[waterloowarrior]

I'm interested in seeing pictures and having discussion of urban big box stores... what sorts of designs have you seen? I've heard a lot of opposition from urban-thinking individuals about big box proposals in downtowns, especially since some of them can dominate an entire block. I find that some of them are quite well-designed. Here are some pictures I've found of some Canadian urban big box stores

here's some big box stores in Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto

ssp member kitchissippi
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2089/2339045226_c1b90e1de8_o.jpg


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2291/2339045376_75c89e9d1c_b.jpg
urbantoronto.ca
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4214/p1040828ix9.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2232/2186263638_fd92fcf1d0.jpg
^home depot


Canada.com
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/idl/vasn/20061111/105803-39115.jpg

lestwarog.com

http://www.lestwarog.com/admin/uploads/building/main_image/1187823935building.jpg

http://www.tfai.com/upload/images/CanadianNew.jpg

http://www.tfai.com/upload/images/CanadianNew2.jpg


http://www.tfai.com/upload/images/bathurst_stclair_426_1.jpg

turner fleischer architects

[ardecila]

Big Boxes in Chicago....

A Target in the South Loop neighborhood (Roosevelt and Clark)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2217/2286356769_a083464a4d.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1360/1343922320_d53dbc3248.jpg
^^ Not a surface parking lot, but rather the top deck of a garage

Another Target on the North Side, across from Rosehill Cemetery (Peterson and Damen)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2210/1528858102_b28618ebb0.jpg

Home Depot in Lincoln Park

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/23/32199176_dcb209578b.jpg

Beyond this, there isn't much examples of freestanding, "urban" big boxes in Chicago. The downtown area has supermarkets on the ground floors of certain residential towers, and most neighborhoods either rely on small mom&pop stores, or go to definitely "suburban" big boxes with parking lots that are located in industrial areas. Sadly, developers keep proposing more of these, but now they are mostly proposed for impoverished neighborhoods on the South Side.

[zilfondel]

We have none in Portland. 40,000 sq ft Safeway probably doesn't count.

[waterloowarrior]

I like the designs of some of those, especially the entrance in the first picture and the way the last picture fronts the street with landscaping and on-street parking. Ut would be nice if some had ground floor retail spaces for other firms (or even brands they owned), as it looks like some of the blocks are dominated by the walls of these stores.

[MolsonExport]

Certainly a huge improvement over the usual agglomeration of stand-alone big box power centres (e.g., 'Smart Centres' in Canada)