1633 replies to this topic

[aastra]

 

Much nicer than Yello.

 

Hmmm. To my eye Black & White and Yello on Yates look exactly the same. Generic.

[victorian]

Well that's one opinion and certainly one you're entitled to but I would respectfully disagree on most if not all counts.
 
First HGV is a complete *fail* on the View Street side - a dead zone utterly bereft of any redeeming qualities whatsoever. Actually to refer to it as "dead" is an insult to actually and really dead things. The London Drugs building - while I completely agree must stay in any redevelopment of this site - is itself an utterly unremarkable structure and to top it off the whole thing is crowned off by the worst s*** show of a parking situation in the CoV.

I definitely agree.
 

Beauty of course is in the eye of the beholder but I would stack Atrium et al anytime against most of the barf-worthy 4-story, 1950/60''s-era box apartments in this city; and even today never mind 40 years ago, much of so-called old town is so run down and ramshackle it looks more like an air force bombing range than anything resembling architecture - never mind outstanding architecture, or even moderately attractive and useful architecture.

I agree, although that's not a relevant comparison here. The comparison is between an active neighbourhood full of services to hulking glass and concrete monstrosities (like Atrium) with few neighbourhood services (like Zambri's and Cook Culture).
 

to the grimy swath of Old Town - much of which was (and is to this day) literally falling apart, and lastly to the truly awful aforementioned box apartments which sprouted everywhere like a virus.

 
The '60s and 70's were a long time ago. You should check out downtown again. I don't know what it was like back then, but it's awesome now. It has more to lose than to gain at this point.

[aastra]

 

What in Victoria looks like "generic" 989 Johnson?

 

Nothing, because nobody wanted to build something that looked so generic.

[victorian]

Those are the very buildings that have finally endowed Harris Green with some positive identity. It was the neighbourhood about nothing before (Seinfeld reference).

 

We're talking about a district that was dominated by View Towers, surface parking lots, car dealerships, and a strip mall. Methinks what Harris Green really needed to avoid was all of that stuff.

 

True. New developments were needed. But why couldn't they have been nicer looking? Fortunately, it doesn't matter too much. But the HGV is much higher stakes for how the neighbourhood works.

[victorian]

Hmmm. To my eye Black & White and Yello on Yates look exactly the same. Generic.

 

Fair enough. But Yello actually makes me so angry I'm not allowed to discuss it with my spouse anymore lol

Edited by victorian, 31 May 2019 - 11:09 AM.

[aastra]

 

...as an HG resident that enjoys and relies on HGV - and invested in the neighbourhood in part because of it - HG going the route of the Legato and 989 Johnson is my worst-case scenario.

 

It sounds like you're saying the most urban neighbourhood in the city should not be following the urban neighbourhood format. Could strip malls, surface parking, and big box stores really be the best-case scenario for such a neighbourhood? Small storefronts and pedestrian-friendly atmosphere don't belong?

[RFS]

True. New developments were needed. But why couldn't they have been nicer looking? Fortunately, it doesn't matter too much. But the HGV is much higher stakes for how the neighbourhood works.

Pretty subjective. It sounds like your issue is with specific cladding materials. Can't please everyone. And not every project can be Uber high end and top notch materials or affordability would suffer.

[aastra]

The front side of Yello on Yates is better than the back side.

 

 

Front:

 

 

 

Back:

 

[victorian]

It sounds like you're saying the most urban neighbourhood in the city should not be following the urban neighbourhood format. Could strip malls, surface parking, and big box stores really be the best-case scenario for such a neighbourhood? Small storefronts and pedestrian-friendly atmosphere don't belong?

 

I'm saying the opposite.

[victorian]

Pretty subjective. It sounds like your issue is with specific cladding materials. Can't please everyone. And not every project can be Uber high end and top notch materials or affordability would suffer.

 

That's definitely a big part of it. The City should require at least the first few floors of any building to use quality materials.

[aastra]

 

I'm saying the opposite.

 

But you're defending the strip mall. That would be the opposite of the opposite.

Edited by aastra, 31 May 2019 - 11:19 AM.

[sdwright.vic]

Hmm, you might be right. They could be rentals.

They are rentals, my friend that lives there got notice yesterday.

[RFS]

That's definitely a big part of it. The City should require at least the first few floors of any building to use quality materials.

Ah ha you want a city of luxury buildings for the rich!

[aastra]

^Many people are pushing for that.

[aastra]

Bin 4 review from TripAdvisor.com (Reviewed May 28, 2014):

 

 

Go for the burgers, not for the ambience

Burgers: Delicious. Everything on the menu looked good, so it was a tough choice. Both my companion and I had very tasty burgers.

Service: Friendly, fast, helpful.

Extras: You get a choice of different types of aioli. We asked the waiter for her recommendation and she was right on: truffle was awesome, and chipotle smoky-spicy good.

Location: Strip mall. Hard to find. Crushed in next to a pizza hut. It's in the city, maybe 15 minutes' walk from the Inner Harbour, but it feels suburban, and not in a good way.
 

[SamCB]

Harris Green Village's retailers make it successful in spite of its awful suburban form.

 

The NIMBYs are scared of losing the vibrancy of HGV (which they wrongly attribute to its form; not its mix of retailers). 

 

HGV is a shitty strip mall and deserves to be bulldozed and replaced with something better. I like where aastra is going with the "similar to Uptown's square" idea. That's on point.

 

And user 'Victorian'... dude, your aesthetic opinions seem woefully under-informed. If you want to be taken seriously with architectural critiques, give us some justification beyond "it's ugly and generic." That might fly at the HG community association meetings, but this forum is filled with people who are up to date on current global architecture trends and history. The bar for architectural critiques is high; the bar for discourse is admitted low. Idiot! (jk)

[Nparker]

The front side of Yello on Yates is better than the back side.

The front side of Yello looks suspiciously like The Wave.

[Jackerbie]

^ And the rear looks suspiciously like Escher

[aastra]

Whoops. Sorry. I got confused. All of these new buildings look the same to me.

[G-Man]

I think Aastra was perhaps making a point on the diversity of the built form in the neighborhood and that is anything but generic. That said the ground floor of the wave is atrocious.