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  #61  
Old Posted Feb 25, 2009, 5:58 PM
jernst jernst is offline
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I agree, they are very ugly in the last image posted. They remind me of WCI or some of the ugly high schools around the area built long before my time.
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  #62  
Old Posted Feb 25, 2009, 6:02 PM
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I don't think the rendering will do the building justice. We don't have all the information on the materials, etc. Especially the open-concept area hiding underneath the green-roof that you can't see in that lat rendering.

I'm still holding my breath on this one.
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  #63  
Old Posted Feb 25, 2009, 6:52 PM
Bauer_buyer Bauer_buyer is offline
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[QUOTE=myfaceisonfire;4109313]Finally, I thought I was the only person who wasn't ready to nominate this project of the century. Hopefully the architecture in the concept plan is just that - a concept. This literally looks like it was designed by a time traveler from the 60's who spent a few weeks in the year 2009 reading about being green.

Agreed!
It reminds me of the old math building at U of W, long, narrow, uninteresting and monotonous. No divergent thinking here!

The Perimeter Institute was a ground breaker for this area; this complex, in my opinion, does not even come close.

There is no monumentality or creativity which is a must if we consider the men and women, the best minds who will occupy the structure.

This complex does not have the "wow" factor as some of our councillors suggest.
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  #64  
Old Posted Feb 25, 2009, 9:35 PM
KW4Life KW4Life is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mackeast View Post
That concept plan might as well be a rip of off the 1960's UW buildings inside ring road. Weak use of the space, regardless of how 'dense' it is going to be. So much opportunity to create an intense island of dynamic urbansim, but this is going to miss the mark: it's a surburban model for school building.
It does look like a really cool modern 1960's high school.
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  #65  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 2:50 AM
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Duke-Of-Waterloo Duke-Of-Waterloo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jernst View Post
They remind me of WCI.
Agreed.

Welcome to the forum by the way. It's about time we got another SSP:Waterloo Region member from Waterloo!
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  #66  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 3:07 AM
DHLawrence DHLawrence is offline
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Is it just me, or is part of the current Seagram/CIGI building being removed for this proposal?
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  #67  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 5:23 AM
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/\ Yup, the parking lot. And the barrels. That's it though.

Here is some reasoning for the design:

Quote:
9. Development Principals
.....
5. The three storey buildings will share a common approach to materials and massing, referencing the robust masonry warehouses of the former Seagram Distillery. Within a contemporary expression, traditional materials of brick, stone, glass and wood will be used on the new construction to create a coherent campus of old and new buildings.
Take a look through the Campus Master Plan found here.

Also, here is a better view of the main entrance.
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  #68  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 2:32 PM
DHLawrence DHLawrence is offline
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It looks like the part to the right in this picture isn't being incorporated in the new design:

http://flickr.com/photos/48889116964@N01/3337495

It just goes straight to the old Seagram building and doesn't feature the extension at all.
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  #69  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 6:39 PM
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Nope, it does. It's juste shown as a muted white building. Look on the page before this one, it is clearly there.
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  #70  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 6:47 PM
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I'm with onishenko on this: cautiously optimistic. I'm not blown away by the design, but KPMB is a good firm and I'm sure they'd love to add their names to the list of award winners in this area. We'll see...
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  #71  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 7:27 PM
mackeast mackeast is offline
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Actually, I think that may be the very problem behind uptown waterloo design: looking to win awards.

Don't get me wrong, the pi insitute is a very picturesque building and is by far the most...'original' design in the city, not that that is always a good thing. The problem with pi is that it does nothing for it's context - it makes no attempt to relate itself to its park-setting, and no attempt to relate itself to its promenent location nearby silver lake or uptown. while the building itself may look great on its own, it is the relationships it establishes with the surrounding environment and the sympathies it has for its setting that make it a truly great structure.

This is important because I think the developer of the school is failing both in this instance, as well as the design of the building itself. Not only does it forget it's context, the vibrant, young, urban community of uptown, but even the design of a 'suburban' school building in itself is lackluster. These developers need to take a page from U of T, both architechturaly and in the way it addresses the street.
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  #72  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2009, 10:54 PM
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Hm ok. I see what you're saying. I agree with you about PI, it's extremely disconnected from it's surroundings especially along FDB Dr, and the side facing Silver Lake, which is by far the most attractive, is almost entirely hidden. If you ask me the building should be turned 180 degrees.

However I don't see that being the case with this school. If anything, Valumart's Caroline facade needs to be completely redone to suit the context of this school.
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  #73  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2009, 3:41 AM
Bauer_buyer Bauer_buyer is offline
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The building design...its rationale sort of escapes me; I guess my biggest beef is the lack of curvature.

I would have preferred something other than straight lines and right angles.

Witness how interesting the Channer's store front looks.
It actually creates a "wow factor" because it's not typical of all the buildings in the area.

KW has too many square/rectangular buildings
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  #74  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2009, 4:03 AM
mackeast mackeast is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bauer_buyer View Post
The building design...its rationale sort of escapes me; I guess my biggest beef is the lack of curvature.

