Flames to announce plans to announce arena plans in the... future...

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Muta

From what I know, there are three schemes currently being considered. Atleast one is a large, multi-use / major redevelopment of a completely new area. All three being considered are downtown in some way, shape or form. Columbus' Nationwide Arena and its surrounding development is a benchmark being analyzed.

What I can say is that Calgary is going to get something pretty damn cool, you can count on that.

Have you seen the designs? ... and if so can you relieve the Stampitechture worries?

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Make it acoustically pleasing for concerts and modern, but not overly costly/fancy, and use it for all of our sports/concerts that are brutal to watch in a caverness 20k seat arena.

Originally Posted by frinkprof

A few years ago, there was a proposal for just such a venue. 8000 seats accompanied by a hotel and other amenities, to anchor an Anderson Station TOD.

http://www.canada.com/story_print.ht...72170&sponsor=

Oh, and cavernous*.

No, he spelled it correctly. He's refering to a specific type of cave...one in Scotland.

[Resolute 14]

When you get right down to it, the only 'Stampitechture' in either the Corral or the Saddledome is the name. The "fears" are rather ridiculous, imo.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Yeah, unfortunately this city just doesn't have any way to justify having two 18-20k seat arenas, especially when one of them is outdated and costs a lot of money to operate.

If anything, what this city needs badly (after a new arena for the Flames) is a multi-pupose, smaller arena. I've been wanting this for years, and it would serve a great purpose.

Make it acoustically pleasing for concerts and modern, but not overly costly/fancy, and use it for all of our sports/concerts that are brutal to watch in a caverness 20k seat arena.

I'm so tired of concerts in the Dome with 5-6k fans filling up less than half the arena, making for a brutal atmosphere, or playing in the Corral that has to have some of the worst concert acoustics in North America.

There's so many bands that come through town that are too big for Mac Hall/Jubilee, but way too small for the Dome.

The Corral is perfect for this. But given their other expansion plans, I am not sure if the Stampede has the capability of basically gutting and renovating the facility the way Ricoh was done in Toronto.

[EYE_Overstand]

haven't they mentioned that they are looking to build something close to the arena in Columbus and Minnesota ?

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

When you get right down to it, the only 'Stampitecture' in either the Corral or the Saddledome is the name. The "fears" are rather ridiculous, imo.

It's not the Corral nor the Saddledome that are the origin of the term "Stampitecture." Actually, it is just about every building that has been built on the Stampede grounds or in the surrounding few blocks in the last decade or so that has. Another non-Calgary-specific term that has been brought up is "faux historicism."

Examples include the BMO Centre,

Spoiler!

The podium of Arriva

Spoiler!

The Keynote podium

Spoiler!

The Nuera podium

Spoiler!

The signature "Stampitecture" features include orangey-red brick, sandstone trim and cornices. The original thinking (on the part of both the Stampede Board and a certain era of Calgary's planning department, in not-all-that-separate lines of thinking) was to pay homage and highlight the mostly-Edwardian style of architecture that was prevalent in the "Warehouse District" (adjacent to Stampede grounds) when most of it was built and can be found today in the few remaining historical buildings from this era.

The problem with this is that unless the stars align to produce a perfect example of the historical architectural style (no matter what the style is), it usually comes off as fake or phoney, which it is. It's an incredibly hard thing to do to replicate something and have it come off as authentic.

The second major problem is that in creating all these homages, it actually creates a disservice to the remaining, authentic examples that have survived. They don't stand out anymore, and if anything they just blend in. One of the best ways to highlight historical buildings through nearby redevelopment is to build something modern that contrasts with the style of the historical building. Then both buildings stand out.

Here is a 2007 article from Canadian Architect that speaks specifically to the faux-historicism wave which was very prevalent at the time in Calgary.

http://www.canadianarchitect.com/new...ew/1000217108/

This post below by Roughneck describes "Stampitecture" pretty well.

Originally Posted by Roughneck

I was always under the impression that the land deal was already in place: two blocks north of the 'Dome, the Stampede takes the 'Dome land back?

And I was also under the impression that the West Village was a no-go because the cost of excavation is too high because of the contaminated soil that has to get trucked far away.


Wherever it may be hopefully it is something cool. I'm generally against Stempede-ish things, but to put an old twist on a modern arena, use that Nationwide brick design or something similar and replace the brick with sandstone. Brings us back to Calgary's early days and would definitely be unique. Though I don't really know if sandstone is cheap, practical or even available in the quantities to be effective for such a project but I think it'd be a cool look.

I dearly hope that the Flames organization does not follow this trend.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by EYE_Overstand

haven't they mentioned that they are looking to build something close to the arena in Columbus and Minnesota ?

Way to read the thread pal

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

It's not the Corral nor the Saddledome that are the origin of the term "Stampitecture." Actually, it is just about every building that has been built on the Stampede grounds or in the surrounding few blocks in the last decade or so that has. Another non-Calgary-specific term that has been brought up is "faux historicism."

Examples include the BMO Centre,

Spoiler!

The podium of Arriva

Spoiler!

The Keynote podium

Spoiler!

The Nuera podium

Spoiler!

The signature "Stampitecture" features include orangey-red brick, sandstone trim and cornices. The original thinking (on the part of both the Stampede Board and a certain era of Calgary's planning department, in not-all-that-separate lines of thinking) was to pay homage and highlight the mostly-Edwardian style of architecture that was prevalent in the "Warehouse District" (adjacent to Stampede grounds) when most of it was built and can be found today in the few remaining historical buildings from this era.

