Calgary Hotel Gremain: What's the Consensus?

[Stephen Ave]

Here's a rendering for the proposed Hotel Germain, which would be kitty corner (to the northwest) to the Calgary Tower. In the side view, you can see it has an open area that goes right through the building.

What's the consensus?

[Stephen Ave]

Looks great to me. Love the open area in the middle of the building, fantastic!

[Wooster]

I think it is a huge leap forward for Calgary for a lot of reasons.

1) architecturally it is bold. Completely different than anything else in Calgary.

2) Not only is it bold, it looks extremely attractive.

3) The description of the materials in the application indicates really high quality and uniqueness. The darker material in the renderings there is a composite wood finishing.

4) It is a true mixed use project, uniquely pieced together. Office, Hotel, retail, and Residential.

5) It perfectly suits the context and lives up to its important location. It is also sensitive to its context, not casting a shadow on Stephen Avenue.

6) It has a boutique hotel which is very well regarded and will be a great addition to downtown. It will add to the feeling of hipness of downtown with this brand.

7) RESIDENTIAL in the commercial core!!! That hopefully will pave the way for others, likely in the form of mixed-use development.

8) Will incorporate 2 pieces of public art. One in the space between the buildings, and one on the corner of Centre and 9th.

9) It fills a hideous surface parking lot across the street from our most important landmark.

The only thing missing, although it might be included in the final form is street trees, particularly for 9th ave. The UDP comments noted this, so I hope to see that included.

Are those enough reasons to love this project?

[Rusty van Reddick]

It is FUCKING AWESOME. It looks like something you'd see in London or Berlin.

FUCKING AWESOME.

[Wooster]

^So you like it, I take.

[walli]

Originally Posted by josh white

I think it is a huge leap forward for Calgary for a lot of reasons.

1) architecturally it is bold. Completely different than anything else in Calgary.

2) Not only is it bold, it looks extremely attractive.

3) The description of the materials in the application indicates really high quality and uniqueness. The darker material in the renderings there is a composite wood finishing.

4) It is a true mixed use project, uniquely pieced together. Office, Hotel, retail, and Residential.

5) It perfectly suits the context and lives up to its important location. It is also sensitive to its context, not casting a shadow on Stephen Avenue.

6) It has a boutique hotel which is very well regarded and will be a great addition to downtown. It will add to the feeling of hipness of downtown with this brand.

7) RESIDENTIAL in the commercial core!!! That hopefully will pave the way for others, likely in the form of mixed-use development.

8) Will incorporate 2 pieces of public art. One in the space between the buildings, and one on the corner of Centre and 9th.

9) It fills a hideous surface parking lot across the street from our most important landmark.

The only thing missing, although it might be included in the final form is street trees, particularly for 9th ave. The UDP comments noted this, so I hope to see that included.

Are those enough reasons to love this project?

That is an impressive list of positive. I'll have to agree with the majority. It seems to be a very nice project.

[Sean.Perrin]

This project looks incredible!

[Wooster]

Hey! who voted awful without backing up their opinion?!? seriously, awful?

[Bad Grizzly]

Wicked looking! This is awesome, a total positive for the dowtown core.

[SpongeG]

looks like a low rise stacked on two towers from some of the angles

not bad though

[Western Spaghetti]

I voted 'great looking project' for this. It's got so many pluses, I don't know how it could be anything but.

Originally Posted by josh white

Hey! who voted awful without backing up their opinion?!? seriously, awful?

It's most likely an envy vote against. I could care less though, looks like most people are on the same wavelength.

[ReginaGuy]

i voted "don't care for it". It's kind of ugly IMO. Looks they crane lifted a building a dropped it on top of two different buildings, I don't like that

and I know there are lots of projects going on in Calgary, but how many of these threads do we need? lol It just seems like this would be better for the Calgary thread

[Western Spaghetti]

Originally Posted by ReginaGuy

i voted "don't care for it". It's kind of ugly IMO. Looks they crane lifted a building a dropped it on top of two different buildings, I don't like that

and I know there are lots of projects going on in Calgary, but how many of these threads do we need? lol It just seems like this would be better for the Calgary thread

Are you paying for the bandwidth of this site? Who cares if these show up? Every city posts their own separate topics.

[Stephen Ave]

Originally Posted by ReginaGuy

i voted "don't care for it". It's kind of ugly IMO. Looks they crane lifted a building a dropped it on top of two different buildings, I don't like that

and I know there are lots of projects going on in Calgary, but how many of these threads do we need? lol It just seems like this would be better for the Calgary thread

You can't put the polling option into the Calgary construction thread, that's why I've been posting these as a separate thread. I've put the title "Calgary Hotel Germain: What's the consensus" so that people know it's a Calgary thing. If they want to look at it they can.

I shouldn't even have to defend these threads, forumers from other cities post plenty of threads all the time.

[Arriviste]

Fuck yah! This is what I'm talking about.
Josh, you have it exactly right.

[raggedy13]

Originally Posted by ReginaGuy

i voted "don't care for it". It's kind of ugly IMO. Looks they crane lifted a building a dropped it on top of two different buildings, I don't like that

I kinda agree with ReginaGuy's statement. That was my first thought when looking at this building. But on the other hand, it is definitely bold, and for that reason alone I would be happy to see it in Vancouver which could really use a bit of that. Personally I like anything that is unique and therefore capable of generating some thoughtful discussion (which certainly can't be done with a lot of Vancouver condos). It could still look great at street level at the very least. It's bound to be an instant city landmark as well. Either way it doesn't look like a project you'd see in some backwater city so it should really help to compliment Calgary's growing image as a more significant economic and cultural centre both within Canada and internationally.

[feepa]

I like the building, interesting and different

[Only The Lonely..]

I also agree with Regina Guys statement, in 15 years time it will be regarded as incredibly ugly.

In the end this building tries too hard to be bold, much like a person that tries too hard to be funny.

I think there's something to be said about the beauty of subtlety..

[Surrealplaces]

dp

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by Stephen Ave

This is a superb project imo. I'm not sure about the lower left hand section. If both lower halves were the same I think I would like it better, still this is one of the best projects I've seen in a whiole for any city, let alone Calgary.