Devonian Gardens - almost ready to reopen

[nik-]

That group of pictures made me sad. Bland and sterile is right.

[Regorium]

REALLY!?

It's so bad compared to the old devonian gardens. Are there more lush areas? I mean, this is basically a normal extension of the mall. I think it's the bland and cookie-cutter flooring.

[Mr.Coffee]

I've now scrolled through the pictures, and after cleaning the blood from my eyes, have to say that all we can hope for at this point is that the designer has switched careers.

That just might be the most mismanaged redesign in North American history. Unless the price of palm trees inflated 1,000% in the last year, I have no clue how you reach $37MM for a project of this "scale".

Really, this masterpiece, and by masterpiece I mean unadulterated failure, is no more than a few greeny plants (ugly ones) surrounded by an ocean of grey / black tile. It's almost like they held a competition to design the worst possible Devonian Gardens, or awarded the contract exclusively to a city hall family member's sideshow business.

I'm not sure it was easy to take what was once a pretty cool little area and transform it into a tasteless, boring atrocity that will never again match the original let alone better it- but somehow they've managed to do it. Mission accomplished I guess, and a shining example of just why you sometimes need to leave #### alone.

Grade: F-

[Joborule]

I understand that they needed to do it differently because of the skylight and middle portion being a hole, but I think they could've made it had much more of a garden feel still. It just looks like a glorified mall hallway.

Disappointing. I have no idea how this cost more than the Peace Bridge.

[MrMastodonFarm]

I'd take pictures of it but I don't want people to think I enjoy the look of the thing.

The total lack of benches and sitting areas ruins the whole point of the thing.

I remember back in 2002 when I first moved to Calgary and totally stumbling upon the Gardens randomly walking through buildings exploring downtown Calgary before the school year started. I think I truly feel in love with the city at that point. I don't want to go all Hack&Lube here but the fact that moment might not happens for others saddens me.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Joborule

I understand that they needed to do it differently because of the skylight and middle portion being a hole, but I think they could've made it had much more of a garden feel still. It just looks like a glorified mall hallway.

Disappointing. I have no idea how this cost more than the Peace Bridge.

It doesn't just cost more it is 50% more.

Just think about that for a second.

$37 million.

INcredible.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Outrage!!!

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by nik-

That group of pictures made me sad. Bland and sterile is right.

Fwiw I don't think it's as bad in person as the pictures show. It's not outstanding, I agree there should be more benches and areas to easily gather, but it's much better than the pics show.

[Hack&Lube]

The old Garden was also filled with interesting pieces of art. There's absolutely nothing in the new gardens to give it any character. It's as if all those people who dream up the fountain/plant arrangements in the middle of sterile and boring shopping malls got together and had an orgy.

[Hack&Lube]

I'm the saddest about the West side of the Gardens. The East side doesn't exist anymore because it was ripped up for The Core but you can tell exactly where the West pond/rink used to be. This is practically the same vantage point.

Goodbye most beautiful indoor pond in the world...


Hello stupidest waste of space and tax dollars ever. Yes they boarded up the open-air mesh skylight with corrugated steel!

[MrMastodonFarm]

Those are some sad looking table and chairs.

What kind of pull does Calgarpuck have, can we get this thing fixed?

[ranchlandsselling]

It looks like a foodcourt

[Flames_Gimp]

37million... wow

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

I'll reserve final judgement until I get a chance to see it in person, but those photos are terrible! The old gardens felt like an urban oasis. This just looks like tiled flooring with a few sections of plants, not much different than what you'd expect to see in a shopping mall.

It's such a shame if those photos are an accurate representation of the finished product.

Unfortunately, they're pretty representative, imo.

[Hack&Lube]

The old Gardens understood that to create something that felt natural and alive in a limited space, it was neccessary to combine different opposing elements and varying levels of elevation. There were ramps, there were hills, there were waterfalls, there were log walls, there were stairs, there were stones, there were bricks, there were planks, there were birds (yes!) and turtles along with the fish. The new gardens is just a big flat piece of desolate mall-tiled real-estate with as much character and elevation as a Sears parking lot.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by AMG_G

Off topic..that's why RIM is where it's at...how many people have a 4 year old iPhone or any other smart phone? Every new BB is like the old BB so why bother upgrading at all.

In fairness, it's a company phone, and they don't feel the need to buy me a new phone when that one still works perfectly well for phone/email.

My wife is on her 3rd iPhone in that time due to various issues, so her's is newer and fancier, but mine still works after 4 years. Definitely a more durable product.

On the other hand, when the CEO is in the news saying "we're not in a death spiral" you're probably in a death spiral.

[SebC]

The new Devonian Garden(s) are not much different to the Jamieson Place winter garden.

[Mr.Coffee]

can you even really call this a garden?

tile budget arguably higher than greenery budget.

[4X4]

That's terrible. We used to down there from time to time back in the "high" school days. My memory may be a bit cloudy, but I remember lots of narrow paths with plants growing over from one level to the next. Wooden bridges and streams...

They should change the name. That's not Devonian Gardens. That's TD Square Atrium or something.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Calgary would stand a better city if not every old building was knocked down, not every pub become a super hip modern fully renovated super expensive restolounge, not every store be a "top of the line" pricey place, not every thing be super awesome state of the art, and things and places in general left alone and only slightly modified or updated.

Some of the new stuff / renovated stuff in the city blows for the purpose of pricey bricks and "sleek looks". Science centre- not enough exhibits. Devonian gardens, less garden, more boring & walky just to look contemporary. Calgary zoo- still ok, but let's take an exhibit that could have 20 animals, and make it cool looking and house 1 and do construction for 40 years).

Effin leave stuff alone / don't completely ruin it in the pursuit of looking contemporary.

I cannot agree more with this post. There's a reason why this city lacks character, it's because we tear any character down every generation to make things sexy again.