Ugly Canada 2 (Only architecture, planning and design faux pas)

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Dude, Ontario was "snout house" prominent garage central with everything built in the GTA in the 90s. These are from Ajax. I picked it because I recall the Toronto Star ads boasting of all the new subdivisions. Mattamy 35, 40 foot lots. Act now!

That's very true, but 90s suburbia in Calgary looks like this: https://goo.gl/maps/qsK6VNz8QAnDKkgSA
https://goo.gl/maps/tP21EmhpJ2fhV7aL9

Maybe it's just the vinyl siding or the fact it reminds me of the places I spent a lot of time in during High School but I think it's worse.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by niwell

That's very true, but 90s suburbia in Calgary looks like this: https://goo.gl/maps/qsK6VNz8QAnDKkgSA
https://goo.gl/maps/tP21EmhpJ2fhV7aL9

Maybe it's just the vinyl siding or the fact it reminds me of the places I spent a lot of time in during High School but I think it's worse.

Vinyl always looks worse than brick, even if it's just thin brick veneer. Brick looks solid and more expensive, vinyl always has cheap, "disposable architecture" look even if it now comprises a large amount of residential building stock in North America.

[ssiguy]

Vinyl siding always look cheap but even worse is that it shows it's age very quickly. Ditto for stucco. You can see every piece of dirt accumulated over the years and they can look really gross, really fast. This is quite unlike brick or stone, the older they get the better they look.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Vinyl siding always look cheap but even worse is that it shows it's age very quickly. Ditto for stucco. You can see every piece of dirt accumulated over the years and they can look really gross, really fast. This is quite unlike brick or stone, the older they get the better they look.

There's definitely different grades of vinyl and installers who do good or terrible work. I've seen vinyl that's decades old and gets powerwashed that looks decent, and new builds (*cough cough* Empire Communities) where it's warping 6 months after the house is built!

EIFS or synthetic stucco looks even worse! and gets damaged easily

Fiber cement siding aka Hardie Board seems like a great but more expensive alternative.

[SignalHillHiker]

For me, I hate Dutch lap vinyl but don’t mind the traditional stuff that mirrors clapboard. Clapboard I love, obviously, though I understand it’s not enjoyed elsewhere haha.

[ConundrumNL]

Originally Posted by Wigs

There's definitely different grades of vinyl and installers who do good or terrible work. I've seen vinyl that's decades old and gets powerwashed that looks decent, and new builds (*cough cough* Empire Communities) where it's warping 6 months after the house is built!

EIFS or synthetic stucco looks even worse! and gets damaged easily

Fiber cement siding aka Hardie Board seems like a great but more expensive alternative.

My preference is clapboard, but good quality well installed vinyl can look good.

My houses pervious owners installed white siding over the original clapboard in the 80s. I thought about going back to the clapboard, but I might get the siding painted instead. I've seen some really nice paint jobs, and the siding is still in good shape.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Vinyl always looks worse than brick, even if it's just thin brick veneer. Brick looks solid and more expensive, vinyl always has cheap, "disposable architecture" look even if it now comprises a large amount of residential building stock in North America.

It's subjective, but there are better reasons than just aesthetics to use natural materials. Vinyl siding is just a completely fabricated material meant to mimic clapboard (actual clapboard is made in long strips, because it comes from actual trees), or other similar wood sidings; it has a limited lifespan and cannot be repaired once it warps or cracks. I think it's accepted that not only is this vinyl material bad for the environment, but that buildings clad in it will go up in smoke more quickly than those with natural materials, and will give off harmful fumes.

PVC contains chlorine, a hazardous chemical. But it also employs other chemicals to create the type of final product needed by manufacturers. For example, plasticizers -- like phthalates -- may be added to PVC to create a flexible plastic. PVC products that are meant to be rigid, like vinyl siding, may have lead added to them as a stabilizer.

Because not all of the stabilizer added to PVC actually bonds with the other molecules, some researchers think that lead can reach the exterior of the surface of the PVC. And lead has been shown to cause brain damage, learning disabilities, high blood pressure and even miscarriages. . . .

