[Downtown Victoria] Emaar project | 17- & 11-storeys | Canceled

[gumgum]

It reminds me of view towers too.
It's too wide.

[Mike K.]

With regards to the podium, she mentioned both have podiums that do little for street interaction, or something along those lines.

Originally Posted by gumgum

It reminds me of view towers too.
It's too wide.

Which incarnation? The 16-storey fastscraper, which is the old design, or the 20/10-storey incarnation which was presented today? The new design looks almost identical to what the 9-storey Shutters building would look like with a 10-storey tower rising from one side.

[aastra]

What a silly comment about street interaction. View Towers has blank walls and a parkade entrance. This Capitol 6 building will have places of business and windows and light and all of that. Right then and there it's 1000x better than View Towers.

Does the existing parking lot do much for street interaction? Why on earth are they so attached to these frickin' surface parking lots??

Just once I'd like to see her clarify exactly what she'd like to see happen on these empty properties. Has she liked anything that's come along in the past five years?

[Mike K.]

She was trying to compare View Towers' above-ground (I guess street level, or are there two levels?) parking as a detriment to the area (which it is by nature of its design) and how this proposal was essentially mimicking the same travesty.

Not so, of course, but like I said before it makes for a great soundbite.

[aastra]

Am I missing something? Are we saying the podium would just be a soulless parkade? I thought the parking was hidden inside, with commercial and/or residential space facing the streets.

[Holden West]

I'm confused. A podium is identical to the low-rise "horizontal highrise" Madoff is always talking about as an ideal.

[Mike K.]

I find much of what Councillor Madoff says confuses me. Don't feel bad

[gumgum]

Originally Posted by Derf

Which incarnation? The 16-storey fastscraper, which is the old design, or the 20/10-storey incarnation which was presented today? The new design looks almost identical to what the 9-storey Shutters building would look like with a 10-storey tower rising from one side.

Sorry. I was confused. I guess the lastest incarnation was post on the "800 block changes" thread.

[gumgum]

Confusion is the theme tonight it seems.

[aastra]

Come again?

[Scaper]

This is stupidity!!! First the Vancouver and View st project gets rejected..now this gets tabled...

Do these councilors actually feel happy when they go to bed know that another parking lot was saved from a possible 5.5 : 1 density Residential building, where more drug addicts can shoot up in the dark behind the Capital six? This is the perfect spot for a twenty story tower. Everybody from the planning department I ever here speak always talks about the future of this neighbourhood as being a very densely populated area of town. Then a 5.5 : 1 project gets proposed and it's too dense!!! Man I miss Dennis Carlson!!! We have such visionless planners. Two View Street projects get trashed one after the other. I mean View street and Yates street are so Vibrant and so attractive. Thank god that this viable project didn't get the CotWs approval....maybe the developers could come back with something less bold...something like the Mozart that was approved on Yates St. ...Oh yeah...it was financially viable!!! So we have another dump on Yates Street still too!!!!

Open your eyes council and planners!!! Your running our city with blind folds on.

Councilors and planners leaving the CotW meeting today!!!

[zingzamzoom]

Does anyone have a picture of the new rendering of this propsal with the 10 and 20 story wings?

[Dylan Leblanc]

I doubt the planning department or councillor Madoff could design something better which attains the same density.

The design isn't View Towers, it's Orchard House with it's top cut off and placed down beside it, and a pleasant wave across the facade. Also, a three floor podium abutting the sidewalk is quite acceptable in an urban setting.

[Scaper]

WOW!!! That would be a beautiful addition to downtown!!!

Seeing this model even makes me more angry!!!

[Scaper]

I wish this was replacing the Capitol Six building!!!

Grrrr!!!!

