[Wooster]

Thought I'd start a thread about Drake 17 - the latest development project in Beltline to follow its progress. Nice to see some more affordable units.

www.drake17.com

Here's the full renders of the final version of the building.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/drake17day.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/joshwhit/drake17.jpg

[Me&You]

I give it a solid "meh"...

What's with the gangplank at the top?

[Calgarian]

I give it a solid "meh"...

What's with the gangplank at the top?

Either a balcony or a roof for a balcony.

[DizzyEdge]

I consider it above-average filler. That's not a bad thing at all. By filler I mean of the quality that filler should in the Beltline, not necessarily what it is now.

[Bassic Lab]

I give it a solid "meh"...

What's with the gangplank at the top?

It leads to the portal that allows Gozer the Gozerian to enter our world.

[evolv]

This is exactly the kind of developments the Beltline needs north of 17th ave. The trio of Montana, Emerald, and Drake will cool once drake is complete. It will also add to the critical mass that is needed to support more developments like Hanson Square

[polishavenger]

Im a big fan of this development. Even though it has been dubbed "filler" its my opinion that filler is the most important element in a city. The occassional landmark is great, but its the filler that really makes or breaks a city, and this building raises the bar on what filler should look like in this city.

[kw5150]

I live in a "filler" building and I love it.......

What are the mojor condos getting built right now?

Drake
Luna
Oslo
Gateway - Midtown
Keynote two....

Impressive!

Combined with all the new retail, I am looking forward to the next two years and beyond.

[Wooster]

Im a big fan of this development. Even though it has been dubbed "filler" its my opinion that filler is the most important element in a city. The occassional landmark is great, but its the filler that really makes or breaks a city, and this building raises the bar on what filler should look like in this city.

I totally agree. If this is the "average" building in Calgary, we're in very good shape. Nice residential interface with the public realm, affordable units, good scale, solid design - what's there not to like?

[Surrealplaces]

I like it, it's definitely above average. Not totally exciting, but I'm okay with that, there isn't a need for every building to be radically different. This is a nice simple filler building.

[187 Feet Tall]

Interesting thoughts on the architecture; I've noticed other discussions on Drake here as well.
I'm on the sales team at Drake; always good to see what people are saying.

If there's any details I can share, let me know.

[fusili]

Love it. I am in Emerald Stone, so I think this will really add to that part of the Beltline. 15th is starting to look really good. It fits in really nicely. Good street treatment, good massing. Give us 20 more of these throughout the Beltline!

[187 Feet Tall]

I live in a "filler" building and I love it.......

What are the mojor condos getting built right now?

Drake
Luna
Oslo
Gateway - Midtown
Keynote two....

Impressive!

Combined with all the new retail, I am looking forward to the next two years and beyond.
Waterfront
Nuera 2

Think Gateway-Midtown is not moving forward right now.

Arriva 2 might be coming back sometime as well, and there will likely be more announcements for other developments next year. I'm expecting some the East Village stuff to get going.

[ST1]

Love the Drake. The design is nice and straightforward, and a good fit for the location. Best of all, pricing looks decent, and pricing seems to be an obstacle in some of the downtown condo developments.

[atlas_inc]

Either a balcony or a roof for a balcony.

I don't think that balcony is any bigger than any of the others. It just looks a bit odd because of the camera angle and lens used by the 3D company.

[187 Feet Tall]

Either a balcony or a roof for a balcony.
Both
It's an extra balcony from the Master Bedroom of that Penthouse which also has a wrap around balcony on the corner. The upper plank is just a roof over the balcony.

[Reesonov]

Interesting thoughts on the architecture; I've noticed other discussions on Drake here as well.
I'm on the sales team at Drake; always good to see what people are saying.

If there's any details I can share, let me know.

Clever marketing idea to join the forum btw. There are typically (or at least there were during the boom) a number of people who join the forum specifically because they are considering a condo purchase and want the latest information/other forumers' insights on various condo projects.

[DizzyEdge]

I should probably qualify what I said earlier about Drake being filler since it got some comments. By filler I mean non-landmark architecture, however more what non-landmark architecture *should* be in Calgary; it's substantially better than what the current filler/average is in the Beltline, in fact a lot better than much of it.

[187 Feet Tall]

Clever marketing idea to join the forum btw. There are typically (or at least there were during the boom) a number of people who join the forum specifically because they are considering a condo purchase and want the latest information/other forumers' insights on various condo projects.
Thanks; true, but I don't want my joining to be taken solely as a sales and marketing tactic.
I don't work directly for the developer. I'm a Realtor who has represented many different developments in some capacity (10-20, mostly in Vancouver) and these forums offer me a wealth of knowledge and opinions on my industry.
Hope to contribute with my experience and read hear far beyond my involvement with Drake.

[Reesonov]

^ Oh, I only meant that it would be a helpful resource for potential buyers to have a real estate agent/sales person on the forum who was prepared to answer their questions etc., and that it might lead to a sale or two for you.

I appreciate that you might be a bit sensitive to being characaterized as only a "salesperson" whose forum activity is limited to "sales pitches". Sorry about that. Welcome to the forum and I look forward to all of your future contributions. :cheers:

[WhipperSnapper]

It's decent from an urban design standpoint however, the architecture is pretty crap even for average infill. The tower like something built in North York Centre or Mississauga five years ago not that design has taken off in either of these centres. Liberty's masterplanned Thornhill City Centre comes to mind as well.

[DizzyEdge]

Yeah but when much of the views calgary look like this

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=calgary&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=57.641503,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Calgary,+Division+No.+6,+Alberta,+Canada&ll=51.040669,-114.088351&spn=0,0.006866&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=51.039235,-114.086828&panoid=X1_L8jVp4YXj6mNqASrq6Q&cbp=12,319.97,,0,-4.21

Drake looks pretty damned good.

