hodgson), the renovated police station (Wagg), a parkade and specialty shops (Di Castri), the Senior Citizens' Centre (Cambell), and a sunken "Knot Garden". All were arranged around a public space to form Centennial Square. The focal point is a fountain, its balustraded rim reminiscent of pieces from Oscar Niemeyer's Brazilia scheme (1958), and the mosaic concrete totems by local artist J.C.S. Wilkinson. The fountain was a centennial gift to the City from neighbouring municipalities. [my have times changed..] The scheme successfully re-established City Hall as a down-town focal point with the square as its major public recreational amenity. This was the first part of the downtown revitalization program which called for a general paintup, modelled on the "Norwich Plan", and pedestrian malls linking City Hall to a redeveloped and restored Bastion Square.

[Walter Moar]

People, stop your complaining!! There is no I in Team [...]

But there's "me" in team :-)

[Ms. B. Havin]

Blank walls?? Like, the kind you butt your head against? Thanks for the assignment, chief, but I don't think I'll be able to post pictures, least of all with the kind of frequency and persistence that Oxford Sutherland managed. Maybe he's on vacation, but coming back soon?

[gumgum]

We wish we knew.

[ressen]

In the meantime bring back Folk Fest to the square.

[rayne_k]

Yes, I took it last night. The ball floats in a pool of water so you can spin it around. It's actually a giant globe. It's cooler than I thought it would be.

The nearby fountain is still not operational, unfortunately.

Interactive art.. very clever. Maybe a bit of colour tho? A blue light for the evenings perhaps?

[Ms. B. Havin]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but the article talks specifically about the Centennial Square / Fisgard Street parkade.

From today's paper, [url=http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=d4be860e-be3a-42e7-b854-e5af3e27f8e5&k=42320:a7ea1]Victoria mulls major upgrade for parkades - Improvements address downtown safety issues[/url:a7ea1]. Bolded emphases added by me.

Victoria mulls major upgrade for parkades
Improvements address downtown safety issues

Carolyn Heiman
Times Colonist

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Extreme makeovers are proposed for Victoria's downtown parkades.

New security cameras, glass doors, lights, and paint are among the list of changes aimed at making the four parkades welcoming and last another 20 to 30 years.

Two consulting reports looked at the condition and safety at Victoria parking lots and made recommendations. But events have also drawn the city's attention to the condition of the parkades, which have become congregating places for homeless people and drug users.

Last summer, a tourist was stuck in a parkade elevator. When they called a number posted inside, the call was answered by someone in Montreal and neither party knew where the elevator was. (Edit: that's pretty unacceptable.)

The city's parking services manager said the stranded tourist was rescued within the three hours guaranteed by the elevator service company, but the incident highlighted that the city needs to make changes in the parkades.

"We need to identify them as city buildings and give the addresses because not everyone knows where they are exactly," said Victor Vandenboomen. (Edit: d'uh...)

The Downtown Victoria Business Association said the parkades "really could use a makeover," to leave people with no reservations about coming downtown.

Ken King, association executive director, was enthused about the city's move forward on refurbishment but challenged the city to set the bar high for the new parkade look.

"I think these facilities have got to move to a spotless state. ... We would be looking for the utmost quality in terms of their look and feel of their interior. We really want that whitewashed, that gleaming white, light appearance." (Edit: it'd be nice if Royal Jubilee Hospital looked as good as that...)

Changes won't be cheap.

Victoria council has approved borrowing $8.8 million for parkade improvements, much of that targeted to stalling concrete deterioration and corrosion. But there will be fine-tuning on how much money and how it will be spent.

Several council members were particularly concerned about spending money on the Centennial Parkade when there was talk of replacing it completely. Cost to replace it with another above-ground parkade is $5 million, but Mayor Alan Lowe asked staff to give estimates for underground parking at the location.

He told council he wasn't interested in spending the estimated $2 million in repairs to that parkade when the money could be used toward replacement and continuing with the city's goal of revitalizing Centennial Square.

The report warned that avoiding maintenance could lead to needing to close the parkades, but 20 to 30 years of service could be stretched out of the facilities with the work.

The city has four parkades, all built in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Centennial Square parkade, accessed off Fisgard Street, is deemed to be in the worst condition. There has long been talk of replacing the 200-stall structure. Vandenboomen said new security cameras and doors make up the major part of the $1 million earmarked for safety improvements.

He said the old security camera system uses tape and is ineffectual in identifying people suspected of criminal activities. The new system will be digital and cover a wider area of the parkade.

Electrical outlets, often used by transients for heaters and cooking stoves, have been removed from the parkades and police are sent to patrol problem areas.

The Broughton Street parkade currently has the most problems with people sleeping in doorways and openly using drugs, but Vandenboomen said the problems just move to other parkades after police are called to patrol hot spots.

SAFETY CHANGES PROPOSED FOR THE PARKADES INCLUDE:

- Replacing solid doors with glass doors;

- Closing off small empty spaces in stairwells;

- Upgrading security cameras;

- Replacing plastic windows that are fogged and difficult to see through;

- Improving lighting;

- Improving signage.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006

[G-Man]

I say team up with a developer. Make a deal on the land do a Library / Office / U/G parking building and everyone is happy.

[aastra]

"We need to identify them as city buildings and give the addresses because not everyone knows where they are exactly,"

Sort of clashes with the whole "small town" thing, doesn't it?

[Ben Smith]

I say slap an underground parking in every large development that they can.

One can fit in nicely, like the one in The Sussex

[Holden West]

These pictures were taken at the recent John Di Castri exhibition that was at the Maltwood Gallery at UVic. The lighting was dark and my battery was dying so excuse the quality.

This is the original 1962 proposal for Centennial Square. The model is over 40 years old so it's pretty faded and worn (all the green stuff has come off the little trees) but it gives you a good idea of the original concept that was later heavily modified. Di Castri was one of several architects and planners that developed this--he primarily did the parkade and the courtyard shopping arcade.

Overview:



The fountain concept was still being developed. This looks more like a European-type piazza--this concept does not yet have the circular fountain-centred focus it has now:



his is a good view of the original restaurant concept. Notice the cross-shaped design suspended above a pool of water:



Note here how the entrance to the new City Hall wing is under the pavillion. Also note the much smaller addition to the MacPherson, which retains its original Gov't St. entrance:



A view of the north-west corner. Note the building where the CRD courtyard is now. I don't know if this was intended to be the Silver Threads building but it doesn't nearly resemble what was later built. This building (which is obscured by the Plexi shield; sorry!) looks pretty cool. A low slab encircled by ridges with one open glass wall, the entire building floating on a pool of water. Not practical perhaps, but it sure looks groovy:



Here's the Douglas St. side. See how the grass field was set into a raised platform about as high as the benches surrounding it:



A shot of the retail arcade. It looks much longer--in fact it goes nearly all the way to the MacPherson. Maybe this would have been more successful. Right now, there's little incentive to window shop (even if the tenants were interesting) because it's a dead end (except for the washrooms!)