What do you think of this project?

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constance_chlore said:
This is what kills me. There are so many buildings where removing weird patches of color or other bizarre half-assed ornamentation would instantly improve a building (by making it bland rather than ugly). I realize that the economics are a factor, but I think a lot of developers active in Edmonton also just have poor taste.
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I sort of understand the cheap and bland relationship if for no other reason because it is often easy to do little. However I don't understand the extra effort that often has to be put in to make something ugly. Are these people blind?
 
There is this fear of the perfectly legitimate blank wall, which is definitely superior to the hodge podge they choose instead. I'm with y'all: why? Whyyyyy?
 
AntonK said:
It’s both cost and design choices. I’m noticing that so many of our 6 storey wood frame buildings are crap, in particular so much cheap paneling. Calgary gets those also, but not as much, and Vancouver never gets that kind of stuff.
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Most wood frame builds in Calgary and Edmonton aren’t much different. In general builds in Calgary will splurge a bit more for brick than in Edmonton, but for the most part they are similar.
AntonK said:
Aside from material costs, it’s also the types of buildings. Calgarys downtown builds are almost all concrete highrises. Vancouver’s the same but with better materials. You never see buildings like this proposed in those downtowns.
It’s gotta be because people paying paying more expect more.
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Yes this is true. Higher sales or rental prices have an effect on concrete builds. Someone in this thread previously said that construction costs in Calgary were higher than Edmonton, but for concrete there’s no real difference, but there’s a substantial difference in sale or rental prices.
Edmonton units fetch lower prices and concrete builds in Edmonton these days aren’t pencilling out. Calgary developers are still able to work the numbers and that’s why there’s a lot more of it..
 
Jhawk said:
Most wood frame builds in Calgary and Edmonton aren’t much different. In general builds in Calgary will splurge a bit more for brick than in Edmonton, but for the most part they are similar.

Yes this is true. Higher sales or rental prices have an effect on concrete builds. Someone in this thread previously said that construction costs in Calgary were higher than Edmonton, but for concrete there’s no real difference, but there’s a substantial difference in sale or rental prices.
Edmonton units fetch lower prices and concrete builds in Edmonton these days aren’t pencilling out. Calgary developers are still able to work the numbers and that’s why there’s a lot more of it..
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To be fair both Vancouver and Calgary are arguably better ran cities in general. Edmonton goes from one 4 year term of mismanagement to the next, this also contributes to the race to the bottom for architecture and infrastructure.
 
One thing I forgot to mention with regards to concrete builds is for rental towers it’s partly about rent prices, but more importantly about what the developers think the building will be worth in 10 or 15 years. Higher rents and strong demand over a long term make the buildings worth more.
 
NicolBolas said:
To be fair both Vancouver and Calgary are arguably better ran cities in general. Edmonton goes from one 4 year term of mismanagement to the next, this also contributes to the race to the bottom for architecture and infrastructure.
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What social problems does Edmonton have these 2 cities don’t? Or better yet except for marketing what have they done better?

No one looks down on Edmonton quite like people who live here. You’ve got folks in St. Albert and Fort Saskatchewan who wear it like a badge of honour that they never have to go downtown or even into the city. Then there are others who complain that Edmonton is boring, yet never show up to any festivals/ events. At the end of the day, this is a marketing problem. Edmonton doesn’t have issues that other cities don’t also have.
 
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Guilty as charged on recent negativity, but I also do love this city and have come back here over and over again from other places I've lived. It's home. And it does have a lot going for it.
Re: @HelpEd 's comment, I have met many people who said there's nothing happening in Edmonton whereas I found that there was way more happening than I had time or energy for, in terms of events, festivals, smaller concerts. When they said nothing is happening, they usually meant that not enough BIG NAME BANDS showed up and if it wasn't in the Journal or Sun, they didn't know about it and didn't care.
I do think we have so much good here. It's frustrating when our own low expectations keep tripping us up and we could do/be so much more.

At this point, if we move it won't be because of the city. It'll be because of the Alberta government, and that fact pisses me off to no end.
 
ADob said:
Guilty as charged on recent negativity,
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I was not thinking of you at all in terms of "Ed-Neg". Your comments are always well balanced and thoughtful and a pleasure to read. We certainly don't want to lose you to "the other" -- I believe the current Alberta Gov. is going to die on its own sword -- the waiting game is nearly over... hang in there.
 
HelpEd said:
What social problems does Edmonton have these 2 cities don’t? Or better yet except for marketing what have they done better?

No one looks down on Edmonton quite like people who live here. You’ve got folks in St. Albert and Fort Saskatchewan who wear it like a badge of honour that they never have to go downtown or even into the city. Then there are others who complain that Edmonton is boring, yet never show up to any festivals/ events. At the end of the day, this is a marketing problem. Edmonton doesn’t have issues that other cities don’t also have.
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Some of the problems are more obvious and visible here with Edmonton having several prisons and being the dumping ground for many of Alberta's social problems, like other western Canadian cities that serve the northern parts of their provinces. Unlike us, Vancouver in particular excels at having nice vertical gated communities downtown and keeping many of the poor in one small ghetto area that they try hard to keep visitors away from.

However even the most self absorbed central Canadian actually knows of Edmonton and has some idea where we are, although they may think we are the size of Regina. They probably have no clue about our sometime smug suburban areas.
 
archited said:
^ Well put... and to add there are people on this very site who regularly disparage the City. That fact baffles me -- why waste your time here if every place "not Edmonton" is better than?
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It's okay to want better for the city you live in, then accept the let's be honest with ourselves shitty status quo that we have now. I'm focused on the new buildings going up in Edmonton, most of them are budget architecture at best and will serve only to ghettoize more areas in the city in 5 to 10 years down the road, there is of course some exceptions to that, but they are the exception.

The city needs at the very least a minimum architectural design standard so we don't have garbage proposals like Massey Ferguson.
 
I think you can love your city and celebrate its strengths while also wanting it to improve. And I think there's a difference between (most of us on here) bitching about the poorly-designed, ugly-as-shit buildings that are popping up all over the map and just bitching about how shitty our city is. So I agree, we need to demand better!
 
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