[elconsulto]

It's decent from an urban design standpoint however, the architecture is pretty crap even for average infill. The tower like something built in North York Centre or Mississauga five years ago not that design has taken off in either of these centres. Liberty's masterplanned Thornhill City Centre comes to mind as well.

As a prospective architecture student, I'm curious as to what you would change about it?

I personally would change the podium, make it 4-5 stories, make it more open to the street, i.e. take away the fence and foliage, the tower does lack an any distinctive or indelible characteristics, but I don't think that's an issue given the area and budget.

[fusili]

As a prospective architecture student, I'm curious as to what you would change about it?

I personally would change the podium, make it 4-5 stories, make it more open to the street, i.e. take away the fence and foliage, the tower does lack an any distinctive or indelible characteristics, but I don't think that's an issue given the area and budget.

Ah, architecture students, making completely uneconomic decisions since 1940. No offence, but tearing down a 3 storey apartment and replacing it with a 4-5 storey building will never be economical. The land value in the Beltline pretty much dictates that any infill will have to be a fairly substantial size.

[Reesonov]

^ I presume he was referring specifically to the podium.

[elconsulto]

Ah, architecture students, making completely uneconomic decisions since 1940. No offence, but tearing down a 3 storey apartment and replacing it with a 4-5 storey building will never be economical. The land value in the Beltline pretty much dictates that any infill will have to be a fairly substantial size.

By "Make it 4-5 stories" I actually meant "change the number of floors of the podium", not the height of the tower itself.

http://www.rafiiarchitects.com/projects/0559/01s.jpg

The tower on the left is roughly the same height as this project, but has more floors devoted to the podium (i'm sure you've read about this). I think this is a better look for 17th Ave.

[WhipperSnapper]

As a prospective architecture student, I'm curious as to what you would change about it?

I personally would change the podium, make it 4-5 stories, make it more open to the street, i.e. take away the fence and foliage, the tower does lack an any distinctive or indelible characteristics, but I don't think that's an issue given the area and budget.

It's not a long podium and perhaps the townhouse make more sense here than a four to five storey street wall. My biggest beef is the massing which takes on the shape of a pitched roof. It just comes across as suburban whether this style with a centre point is or isn't. The tower body is pretty boring as well. Lotsa precast with some glass window-wall gestures on the corners.

I'm also amused by the sentiment, " It's pretty good infill" as I would say the best stylistically and by built form in Toronto over this boom has being from "infill" rather than these 400 unit, defining towers sprouting up throughout the city.

[fusili]

By "Make it 4-5 stories" I actually meant "change the number of floors of the podium", not the height of the tower itself.


I see. Apologies.

[Bigtime]

I have a radical new urban design idea, buildings that are just podium. Imagine coming home to 4-5 floors of podium...awesome.

Your friends come over:

:) "Hey Bigtime, what's on top of the podium?"

:cool: "Nothing."

:worship: "My mind is blown!"

I'm patenting this idea, nobody steal it.

[Reesonov]

^ You and Baron Haussman will have to fight it out in the French courts I'm afraid.

[Bigtime]

Damn!

Ok, everyone send me $5000 bucks to help with the legal fight.

[fusili]

^ You and Baron Haussman will have to fight it out in the French courts I'm afraid.

But Haussman still has monopoly on demolishing entire neighbourhoods to build block upon block of perimeter block buildings. All so the army could move easily through the city.

At least Cerda (Barcelona) didn't demolish the existing city- he just built the perimeter block grid around it.

[187 Feet Tall]

As a prospective architecture student, I'm curious as to what you would change about it?

I personally would change the podium, make it 4-5 stories, make it more open to the street, i.e. take away the fence and foliage, the tower does lack an any distinctive or indelible characteristics, but I don't think that's an issue given the area and budget.
Drake is on a fairly small space of land. It's not like the other picture you've posted with a huge frontage where the podium can run across between 2 towers.

The podium here is 2 level townhomes, so the fence and foliage is for their benefit in privacy/security.
Keep in mind,this is on 15th Ave, not 17th. The podium needs to have a more residential feeling, that a 4-5 story podium would overdue for that street.
It would feel like a giant condo wall beside you as you walked along 7th St, or visited the heritage homes across the street.

[elconsulto]

Drake is on a fairly small space of land. It's not like the other picture you've posted with a huge frontage where the podium can run across between 2 towers.

The podium here is 2 level townhomes, so the fence and foliage is for their benefit in privacy/security.
Keep in mind,this is on 15th Ave, not 17th. The podium needs to have a more residential feeling, that a 4-5 story podium would overdue for that street.
It would feel like a giant condo wall beside you as you walked along 7th St, or visited the heritage homes across the street.

This makes sense. It would probably be wise of you to ignore my posts - if you're looking for an educated opinion for your work, I'm possibly the least knowledgeable individual here :P

I just come here for all of the pretty pictures.

[fusili]

Went into the sales centre yesterday. They have some pretty creative layouts. They found some miraculous way to make 517 sqaure feet not seem cramped. The sales guy said they are at 25% sold already, not bad for 2 months on the market.

[187 Feet Tall]

We're starting a new $1000 referral program.
I know some members from here have come by, so thought I should mention it here.
If you refer someone who buys a home at Drake, they'll get a $1000 credit on their price and you'll get $1000 cash.

You don't need to be a buyer to get the referral fee, just need to tell your friends. Easy $1000 if you have friends looking for a condo and think Drake is a good option for them.