1225 replies to this topic

[Bob Fugger]

That’s looking really good!

Except the vinyl sidingesque exterior cladding on the second and third floors.  It's the one part of the building that pops for me, and it really shouldn't.  Strange design aesthetic IMHO.

[aastra]

In another thread I hoped goofy siding wasn't becoming a thing, but it seems to be becoming a thing. The Mason Street project, Capital Park, and now this one. It looks very out of place.

[aastra]

On this one I think it bothers me the least of those, however.

[Nparker]

In another thread I hoped goofy siding wasn't becoming a thing, but it seems to be becoming a thing...

Let's hope it's a thing with a very short lifespan.

[Jackerbie]

Except the vinyl sidingesque exterior cladding on the second and third floors.  It's the one part of the building that pops for me, and it really shouldn't.  Strange design aesthetic IMHO.

 

In another thread I hoped goofy siding wasn't becoming a thing, but it seems to be becoming a thing. The Mason Street project, Capital Park, and now this one. It looks very out of place.

 

When told to draw design inspiration from the surrounding single-family neighbourhoods, unfortunately the go-to choice is often vinyl siding. It may not look like a house, but we can sure dress it up like one!

[Nparker]

When told to draw design inspiration from the surrounding single-family neighbourhoods, unfortunately the go-to choice is often vinyl siding...

It's just plain laziness on the part of architects/designers that they don't come up with something better than vinyl siding in these situations.

[Rob Randall]

When told to draw design inspiration from the surrounding single-family neighbourhoods, unfortunately the go-to choice is often vinyl siding. It may not look like a house, but we can sure dress it up like one!

 

This drives me crazy. Imagine a six-foot-five guy on his first day working at a day care centre. His employer wants him to wear appropriate clothing for the job so the guy shows up wearing a tiny pair of baby blue terry-cloth short shorts. "Well, it's what my clients are wearing". It's ridiculous but that's the thinking that's going on. 

 

It's not a house, it's a multi-unit building, get over it and stop trying to hide it.

 

I doubt the architects like siding, they're just desperate to get approval from the planning department. "Siding, Hardiplant, river rock, whatever, just tell us what will get an OK".

Edited by Rob Randall, 27 May 2019 - 09:42 AM.

[Torrontes]

I like "Hardiplants", they last longer, but I can never seem to find them. LOL  

 

Oh, you  meant "HardiePlank", my mistake.

[jonny]

That awful vinyl siding crap has shown up at the Capital Park project too. It looks terrible. 

[aastra]

I imagine neighbourhood groups applauding and saying, "Yeah! That's what apartment buildings in this neighbourhood should look like." As if the other hundred apartment buildings in the neighbourhood that don't have goofy siding got it wrong or something.

[aastra]

I'm sure you'll find goofy siding here and there on some older buildings, but on high-profile new buildings you normally wouldn't aspire to that sort of stuff.

[Kapten Kapsell]

Another shot from today (May 28):

[Kungsberg]

Is that just painted concrete on the upper floors?

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[jasmineshinga]

Nope, just a ho-hum stucco finish over wood framing.

[Torrontes]

Look on the bright side, the siding is cleanable and water resistant!  As for the stucco, it tends to get mildewed and black over time, but can always be painted over.

 

I think the building looks pretty good. They have broken up the massing, have lots of architectural details, and lots of glazing to let in light. Thankfully not your bog-standard, ho-hum, concrete box.

 

It might even convince a few people that five story skyscrapers are not that bad! 

[aastra]

 

Thankfully not your bog-standard, ho-hum, concrete box.

 

Isn't that a given? Almost all of Fairfield's bog-standard, ho-hum boxes are wood frame. There are a couple of older concrete buildings on Linden, but they're actually not bog-standard. I think the only bog-standard, ho-hum concrete buildings in Fairfield would be the very old ones at Quadra and Collinson and at Quadra and Academy Close? But the recent paint job on the latter has diminished some of its bog-standardness.

[Kungsberg]

I actually like this building too, for the reasons Torrontes mentions, and I don't have an objection to painted surfaces.  

My reason for asking wasn't so much concrete vs stucco, it was more how poorly finished I thought the job looked, underneath the paint. Look at those 2-3 depressions in-between the two big windows, and the entire section on that corner to the left.  That's rough, to my eye. I mean, this is a brand-new build, with new materials, not covering up some fault on an older building. It reminds me of my travels to Turkey and Morocco.

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[aastra]

 

It reminds me of my travels to Turkey and Morocco.

 

Victoria is often called the Ankara of the northwest.

[Torrontes]

Ankara is inland. How about Marmaris, Fetihye or Gocek. We could build some tombs in Rockland.

[Mike K.]

Occupancy is anticipated for October.