[m0nkyman]

Here's some pictures of the area for context:
The view from the church steps-
[url=http://aptenobytes.typepad.com/m0nkymans_photo_blog/images/DSC00028-2.JPG:0e347][/url:0e347]
[url=http://aptenobytes.typepad.com/m0nkymans_photo_blog/images/DSC00030-2.JPG:0e347][/url:0e347]
The three towers to the east of the site
[url=http://aptenobytes.typepad.com/m0nkymans_photo_blog/images/DSC00031-1.JPG:0e347][/url:0e347]
The actual site
[url=http://aptenobytes.typepad.com/m0nkymans_photo_blog/images/DSC00032-1.JPG:0e347][/url:0e347]
The application site
[url=http://aptenobytes.typepad.com/m0nkymans_photo_blog/images/DSC00036-1.JPG:0e347][/url:0e347]

[Ms. B. Havin]

My two-cents: I don't know what the "real" building would actually look like, but I think the model for 819 Yates is unimpressive. I don't know but that I don't disagree with C.Madoff on this -- it's the podium. The model makes it look open and airy, but fill it in: take a close look. What would it look like? A huge slab at street level, and 2 storeys above it a patio-esque space that's completely undefined. What, exactly, is this supposed to contribute to the streetscape?

I think it's ugly.

The towers, the wavy bits: I don't have a problem with those, except that the model really leaves it all vague as to what it's actually going to look like.(*) But even with a vague model like this, I don't mind saying that the podium is crap.

(*) Re. finished product: I really have a problem envisioning what the balconies will look like, based on the information the model provides. Are they going to look like The Wave's? I sure hope not. Those balconies jut out, plus they're transparent, which I happen to think is a really unfortunate combination. If people start cluttering them up with bicycles and other junk (the way View Towers' balconies are), it's not going to be a pretty picture. Also, if we're going to have these flat-top roofs, why not plant something on them? They're not exactly inspiring focal points if they just make the buildings look chopped off at some arbitrary point. (Note: this is not a plea for a peaked roof approach -- my least favourite highrise in town is the Manhattan, which pretends to have a fake little verdigris-roofed housey-wousy on top. Ditto that silly thing on Bear Mtn, with its chalet-in-the-sky look. Bah.)

As for parking as an amenity: there was a story the other day on Seattle's KPLU (NPR), [url=http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1008816:24 ca7]No Parking[/url:24ca7], by Paula Wissel, about Seattle City Council's upcoming deliberations on taking away the parking requirements for new developments:

SEATTLE, WA (2006-12-eight) Finding a parking spot in your neighborhood could get a little tougher. The Seattle City Council is set to vote Monday on a proposal that would reduce the number of parking space some condo developers and business owners will have to provide. KPLU's Paula Wissel explains.

There's a 1:06-long MP3 clip of the story on that page. The clip points out that yeah, everybody loves their cars and parking etc., and that even if Seattle tells developers that they don't have to provide as much parking any more, many will doubtlessly do it anyway because people want it. There's also a bit about how Seattle City Council will ask developers to provide more greenery on and around buildings in a bid to make the streets more attractive for walking.

[G-Man]

If the podium was filled in with residences I think it would look just fine. Podiums are great if they are filled with housing or commercial area. Parking is another matter.

There was a great drawing of this building in the paper today.

[aastra]

Scan it!!!!

[G-Man]

Sorry no scanner and the copy I saw was at Mayfair Mall.

[gumgum]

I'm on it...

[gumgum]

I give FULL credit to the Times Colonist for the source of this rendering:

[aastra]

Geez, you're speedy.

[Mike K.]

Neato! Thanks.

Say, where's the credit for the image in that caption?

Oh, I see, it's Thrifty Foods :lol:

[aastra]

"Higher and higher projects" my butt. If they keep getting higher and higher, how come we've still only got ONE proposal that dares to go higher than the city's longstanding tallest?

There's a lot to like about this one but it's too wide. Councillor Madoff would have been right if she had likened it to View Towers in this regard.

But NOBODY in this town ever worries about the width of these buildings. Massive is fine. It's crazy.