The problem with this is that unless the stars align to produce a perfect example of the historical architectural style (no matter what the style is), it usually comes off as fake or phoney, which it is. It's an incredibly hard thing to do to replicate something and have it come off as authentic.

The second major problem is that in creating all these homages, it actually creates a disservice to the remaining, authentic examples that have survived. They don't stand out anymore, and if anything they just blend in. One of the best ways to highlight historical buildings through nearby redevelopment is to build something modern that contrasts with the style of the historical building. Then both buildings stand out.

Here is a 2007 article from Canadian Architect that speaks specifically to the faux-historicism wave which was very prevalent at the time in Calgary.

http://www.canadianarchitect.com/new...ew/1000217108/

This post below by Roughneck describes "Stampitecture" pretty well.

I dearly hope that the Flames organization does not follow this trend.

Personally I like all of those buildings. Brick, awesome! Sandstone, awesome!

[dammage79]

Maybe the plan is for a saddledome V2.0 and it will be all shiney and big like Xcel Energy center.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Bring in Libeskind or Hadid and let them to nuts.

New building / architecture is where cities distinguish themselves.

[FlamesAddiction]

I actually really like the saddle design. Not because Calgary's western heritage, but because it's a least different than most of the "big box" style arenas going up these days.

Calgary is one of the most recognizable cities in Canada due to the skyline, which includes the Saddledome. Maybe something like that is trivial in big picture, I don't know.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

This post below by Roughneck describes "Stampitecture" pretty well.

I dearly hope that the Flames organization does not follow this trend.

If they're going to go with a Nationwide or Xcel design (which is two pretty distinct directions) I'd rather see sandstone than the tired brick (not only around the city, . Most of the Stampitecture around the city doesn't have the City Hall sandstone look, but the 'brick warehouse' look that you mentioned.

[GGG]

I really hope that they keep it on the stampede grounds as losing the stampede concerts would hurt my enjoyment of stampede. Having to go off the grounds to go to these concerts would change the experience and likely hurt stampede attendance.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by GGG

I really hope that they keep it on the stampede grounds as losing the stampede concerts would hurt my enjoyment of stampede. Having to go off the grounds to go to these concerts would change the experience and likely hurt stampede attendance.

I don't see the downside.

[Nehkara]

As far as I remember from the Season Ticket Holder/Hot House meetings, the Stampede grounds are not a possibility.

The last I heard, as others have mentioned, the plan it use this location:



Some of the reasons for this being that is supposedly along the future SE LRT line and they could use the existing parking lots.

Like many other people here, I also heard KK say they were looking to Nationwide Arena and Xcel Energy Center for their plans.

I'm excited to see the announcement, I will be thrilled to watch the Flames in a new arena, and I will be very sad the last time I walk out of the Saddledome.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Yeah, unfortunately this city just doesn't have any way to justify having two 18-20k seat arenas, especially when one of them is outdated and costs a lot of money to operate.

If anything, what this city needs badly (after a new arena for the Flames) is a multi-pupose, smaller arena. I've been wanting this for years, and it would serve a great purpose.

Make it acoustically pleasing for concerts and modern, but not overly costly/fancy, and use it for all of our sports/concerts that are brutal to watch in a caverness 20k seat arena.

I'm so tired of concerts in the Dome with 5-6k fans filling up less than half the arena, making for a brutal atmosphere, or playing in the Corral that has to have some of the worst concert acoustics in North America.

There's so many bands that come through town that are too big for Mac Hall/Jubilee, but way too small for the Dome.

The new arena will likely have many different configurations available for smaller concerts and stage shows. Most of the new arenas that have been built since the mid-90s have that capability.

Here's the Bell Centre's different configurations: http://www.centrebell.ca/en/page/venue_specifications

It can handle everything from 2,000 seat intimate shows to 20,000 seat concerts.

I read an article a few years ago about the profitability of the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, and it said the key to its success was the ability to host those 3-5000 seat shows. They don't bring in the same size crowds, but there's a lot more tours in that range than there are of the big arena tours.



As for the design, I've thought an homage of sorts to the old #1 Fire Hall would be an interesting look: http://maps.google.ca/?ll=51.047477,...308.09,,0,2.99

I like the arched doorways and the big sandstone keystones. They could also have a big bell tower out front.

[Bunk]

^ The firehall is a great building and it was of its time - let's preserve and celebrate these buildings. But, how about we build buildings now that are of our time - and try and create the heritage buildings of the future that people will celebrate 100 years from now.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by getbak

The new arena will likely have many different configurations available for smaller concerts and stage shows. Most of the new arenas that have been built since the mid-90s have that capability.

Here's the Bell Centre's different configurations: http://www.centrebell.ca/en/page/venue_specifications

It can handle everything from 2,000 seat intimate shows to 20,000 seat concerts.

I read an article a few years ago about the profitability of the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, and it said the key to its success was the ability to host those 3-5000 seat shows. They don't bring in the same size crowds, but there's a lot more tours in that range than there are of the big arena tours.



As for the design, I've thought an homage of sorts to the old #1 Fire Hall would be an interesting look: http://maps.google.ca/?ll=51.047477,...308.09,,0,2.99

I like the arched doorways and the big sandstone keystones. They could also have a big bell tower out front.

Which will invariably cheapen the value of both the new building and that which it is replicating - in whole or part.

[nik-]

I always liked Allianz Arena in Munich. While the outside is a little bland, I like the fact the they can light up the white exterior in team colours on game night.

[csnarpy]

The one thing I'm curious about is the timeline. KK has always guaranteed that the Flames new rink would open/be finished before the guys up North.