Edmonton's 1st new office tower in many yrs - poll

[Atlguy33]

Well... um, this proposal looks OK to me I guess. I have seen worse. Maybe we can look at this building as just the beginning of an office space construction boom that will give us much better-looking buildings in years to come. Sorta the way TNP was at the beginning of the current residential building boom that is now starting to see better and better stuff.

Nice renderings and ideas Whyteknight!

*TWO WEEKS UNTIL I AM IN E-TOWN*

[whyteknight]

just so everyone understands, the corners are red metal cladding i belive.

[Xelebes]

It's a 5. A meh.

[HomeInMyShoes]

It kind of looks like Manulife got really drunk and had an illegitimate child with Legacy, except that it's hard to believe that Manulife could spawn anything that ugly.

It's a warehouse district. Where's the obvious references to turn-of-the-century steel and brick skyscrapers? Is red brick the only reference? And in like three hours whyteknight has already drastically improved the massing. Good show. Although, it's probably FAR driven, but that's just...eeech, I feel all dirty.

[Coldrsx]

sad to think we could have had a 30 storey art deco ish condo instead...

[ExcaliburKid]

As far as materials go, I heard brick and black granite for the podium, with grey metal cladding for the tower portion.
Definite meh, exactly what I was expecting. This will be completely butchered by the EDC, imo.

[CMD UW]

Originally Posted by ExcaliburKid

This will be completely butchered by the EDC, imo.

Yes, you may be right. This is a good test for us to critique prior to hitting the EDC assessment.

[ExcaliburKid]

Im expecting something like "We do not wish to see this development again in its current form"

[CMD UW]

Originally Posted by ExcaliburKid

Im expecting something like "We do not wish to see this development again in its current form"

No, it wont be like that. But I anticipate that they'll provide some good critiques and revisions.

[Jay in Cowtown]

Originally Posted by ctown.myth

That's just the thing - a city like Edmonton deserves to have a office tower that's five times better than that. It's that prospect that saddens me.

Exactly... this building should be proposed for Regina or Saskatoon, not Edmonton.

[0773|=\]

If the building lost some symmetry that it currently has, it'd be alright, even with the brick (if that's required as some people have said). It actually kind of strikes me as a reserved imitation of 225 South Sixth in Minneapolis (feel free to disagree).

Definitely could be taller, and if the planners are bent on that "building-inside-a-building" template, they can do better than a simple can in a box.

I'm only skimming the surface though...

[supai]

First office tower in Edmonton in 17 years!!! woohoo!

It is a poor cartoon drawing, who knows if the actual building will really look like this. I am sure it will turn out fine!

Looking forward to more to come

[Kevin_foster]

This is a prime lot. If we loose it to this, I will start building office towers with my two hands, and my hammer and saw.

[craner]

I think it's a pretty early stage rendering to be trashing this one altogether - although it's fun to critique. I agree with Jay that it looks like it would be at home in Regina. I don't think it's thaaaat bad, I give it a meh at this point. BTW is this the site that "Hampton's House" was going on ?

[Hardhatdan]

Originally Posted by craner

I think it's a pretty early stage rendering to be trashing this one altogether - although it's fun to critique. I agree with Jay that it looks like it would be at home in Regina. I don't think it's thaaaat bad, I give it a meh at this point. BTW is this the site that "Hampton's House" was going on ?

Yes. I would have preferred Hampton House at this stage. I thought it was a good start, which with refinement could have been a neat addition, atypical style for Edmonton, to the core.

[ibz]

yikes...considering what proposals for new office towers are floating around these days, this one is a POS. If this were say on 112th or something (ie Canterra) i wouldnt mind, what a fugly corner that will be.

[Strangelove]

The renderings look pretty unrefined to say the least, so hopefully that means the designs are at a similar stage. If not, it's time for EDC to bring out the knives and shred that podium to pieces.
I realize that the 104st/warehouse area dictates that the base must "fit in" with the neighbourhood, but it appears at this point that the use of red brick is the only real attempt at doing this. Honestly, I'm not partifcularily a fan of faux-historic podiums, as I think there are much better ways to address the context (appropriate massing, fenestration, setbacks, etc. but still maintain a contemporary look), but at least those on the icon towers look good. This one is just pathetic.
Henderson, Inglis and the rest of the crew at HIP are capable of so much more.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by Jay in Cowtown

Exactly... this building should be proposed for Regina or Saskatoon, not Edmonton.

Not like I'd wish this mini travesty on those cities, but yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I could see this going up in Kelowna as well.
Victoria and Halifax wouldn't touch this thing with rubber gloves on.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by Jay in Cowtown

Exactly... this building should be proposed for Regina or Saskatoon, not Edmonton.

Not like I'd wish this mini travesty on those cities, but yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I could see this going up in Kelowna as well.
Victoria and Halifax wouldn't touch this thing with rubber gloves on.

[vid]

It's the thought that counts.