432 replies to this topic

[aastra]

Do you get what I mean when I say it would look considerably better if they had dialed down the plainness even just a bit?

 

If just a few more of the white panels had been actual windows, or if just a single panel on every floor had been set apart in a distinctive colour/finish in order to create a vertical line running up the height of the building (and thus de-emphasize the stacking of horizontal layers a bit).

 

On the new Dockside Green buildings there are some industrial-looking panels scattered among the more conventional panels. Even a simple touch like that is better than nothing. There are so many colours and finishes to choose from.

[Nparker]

...if just a single panel on every floor had been set apart in a distinctive colour/finish in order to create a vertical line running up the height of the building (and thus de-emphasize the stacking of horizontal layers a bit...

I wonder this every single time I look out my window and bear witness to HP-2's utter blandness.

[Barrrister]

I am not so critical, it should blend in with most everything else being built. 

[Nparker]

I am not so critical, it should blend in with most everything else being built. 

That's the point, it doesn't "blend in" at all.

[Barrrister]

It should blend in pretty well with the next fifteen or twenty projects that are coming up. 

[aastra]

 

That's the point, it doesn't "blend in" at all.

 

Every building on that block of the Hudson district has strong vertical lines: the old department store building has the pillars, and Hudson Mews and Hudson Place One have those white frames. But HP2 is stacked horizontals.

 

HP2 wasn't obliged to follow the formula, of course. Who knows, maybe later I'll appreciate it for being different. But in this case the departure seems arbitrary.

[aastra]

pic by JohnnyJayEh at flickr.com:

 

 

https://www.flickr.c...an/52032794778/

 

[Nparker]

The further one gets away from HP-2 the better it looks. I suspect the best view is from Sooke.

[aastra]

Just in case anyone involved with Victoria's advisory design panel happens to be reading this (and just in case anyone involved with Victoria's advisory design panel happens to actually care one bit about architectural design issues in Victoria), could we possibly take a break from the plain grey/white/beige panels for a while?

 

Don't get me wrong, everybody loves those panels. They're Victoria's signature architectural trait (since around 2018). But you can have too much of a good thing, right? I'm just saying maybe it's time again to try exploring some of the other umpteen bajillion options. Dare I say it, but maybe it's time to try exploring some of the distinctive marbles, stones, terracotta, etc. that gave old Victoria's notable buildings an aura of of class & distinction rather than an aura of blah.

 

 

[G-Man]

While the taller portion has still not started to impress me. The corner portion is exactly what I mean when I talk about great corners. Really hoping for something cool in the space.

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[Nparker]

In the initial renderings I didn't care for the brick portion; now it's the only part I really like.

[Mike K.]

Another ‘it turned out better than we spent years worrying about,’ eh?

[Nparker]

Not really. Most of HP-2 is butt ugly.

[Mike K.]

A year from now, nobody will be batting an eye, and aastra’s urbanism tour will purposefully linger at that intersection hoping the people from big cities notice how big city-like Victoria is.

[Nparker]

No one will bat an eye, because HP-2 will be too bland for anyone to notice.

[Mike K.]

Small city woes.

[Nparker]

HP-2 is the View Towers of the 21st century.

[Mike K.]

HP2 will be too bland to notice, but it’s also the modern version of the most noticed ugly highrise in the city?

A perfect Victoria urbanism conundrum if there ever was one.

[Nparker]

HP-2 is ugly BECAUSE it is bland. No conundrum.

[Mike K.]

Oh no. Whatever shall we do. They’ve ruined us, they’ve destroyed Victoria (again). What will people from Courtenay think of us now?