370 replies to this topic

[AllseeingEye]

Public: too tall, will add too much traffic; too much like Vancouver

 

 

In addition to the complete and utter piffle about "looking like Vancouver" - in what galactic realm of unreality does a small region of 400K look like Vancouver....which has 3 million people not to mention hundreds of taller buildings to our...what... two dozen?? - my favorite nonsensical comment among those who complain that "quaint" Victoria is no longer "their Victoria" almost always references the Victoria of 60 (or more) years ago.....

 

Please show me one major city in Canada or, North America for that matter, that hasn't changed in a HALF CENTURY+++.

 

Including this one BTW which has changed and evolved from a bunch of muddy huts to trading outpost, to fort, to capital city to a larger capital city. Yes folks even 'quaint' l'il Victoria has been changing since Day 1 so it should be ZERO surprise it continues to do so 160 years after its founding. Good grief. The horror...the horror!!

[aastra]

Everyone who ends up living in this building will follow the same script when the time comes to build something new on the other side of Cook Street. They moved to Victoria to get away from this kind of development, they don't want to see the neighbourhood get ruined, Victoria used to be so nice before it started changing (in 2021), etc.

[Jackerbie]

Do we know if this went on to a public hearing?

 

Referred back. Helps had to drag a recommendation out of Council because initially there was no objective of the referral. In the end, referral is to:

* Address items A-E in the staff report

* Improve compliance with design guidelines for setbacks

* Provide an item by item response to the DRA letter (for those items within the developer's control) 

[Mike K.]

Nice. Thank you.

[Kapten Kapsell]

This project underwent another design change in late December; all balconies facing Cook St are now Juliet balconies, and there were revisions to the Podium as well.

 

A new letter from the developer to the City is here:  https://tender.victo...029092014340631

 

Updated rendering:

[Nparker]

Not sure this latest change is an improvement.

[aastra]

Much less dynamic, much more conventional. It's hard to be enthused about the Cook Street side of the tower.

 

The process of architectural revisioning in Victoria can be like a horror movie. Call it "The Blandening".

[aastra]

Are there wheels at the bottom of that podium? I ask because it's sure been easy to roll the design backwards.

 

OR

 

The only way this project can go any further backwards is if they move it down the street to a different property.

[zoomer]

Much less dynamic, much more conventional. It's hard to be enthused about the Cook Street side of the tower.

The process of architectural revisioning in Victoria can be like a horror movie. Call it "The Blandening".

Much more conventional you say? (Is this where I regret challenging Aastra to our quarterly duel?)

It's more common to have larger balconies than juliets in Victoria. Some might even say juliets leads to a more stylish, sleek, uncluttered 'big city' look (at least that's what my friends from Toronto say). The juliet balconies on the Blanshard side of the Juliet (how's that's for synergy) look awesome.

Not sure if this is an improvement or not, but IF this ends up reaching it's max potential based on the rendering, it would still be in the top 20% of new builds in Victoria.

And speaking of The Juliet and it's former pizza place.. I hereby propose that we call balconies that project significantly outwards or have a depth at least 4 large pizzas wide be now called Romeo balconies.

[Mike K.]

In my opinion this is a refined version of the last design. The staggered/varied cube motif is growing old, fast, so the newly introduced symmetry is right for this project.

 

After Yello rose with its emphasized cube shapes, that became a thing, and now we're seeing it emulated across multiple proposals. Even Tresah pursued the cubes, but their uniformity works.

[Nparker]

..And speaking of The Juliet and it's former pizza place.. I hereby propose that we call balconies that project significantly outwards or have a depth at least 4 large pizzas wide be now called Romeo balconies.

IIRC the Juliet got its name from the business that once operated at that location.

[aastra]

 

Is this where I regret challenging Aastra to our quarterly duel?

 

Imagine the regret I feel about my thrice-daily duels with Mike K.

[aastra]

 

The staggered/varied cube motif is growing old, fast, so the newly introduced symmetry is right for this project.

 

Although I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying re: extruded architectural elements (or whatever we want to call them), I'm still going to say it's a very convenient way to justify the blandening™. "We decided to make everything drab and uniform because doing anything interesting had already gone out of style." It's not as if Victoria has a glut of major buildings with those extruded squares or cubes (or whatever we want to call them).

 

Remember all the way back to yesterday, when cookie-cutter repetition was the bogeyman? Now we're saying cookie-cutter repetition is the enlightened approach?

[Jackerbie]

Although I don't necessarily disagree with what you're saying re: extruded architectural elements (or whatever we want to call them), I'm still going to say it's a very convenient way to justify the blandening™. "We decided to make everything drab and uniform because doing anything interesting had already gone out of style." It's not as if Victoria has a glut of major buildings with those extruded squares or cubes (or whatever we want to call them).

 

Remember all the way back to yesterday, when cookie-cutter repetition was the bogeyman? Now we're saying cookie-cutter repetition is the enlightened approach?

 

I've heard some architects refer to them as "frames." Personally, I prefer the larger frames over the small squares, but they are certainly 1) overdone in Vancouver and 2) easy to mess up.

 

For example, 1565 W 6th Ave in Vancouver. The frames certainly make the facade more interesting, but the seemingly random placement, size, and orientation is a head scratcher. At the end of the day, without the bold frames it's just a conventional spandrel curtain wall. Meh.

Edited by Jackerbie, 18 January 2021 - 11:08 AM.

[aastra]

 

they are certainly 1) overdone in Vancouver and 2) easy to mess up.

 

I like how you frame the issue. For sure, condo-crazy big cities will tend to have a fair number of them, good examples and bad. Like I say, I get the point.

 

But I've vented about this before, how some modern Victorians are so eager to avoid international architectural trends that they end up "boxing" themselves into a corner (mods: feel free to edit out that clever wordplay if I receive too many likes and it threatens to bring down the website).

 

If you can't do anything that's already been done in Vancouver or Toronto or San Francisco or San Diego or Austin or Columbus or Miami or Ottawa or Halifax or Prince George or Thunder Bay, then what can you do? It's the difference between defining yourself by what you do do and how and where you do it, as versus defining yourself by what you don't do (and only what you don't do).

 

Can we imagine if old Victoria had chosen not to do popular Victorian & Edwardian styles because San Francisco was already doing them like crazy?

[Nparker]

Victoria has always displayed an entirely unique aesthetic and architectural style, except when it didn't (ca. 1860-2020).

[Matt R.]

Pluto’s moving into the old San Remo space on Quadra. Details to come but it looks like the lease is signed. Pluto’s has been at its original location for 32 years!! That’s insane.

Matt.

[Brantastic]

Fantastic! I hope they bring their neon sign with them.

[Victoria Watcher]

Pluto’s moving into the old San Remo space on Quadra. Details to come but it looks like the lease is signed. Pluto’s has been at its original location for 32 years!! That’s insane.

Matt.

 

that's a long way out.  hopefully they set up a satellite store around uranus.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 February 2021 - 12:39 PM.

[aastra]

 

that's a long way out.  hopefully they set up a satellite store around uranus.

 

Another out to launch comment from this board's top space cadet. You never seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation.