Calgary skyline in 2010 sketches [real crazy]

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by Flames in 07

Le Germain is coming to Cgy?!?! Great, it's my favorite hotel chain in Canada.

Someone who is on the planning team of of the new large towers told me about Ritz Carlton ... just north of The Bay on 7th ave.

hmm, would that be the site of the Bow Valley Parkade. Do you know the site specifically? Is the planning team at the City of Calgary, or the project planning team? This is a very interesting rumour.

Yes, it is exciting to see Le Germain come to calgary. A sign of the City's maturation.

[Flames in 07]

west of the parking lot I believe. I heard where the Cgy Herald building used to be, if that makes any sense.

[Hemi-Cuda]

thought i'd dig up this thread to show a new picture by the same guy who did those other ones. link to the original post will have to do as the picture is panoramic and would probably break these forums

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...7&postcount=48

[cheung31]

Wow! That is simply amazing!!

What's the building behind the Scotiabank one? The Encana building is brilliant.

[Winsor_Pilates]

What is the series of 3 buildings you see imediately? beside the keynote condos

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

What is the series of 3 buildings you see imediately? beside the keynote condos

Thats the old CO-OP grocery land. It will be a condo/hotel complex called 'The Exchange'

http://www.vcrossing.com/business_in..._rendering.pdf

http://www.vcrossing.com/whats_happe...df/giffels.pdf

[Hack&Lube]

The only buildings for sure are Encana and the one on top of Penny Lane. The rest are kinda out there.

But man, so many towers...that do nothing for the rest of us common folk. How about some of that money go into tearing down the Stampede ground and build a reasonable metropolitan type entertainment district like this city needs so much, plus a good world class park, etc. instead of having it rust and brown like a 60s leftover empty space for most parts of the year.

[alltherage]

The Encana Tower looks friggin wicked!!!

[mrdeeds]

That's nothing compared to West Edmonton Mall!!!

[corporatejay]

There's a new buiilding going next to canterra and then a new one going behind BP those will also be money.

i'm pretty sure those are the ones to the left of the petro-can building.

[tripin_billie]

Theone thing I notice is that alothough the city is getting towers, it still lacks the miles of "city" and not "suburbs" that a city like Chicago has. That is one thing that I wish Calgary could have.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

Theone thing I notice is that alothough the city is getting towers, it still lacks the miles of "city" and not "suburbs" that a city like Chicago has. That is one thing that I wish Calgary could have.

I was at an interesting forum last night put on by Sustainable Calgary, and one of the topics was that of "smart growth".

One presentation examined what could have been done with the Symons Valley development (i.e. Kincora, Country Hills, etc) if it were developed using some basic smart growth principles and the results were interesting.

Currently, the area is able to sustain a population of roughly 50,000 with a density of about 2 - 3 units/acre (IIRC), and the smart growth design had it sustaining nearly 200,000 people with a density more around 8 units/acre. The design also proposed capturing methane gas from the nearby landfill to help generate power for the area.

Comparing that to surrounding communities, it took nearly 5 times the amount of space that is in the Symons Valley region to yield a population of 200,000 (by grabbing such communities as Brentwood, Varsity, etc).

The extrapolated this further and said that if the entire city of Calgary had developed with the fairly modest density rates of what was proposed in the smart growth design of Symons Valley (and what was proposed by early urban planners for Calgary) - the entire city of Calgary as it is today would barely extend beyond the outside edge of the downtown core! The picture was absolutely shocking to look at compared to the reality of today.

I am going to see if I can find copies of the presentation so you all can see it, it was shocking.

[Cowboy89]

Problem is there's no will for that kind of density in a prairie city like Calgary. Everyone wants their big home in suburbia.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Problem is there's no will for that kind of density in a prairie city like Calgary. Everyone wants their big home in suburbia.

Pretty much. Its not so much that they want to be deep in the suburbs, but the demand in Calgary is for living space, something that high density housing just doesn't provide... most people want a big home, and the places that provide that best are in "suburbia". The trick for Calgary is to figure out how to give people their 2000+sq.ft. home, all while doing so in an efficient and environmentally conscious way. The future is in building up, and out, in a smart manner. Building new developments with reckless abandon with minimal transit and road infrastructure is a fool's pastime... sadly, a common one in the Planning office downtown.

[tripin_billie]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Building new developments with reckless abandon with minimal transit and road infrastructure is a fool's pastime... sadly, a common one in the Planning office downtown.

That is my biggest complaint about the city of Calgary. The sprwling subdivisions that have the same prefix for every street, and those stgreets wind any which way they want. So aggrevating. Call me boring, but I like cities to try to stay to some sort of grid. the older sections of Calgary did this. Straight streets with rows of houses. Now, all it is is randam winding street after another. The city of Calgary needs to stand up to developers and enforce stricter guidelines as to the development of neighbourhoods. I want a grid!! (I know, I'm boring)

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

That is my biggest complaint about the city of Calgary. The sprwling subdivisions that have the same prefix for every street, and those stgreets wind any which way they want. So aggrevating. Call me boring, but I like cities to try to stay to some sort of grid. the older sections of Calgary did this. Straight streets with rows of houses. Now, all it is is randam winding street after another. The city of Calgary needs to stand up to developers and enforce stricter guidelines as to the development of neighbourhoods. I want a grid!! (I know, I'm boring)

On the one hand, I do like the quiet traffic, park placement and parking abundance inherent in the modern cul-de-sac type subdivisions... on the other hand, they tend to be rather inefficient. A well planned grid system can have the same low traffic, park and parking amenties as well, all while being more efficient and taking up less of a footprint.

However, I'm referring more to how they stack development after development along the same major road, like Macleod Trail, without the construction of an additional arterial road (or roads), (or LRT line) and choke the life out of it. The city needs to hold the developers accountable as well, and force them to help with infrastructure costs that their lucrative developments require.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Problem is there's no will for that kind of density in a prairie city like Calgary. Everyone wants their big home in suburbia.

I disagree. Just try buying a place in a neighbourhood like Garrison Woods, or the new CFB west when they come on sale. The market is there for them, but no one is building in that fashion.

The big 2000 sq ft houses in the suburbs get purchased because those are the only houses coming on the market. Note their value relative to any sort of more mature property that is closer to downtown. My 900 sq ft condo is worth the same price as some piece of crap cookie cutter home on the edge of Okotoks!

If you had two communities built side by side - one walkable, with moderate density, the other built in the standard Calgary suburban style, I think that the walkable community would fill up way faster purely on the improvements in lifestyle alone.

It is not so much that there isn't a desire for more density in a prairie town like Calgary - go ask anyone what they would change about this city - I guarantee they would say something like "less driving" or "more friendly"... probably 9/10 answers would have to do with changing something that is a direct result of the sprawl that has hit us hard.

I think it has to do more with a lack of will to build the alternative. There is more work involved for both the legislators and the builders, so it doesn't happen.

It is getting to the point where people are going to start demanding something in earnest, but by then it will be way too late. If Bronconnier were such a great developer himself, he would have realized this a long time ago and would have made Calgary a leader in sustainable growth and development. We could be a huge, culturally rich and economically competitive city instead of sprawling and choking like we are.

It is a shame.

Furthermore, what is the impact of doing this reactionary building with such low quality materials? The city feels temporary the way it is now. There is segregation occurring at a rapid rate, and the second there is any sort of recession in oil and gas prices, the entire house of cards is going to fall - very hard, at that.

It is laughable that in a part of the world that is built on a boom and bust industry, that there is no basic plan for such cycles. We responded poorly to the latest boom, and I don't think there is any plan for what is going to happen when the next bust comes. Excusing ourselves from that responsibility because we are so busy scrambling to keep up is also quite sad.

[Cowboy89]

SeeGeeWhy: You're correct in your anticipation of demand for condos to an extent, however I think the condo lifestyle is more suited to the singles and the young couples without children. Many new people to Calgary fall under these categories and thus condo demand is up. In a few years however these people will start having chidren and thus will 'want more space.' Take me for instance, as a young professional working downtown I'd love a 900 sq foot condo right next to downtown, however once I have a family that reality won't be optimal for me.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

SeeGeeWhy: You're correct in your anticipation of demand for condos to an extent, however I think the condo lifestyle is more suited to the singles and the young couples without children. Many new people to Calgary fall under these categories and thus condo demand is up. In a few years however these people will start having chidren and thus will 'want more space.' Take me for instance, as a young professional working downtown I'd love a 900 sq foot condo right next to downtown, however once I have a family that reality won't be optimal for me.

For sure, I am in the exact same shoes. However, I will not be looking to move to the outskirts of the city when I have a family either.

Unfortunately, that may be our only option considering that all of the schools are moving out along with the suburbs.

[Scrambler]

Calgary should get a building like this one, the 'Turning Torso':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Torso