[St. John's] APP Hotel | 11 Floors | Proposed - Page 2

A325 · #21 Posted **Jun 13, 2013, 6:04 PM**

Originally I thought Groupe Germain were in on this so I was kinda of hoping the hotel would look like their hotel in Quebec City but with some modern elements:

Maybe that is not really "Colonial" but I like the concept of "old meets new" for St. John's.

I'm not sure who is doing Philip Pratt's renders these days cause I think he's retired (especially jusging by his gmail business account on the bottom of every page). Given his age he's probably not in tune with the latest architectural software packages. At this very preliminary concept stage they are good enough to get the idea across. I'm sure they'll improve as the project progresses.

Marty_Mcfly · #22 Posted **Jun 13, 2013, 8:25 PM**

I think Group Germain are still eyeing space for a hotel in the city, so we could see something absolutely stunning pop up in the short term.

As for the renders, I find it difficult to really judge anything based on the quality. I'd really like to know what's up with the screening. Is it just colored mesh or something more? That'd be a game changer. Really though, anything is better than what's there now. And I'm really liking what's planned for the Harbour Drive entrance. Bringing some quality down to the street scape

PoscStudent · #23 Posted **Jun 13, 2013, 11:04 PM**

They're able to change the patterns and colour of the mesh or something so that's kind of cool.

Architype · #24 Posted **Jun 13, 2013, 11:51 PM**

Hey, a new thread - exciting!

Because I'm all for building upwards, in theory I think this is a good project. But, seeing that it's ugly now; will it be even uglier? - I doubt it. I do have an issue with the statement that it "will not affect any public views" though; the public views of buildings such as the Anglican Cathedral will be blocked when viewed from points on the Southside. I would probably be happier if they were building on top of Atlantic Place instead. As for the treatment of the façade, it also reminds me of throwing a multi coloured table cloth over an ugly table. Maybe it will be curiously odd or even ugly, but not worse than what already exists.

JCE · #25 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 10:29 AM**

SignalHillHiker · #26 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 10:51 AM**

Superstar.

Copes · #27 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 11:01 AM**

It looks like a lolipop on top of a brick or something.

SignalHillHiker · #28 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 11:07 AM**

To me it looks like a shipping container being picked up by a crane. At gay pride.

PoscStudent · #29 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 11:33 AM**

I hope they simplify the hotel a bit, I think all the colour is just making it look bad. I want something bright, but this is a lot.

SignalHillHiker · #30 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 11:49 AM**

Maybe if the parkade was white underneath? I find white parkades less offensive than most.

Townie709 · #31 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 12:01 PM**

The hotel portion looks excellent. I wouldn't change a thing about it and I also love the increased sidewalk space and making harbour drive more functional and pedestrian friendly. It's just the garage that I don't like. That brown brick has to go. I want no reminder of the piece of crap that's there now. Just throwing mesh over it seems to be a very cheap way around actually changing the look of the garage.

As always, I still support the proposal, I just want to hear more about what they plan to do with the garage. And PoscStudent, I wouldn't worry too much about the colours at this point. I'm sure they'll be changed 1000 times before this is actually built

SignalHillHiker · #32 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 12:19 PM**

Something like these coloured panels on the left would look GREAT on top of the parkade, underneath the same hotel design.

(Friend's FB photo from London, U.K.)

crackiedog · #33 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 12:20 PM**

I am all for the idea of putting a hotel on top of the parking garage but I have to be honest, this design just doesn't do much for me. I think posc got it right. Maybe there is too much color. It works great on smaller projects like star of the sea and bennett house but it just doesn't look right to me for this design. The other major problem I have is that by making it the same height as Atlantic Place we now have a huge wall across the harbourfront. I wish they could have proposed a smaller footprint but double the stories to 6. At least that would have broken up the skyline a bit. Not sold on the mesh idea either. Is it going to be made of some plastic/composite material or steel. How low maintenance will it be? How solid will it be? Is it something that could be easily broken away? I guess that we need to see more details. The only thing I do like is the way they are putting the entrance on harbour drive with the atrium.

By the way when did harbour drive become a 6 line divided highway with a grass median?

SignalHillHiker · #34 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 12:29 PM**

Nnnooo... don't make Harbour Drive any bigger.

I can't wait for this one to be done. I won't have to cut the city in half when I'm taking pictures. YAY!

ajcoffey · #35 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 1:19 PM**

Telegram article this morning on the new proposal.

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Loca...rking-garage/1

SignalHillHiker · #36 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 1:31 PM**

I love their lede!

crackiedog · #37 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 2:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Nnnooo... don't make Harbour Drive any bigger.

I can't wait for this one to be done. I won't have to cut the city in half when I'm taking pictures. YAY!

Actually the telegram article talks about reducing lane sizes on harbour drive to make room for a wider sidewalk in front of AP, which is a good thing!

Townie709 · #38 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 2:32 PM**

Expect a story on the AP development tonight on "here and now". Just saw a cbc cameraman and reporter interviewing people right next to the parkade.

PoscStudent · #39 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 3:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Maybe if the parkade was white underneath? I find white parkades less offensive than most.

I was actually thinking they should paint the brick too, probably more maintenance in the future. You can bring it up at the public meeting.

I really like the newer building in Halifax that has red glass balconies (google red balconies Halifax, I think we discussed this before) and I think that idea could be cool here. Go with a plainer colour for the actual hotel but have coloured glass balconies. Three different colour balconies for each level could look cool.

SignalHillHiker · #40 Posted **Jun 14, 2013, 3:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

I was actually thinking they should paint the brick too, probably more maintenance in the future. You can bring it up at the public meeting.

I really like the newer building in Halifax that has red glass balconies (google red balconies Halifax, I think we discussed this before) and I think that idea could be cool here. Go with a plainer colour for the actual hotel but have coloured glass balconies. Three different colour balconies for each level could look cool.

I really like that building as well.