Friendmonton
Active Member
It continually frustrates me that this city's designers are so afraid of colour. A richer brown would have looked much better, not just another shade of grey from the district energy system.
- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
IanO
Superstar
Literally the first rule of our Winter City Design Guidelines is to use warm materials and colour, not grey or metal.
archited
Senior Member
This designer -- Architect is from Hong Kong.
kcantor
Senior Member
Don't forget that what we got - and which I have given an 8 out of 10 - isn't actually what Andrew designed for us. This is:
The Winspear Project | Andrew Bromberg Architects
Winspear Completion Project is the final phase of The Francis Winspear Centre for Music, which was opened in 1997. The current facility is home to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. It is located at the heart of the Arts district in downtown Edmonton.
www.andrewbromberg.com
For Edmonton (or anywhere else for that matter), this would have been a 12 out of 10. The location of the architect had little or nothing to do with the value engineering his design was subjected to after being selected (something Edmonton is way too experienced at and suffers greatly from). It's a credit to him that we got what we did get.
It's also worth noting that while the practice is based in Hong Kong, the firm has done some extremely high quality - and some outstanding precedent work for Winspear - all over the world.
Bromberg is from the US and received his Master’s degree in architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and University of Washington after completing his Bachler’s degree in Environmental Design from University of Colorado and Arizona State University a few years earlier (all of which are pretty close to your neck of the woods no?).
Out of Towner
Active Member
"Value engineering" is code for rug pull. The value engineered finished product is still better than most and a testament to the strength of the initial design.
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ChazYEG
Senior Member
The original project would've been absolutely glorious, but what we got is still one of the best looking buildings in the city.
archited
Senior Member
Ken, I am well familiar with Andrew Bromberg and have been in touch with him by email over the years. You are probably aware as well that he has done some substantial projects in Singapore (where we both have family). Certainly Winspear and their contractors have had a hand in "value engineering" the end-result product -- I believe mostly to do with landscape/hardscape choices. The original comment on SRC had to do with color palette choices which I believe have remained consistent with Andrew's choices from the get-go. The landscape flourish that he had originally envisioned would have made a significant difference to the final appearance -- but -- not too late to build that in in the future.
David A
Senior Member
Yes, this organization faced severe financial constraints and still managed to pull off something quite decent, which unfortunately can't be said about some other projects
NicolBolas
New Member
*Cough* The Library. *cough*
kcantor
Senior Member
Which is not at all apparent in the “This designer -- Architect is from Hong Kong” comment/post I was responding to that still reads more like an aspersion based on locale, not palette (which is different from the concept and likely also value driven).
archited
Senior Member
^ No aspersions, no negations, just factual data. I think Andrew has -- as I have noted numerous times on this site -- done an amazing design job for Edmonton's Winspear and I believe that as far as the main body of the building is concerned it is essentially "true" to his original vision. The courtyard area seems to be the part of the project that has been downsized (cost-wise) over time. I think Andrew is a brilliant Architect and his genesis from Sci-Arc was the perfect place for a "free-thinker" to have arisen from (would more architectural schools encourage art liberation, the results would bear more fruit in the minds of like-kin such as Andrew). I said that Andrew was from Hong-Kong only as reference to the comment that somehow the City or the PTB at Winspear were to "blame" for the monochromatic color scheme -- when in fact they were part and parcel of Andrew's original scheme. His color flourish was meant to be in the landscape which (unfortunately for now) has been deconstructed into oblivion as a cost-cutting exercise.
MattPT
Active Member
If they go ahead with the landscaping, would be nice to have year round green. I’m not sure which pine trees or bushes are suited to Edmontons climate, but if the landscaping ends up like the rendering, we’ll just be looking at a garden of sticks 6-7 months of the year
Gronk!
Senior Member
Edmcowboy11
Senior Member
Not to sound too pessimistic but I wonder if they will actually open up the sidewalk before winter? It looks promising but for some reason I'm having some doubts.
buildings
Active Member
^^ odd little set of stairs peeking up proud of the finished plaza elevation and going seemingly nowhere