So far, the most studied danger of vinyl siding comes when it is burned, as in a house fire. As PVC burns, the chlorine in the material escapes, creating an acid smoke that contains hydrogen chloride. When hydrogen chloride enters the lungs, it becomes hydrochloric acid, an extremely caustic acid that can result in internal chemical burns in a person who inhales it. This acid smoke is so potent that it can kill a person inside a house fire before the flames or carbon monoxide does [source: Montreal Home Inspection].

https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-...ing-lethal.htm

We all have plastics inside us now, plastics are slowly killing humanity.

[Dwils01]

This one hurts. The old CTV building in my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie to be renovated for a film studio.



Source: https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/...ilding-7096551

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Dwils01

This one hurts. The old CTV building in my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie to be renovated for a film studio.



Source: https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/...ilding-7096551

Couldn't have expanded in the parking lot. No, they had to massacre the beautiful old façade and add a weird top-heavy third floor

[O-tacular]

Look out Clockzilla! A new Seniors Housing complex is looking to challenge Eddy Savoie's clock faced nightmare.

Originally Posted by Dwils01

Sault’s Legion Branch 25 to build veteran housing project with 107 units.
Will be the 10th tallest building in the city when completed.
The red beacon on top is a replica of the memorial beacon from the old Sault Memorial Gardens.





Source: https://www.sootoday.com/local-news/...photos-4498909

[Wigs]

Every time a senior passes they light up the goal on top so Sault residents know there's a vacancy and the owners can charge the new tenant resident more money

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Every time a senior passes they light up the goal on top so Sault residents know there's a vacancy and the owners can charge the new tenant resident more money

[Gresto]

Zounds, that ambulance light on top is an abomination. It vaguely calls to mind the old Hercules cartoon, in which whatever beast or baddie he was fighting would dutifully take a cigarette break while Herc went through the laborious motions of putting on his ring and invoking the power of Mt. Olympus.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Every time a senior passes they light up the goal on top so Sault residents know there's a vacancy and the owners can charge the new tenant resident more money

It looks like the "jewel" of one of those candy rings they used to sell at convenience stores.



Maybe an identical one can be lowered by helicopter to touch it for special occasions, or when "powers" need to activate! "Shape of... memorial beacon. Form of... withering away"

• Video Link

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Every time a senior passes they light up the goal on top so Sault residents know there's a vacancy and the owners can charge the new tenant resident more money

Yes! They aim to outperform Les Residences Soleil for efficiency it seems.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

It looks like the "jewel" of one of those candy rings they used to sell at convenience stores.

Yes it looks like a ring pop beacon

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Every time a senior passes they light up the goal on top so Sault residents know there's a vacancy and the owners can charge the new tenant resident more money

Pound for pound, Northern Ontario must have the tackiest attempts at building anything in this country, bar none. It's boggles the mind that they put an Architecture School in Sudbury. They want to inflict this on the world?

The Big Nickel at least kind of has a kitsch factor, but there must be some correlation between towns that build 'World's Largest X' and the atrocities inflicted on otherwise mundane buildings.

[megadude]

This house in Etobicoke would have been fine if not for the left side. And no, the bricked over windows were not temporary. They are by design and still look like that.





open 24 hours near me


Also in Etobicoke – I want to know how these two cars ended up beside each other. And funny how the House and Laguna looked like they were getting the same treatment.

No front view on google after this. Have to settle for the side view.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by thewave46

Pound for pound, Northern Ontario must have the tackiest attempts at building anything in this country, bar none. It's boggles the mind that they put an Architecture School in Sudbury. They want to inflict this on the world?

The Big Nickel at least kind of has a kitsch factor, but there must be some correlation between towns that build 'World's Largest X' and the atrocities inflicted on otherwise mundane buildings.

[WhipperSnapper]

wood siding requires too much maintenance. There's a bunch of manufactured composite materials that require very little maintenance and can be indistinguishable from the real thing. Stucco requires an equal amount of maintenance and I mean the real thing not EIFS or DEFS that look acrylic (plastic)