194 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

Anything stopping someone from building a protest house? I always thought an erect penis house would cause a stir.

 

When I was a youngster, there was a house just off Shelbourne, near Bay, that was painted purple, with orange trim.  I always liked it.

[todd]

When I was a youngster, there was a house just off Shelbourne, near Bay, that was painted purple, with orange trim.  I always liked it.

I'm guessing you also liked Barney back then, so I take it you're okay with my architectural proposal? Go fund me account?

[todd]

I like it when a house shakes up the neighbourhood a bit.

 

I've pointed to this house before.  Different, in the middle of plain.

 

 screenshot-www.google.ca 2016-07-18 11-23-09.jpg

You hockey fans always stick together.

[VicHockeyFan]

I'm guessing you also liked Barney back then, so I take it you're okay with my architectural proposal? Go fund me account?

 

Barney came out in the 90's, I'm talking about back in the 70's.

[todd]

Barney came out in the 90's, I'm talking about back in the 70's.

Well my point is Barney obviously proved at that young age kids are biased to large purple objects with accent colors.

[aastra]

 

I like it when a house shakes up the neighbourhood a bit.

 

This is what I'm saying. There's a ton of sameness going on, maybe like never before. The new houses aren't daring to stand out at all. They're the same as every other new house in the neighbourhood. I realize that you could make this complaint with some validity at pretty much any point in a city's architectural evolution, but I really feel like what's happening right now is becoming extreme. I want someone to shake things up.

 

Like I say, it's odd because the individual houses themselves are fine, but they're being copied and pasted all over established neighbourhoods to such a degree that sometimes you end up with a cluster of them in one small area.

Edited by aastra, 18 July 2016 - 12:57 PM.

[lanforod]

Agreed. We are in the midst of what I consider the most dreary, unimaginative, regressive period in modern residential architectural history. The Lowest Common Denominator era. Arts & Crafts Lite. Beige-O-Rama.

 

No way. Nothing will ever be worse than the 70's, 80's 'BC Boxes'.

 

Edit: For SFH residential areas here. There is definitely worse when considering condos or apartments!

Edited by lanforod, 18 July 2016 - 01:57 PM.

[MarkoJ]

Hmmmm....can we get some examples of this sameness?  

[Rob Randall]

Hmmmm....can we get some examples of this sameness?  

 

I'll post some pictures tonight. Not of Oak Bay, actually the quality of design is better there. But there are some terrible new neighbourhoods out there. They are spec homes made to sell, no doubt. I hate to trash someone's dream home but it's a shame we're in this dark ages of house design.

[aastra]

On Sinclair Road heading down the hill toward the beach there are three of these modern brown & grey houses very near each other. When you get to Gyro Park I seem to recall there's another one pretty much right there. Another area that seems to have a lot of this style is Fairfield Road east of Margaret Jenkins. I'm not saying these are bad houses or ugly houses. Not at all. Unto themselves I think they're great. What I'm talking about here is the repetition of the same broad style and colour palette and other elements in fairly close proximity, so that a particular street or neighbourhood begins to overdose on it.

[johnk]

Cubes R Us.

[MarkoJ]

On Sinclair Road heading down the hill toward the beach there are three of these modern brown & grey houses very near each other. When you get to Gyro Park I seem to recall there's another one pretty much right there. Another area that seems to have a lot of this style is Fairfield Road east of Margaret Jenkins. I'm not saying these are bad houses or ugly houses. Not at all. Unto themselves I think they're great. What I'm talking about here is the repetition of the same broad style and colour palette and other elements in fairly close proximity, so that a particular street or neighbourhood begins to overdose on it.

 

I don't mind what's going on down the hill on Sinclair, doesn't seem like a setting for a Arts and Crafts type home?  I also think possibly individuals tried to max out height (for views) on that portion and contemporary or modern west coast is the easiest for that.

 

As for Fairfield the R-1G zoning is just brutal if you want to do anything other than a box; therefore, a lot of people just do a contemporary box.  I had clients building a stunning brand new character replica a few years ago and it was a nightmare designing it with the bylaws.

I am working on a single family project in Fairfield right now and the City of Victoria makes everything so incredibly challenging that I can't image building anything other than a box, which is what we designed.  I'll post some pictures later.

[aastra]

Why am I not surprised that the rules dictate sameness in a neighbourhood that was (and should be) all about variety? If the rules don't allow for variety re: shape and materials and colours then the rules make no sense and should be changed.

[amor de cosmos]

i don't know, some boxes can be interesting

[lanforod]

By itself, that is interesting. Put a dozen in a row, blah, boring.

[AllseeingEye]

Makes you wonder what the First Nations' thought when all that white trash from Europe showed up - uninvited as usual - and starting crowding out the neighborhood 150 years ago? How did their garish new home designs 'work' with established First Nation's housing stock which was, you know, here first by only a few thousand years. Did the F-N's protest? And were the "new Victorians" swayed in the slightest, or much care? Oh sorry...doesn't fit the narrative you say? Carry on then....

 

As my English cousins would say "Bollocks...." I just prefer "b******t!" myself. By all means then lets build everything to look exactly like everything else and lets go all out - no variety tolerated, anywhere, and in perpetuity to boot. At the end of the day we can aspire to look like.....Moscow.....circa 1961. Endless row upon row upon row of dull, conformist architecture. But "hey" at least no one will stand out......

[G-Man]

I can understand the box house from a design perspective. On the inside you have so much choice!

[aastra]

That's the problem. Nobody is thinking outside of the box.

[VicHockeyFan]

I can understand the box house from a design perspective. On the inside you have so much choice!

 

See, I agree here.  Why do you even need a picture window (that's a window that does not open) anymore when you have cheap 56" TVs and outside mounted cameras?  You save in window coverings (and their cleaning), as you just "turn off" your window and you have 100% darkness.

[MarkoJ]

Knowing that with the City of Victoria it takes 2-4 months to get plans/permits in place (compare with one week in Langford/Colwood for an identical home) with this latest project we designed a box to try and simplify things and speed up the process.  Anyway, still took three months.

 

 

You submit a box with a few details and after the plans bounce around from department to department (planning, engineering, plumbing, electrical, public works, etc.) for a really long time you find out some of the details don't conform to the bylaws, or at least the planner’s interpretation of the bylaws.  Rather than risk going back to the designer to improve the looks of the home and delaying the project another few months you just cut whatever needs to be cut to get your permit (you are carrying a mortgage/costs on the property while paperwork bounces around city hall).

 

 

Here is an example, I had the designer add this small wall to improve the look of the home, didn't fly with the planner.  We just agreed to remove it, obviously home doesn't look as good now.

 

And some of the procedures are beyond ridiculous and very $$$$$ for no reason....for example, if you make a small change and need to resubmit the plans the city wants those plans re-stamped by your structural engineer ($$$) even though you made zero structural changes to the previous stamped version.

 

 

 

Edited by MarkoJ, 21 July 2016 - 09:30 AM.