36 replies to this topic

[LJ]

Went to the presentation center a couple of weeks ago, the girl said they will be ready for occupancy by mid October.

I neglected to ask which year!

[gumgum]

There's no way that'll be ready in Oct.
It's pretty much a shell.

[aastra]

Ready for occupancy by snails then.

[gumgum]

Well it's missed its occupancy date of October of last year, but at least it's almost completed:


I can't believe this, but they're actually using single paned windows.

[gumgum]

Might as well stamp this one completed. There's a few odds and ends to be done; but my rule of thumb is, if the landscaping is laid, it's a wrap.
Cute little place.

Today:






.......

We never started a thread on this place, but here's a pic of the recently completed assisted living complex, on Parry, also in James Bay. Smart little building. Too bad about the gaping garage entrance. (Not evident in pic.)

[Ms. B. Havin]

Remember the earlier rendering?



I'm really disappointed that the actual building ends up with wooden enclosures (vs. brick, as originally depicted), and that they're so tall and actually present a kind of fence-in-your-face to the street.



Why on earth did they do that, I wonder? I think the enclosures look awful, just awful.

[gumgum]

Geez. You're right.
I don't mind enclosures per se, but the real brick and wrought iron rendering would been a hundred times better. Those doors would have been much better too.

[zoomer]

yikes!! The rest of the building looks awesome, but those enclosures clash horribly! Looks like a cheap modern add on and it takes the focus off the building. Come on folks (hey, I sound like aastra!!) is it really that hard to get it right when designing and constructing a building?!

[Nparker]

Maybe I am losing it, but I actually like the look of those contrasting enclosures, based on this photograph at least. However, if they have been cheaply constructed and do not age well, I reserve the right to change my mind.

[Baro]

I would have gone all black iron or half brick half iron, but that costs more money than cheap wood.

IF they wanted cheap I would have just gone with a hedge.

[VicHockeyFan]

Those wood boxes won't age well indeed, but then again, no one has to buy there if they don't like it.

[Ms. B. Havin]

It bothers me that they went with wood vs. the proposed brick & wrought iron, but more than that, I'm troubled by the scale of what they erected in relation to the building's frontage. In the first rendering, the doors are solid with a half-light while in the actual building the doors are all glass (thanks gumgum for noticing that), and the solid part of the enclosure (brick) is quite low (easy to see over) with wrought iron on top (signaling "barrier"/ "private," but easy to look through).

In the actual buildings, they reversed the door opacity (the doors are now transparent) and increased the height of the enclosures to give "privacy" (the fence is high, and blocky/ chunky).

IMO, that completely destroys a sense of urban residential intimacy, which you see on many streets of our older Eastern cities. There THs are quite separate from the street (no glass doors, for pete's sake!) and you can't look into the TH itself, but they'll have these really lovely forecourts, which are private but viewable.

As far as I can tell from gumgum's photo, by putting glass doors in and high solid (opaque) enclosures, they destroyed that.

Makes it less interesting for passers-by on the street, IMO.

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ Further to that, the height and design of these things reminds me of a kitchen bar counter.

[victorian fan]

Maybe it's something to do with the gas meters (?) on the left.

[gumgum]

Speaking of gas meters. I was being generous with the angle at which I took that pic. Had I taken it more to the right or the left, those meters are all too exposed. I suppose they will eventually be hidden when the bushes become more mature. But still, box it in or something.

[aastra]

It's like they were going for a touchdown and then dropped the ball at the 1 yard line. I would have preferred a wrought iron fence right along the sidewalk (in effect a continuation of the fence that runs along the sidewalk right next door). Wouldn't a fence there and a bunch of plants and such in that triangular space have been enough of a buffer?

[Ms. B. Havin]

Your design, aastra, comes a lot closer to what was originally proposed.

Re. the gas meters: I wouldn't be surprised if they're the culprit. The gas company is ruthless about plunking their hardware in the most high-visibility places on the property, preferably right in the front, accessible from the sidewalk. And then to top it off, they'll tell you that you're not allowed to plant anything near the pipes and meter that might obscure that easy visibility.

Where I used to live, the gas company and the water company had switched over to remote sensor readings of the meters, which were in the basement at any rate.

Why can't we do that here?