I would have preferred something other than straight lines and right angles.

Witness how interesting the Channer's store front looks.
It actually creates a "wow factor" because it's not typical of all the buildings in the area.
Agreed, Channers makes great use of it's prominent corner location. However, I don't think it's the curviture in itself that gives you that interesting look and wow factor, although it definetely helps to contrast from the squarness of other nearby buildings. What Channers does well is addressing the street and recognizing that it is part of an urban fabric, not merely on a site of its own.

As for Valumart's caroline facade hemessen, your absoloutely right. The only problem is finding a place for loading, as that is the current use of that ass end. If the owners could be convinced of removing the customer grocery pick up on the north side where the entrance is, that could potentially be converted into a truck loading area. Then, that westerly row of shops inside the mall can have entrences opening onto caroline, and valu-mart could potentially construct a new entrance.
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  #75  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2009, 5:18 AM
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KPMB has designed some great buildings... I'm looking forward to how this one will turn out. The mixed used building looks promising.
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  #76  
Old Posted Feb 27, 2009, 3:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by waterloowarrior View Post
KPMB has designed some great buildings... I'm looking forward to how this one will turn out. The mixed used building looks promising.



That picture onishenko put up seriously looks like a plain square building like everything else in the area to some of you guys? OK.
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  #77  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2009, 5:19 PM
urban!ty urban!ty is offline
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That looks great! Very simple and modernist, and therefore it has a timeless quality.

I hope that the dark area behind the glass facade I see is a large wooden feature wall. That would be a VERY sexy touch.
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  #78  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2009, 3:05 PM
jcollins jcollins is offline
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Barrel pyramid coming down

April 28, 2009
Liz Monteiro
RECORD STAFF

WATERLOO



The historic Seagram barrel pyramid will be torn down to accommodate the soon-to-be built Balsillie School of International Affairs.

"We are in a process with the City of Waterloo for demolition of the barrel pyramid," Chris Pidgeon of GSP Group, representing the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said last night.

The 700 barrels, which were put in place in 1996, will be assessed with the good ones being saved, Pidgeon said.

Exactly how many will be saved is still unknown, he said.

"From a practical point of view, the pyramid is on its last legs," said Coun. Jan d'Ailly.

"The pyramid, the way it exists now, won't be there," d'Ailly said.

In the plans for the graduate school, the current location of the barrel pyramid shows a canopy that will connect the Balsillie School to CIGI. Both the school and CIGI are located on city-owned land.

"They are right in the way," Pidgeon said.

He said he understands the barrel pyramid is a "sensitive community" issue, but it's costly to repair the barrels.

Mayor Brenda Halloran said many of the barrels are rotting and need significant repair. She said the barrels have been vandalized in the past with some people climbing on them.

Halloran said the barrels that can be saved will be erected elsewhere as a smaller landmark.

"They mean a lot to the community," she said after the meeting. "They are part of our history and people have asked me what we are doing with them."

In February, the city approved plans for the Balsillie School to be located on the former Seagram's distillery site at Erb and Caroline streets later this year. The urban campus lined with trees will feature green roofs, a covered bicycle parking area, and pedestrian pathways and public courtyards.

The Balsillie School is named after Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie who is also the principal financier behind the school located in Uptown Waterloo.

Balsillie is giving $33 million to the new school, while University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University will add $25 million over 10 years.

lmonteiro@therecord.com
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  #79  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2009, 4:23 PM
DHLawrence DHLawrence is offline
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Put it in the public square. Then Waterloo residents and visitors will actually have something to look at
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  #80  
Old Posted May 26, 2009, 2:41 PM
jcollins jcollins is offline
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$1B for higher education

May 26, 2009
Colin Hunter
RECORD STAFF

WATERLOO REGION

Higher education now has higher funding, thanks to more than $1 billion in government funding doled out yesterday to institutions around the region and the province.

The soon-to-be-built Balsillie Centre of Excellence, a graduate school connected to The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), will receive $50 million.

The provincial and federal governments will chip in $25 million each to comprise the funding to CIGI.

Meanwhile, Conestoga College unveiled an additional $48 million in federal and provincial funding for expansion projects, taking the total level of government support to more than $100 million.

Among the 26 other Ontario post-secondary institutions announcing similar funding boosts yesterday were the University of Guelph and the Brantford campus of Wilfrid Laurier University, receiving $33 million and $26 million respectively.

The funding is part of the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a $2-billion stimulus measure intended to expand and strengthen post-secondary institutions across Canada.

The $50 million investment to the Balsillie Centre of Excellence -- which Balsillie himself matched to make $100 million total -- will help "the city of Waterloo to continue to be the most intelligent community in the world," said the co-chief executive of Research In Motion.

With the funding in place, construction of the school will begin next month beside CIGI in uptown Waterloo. The land for the centre, valued at $5 million, was donated by the City of Waterloo.

When classes begin in the fall of 2011, there will be three graduate schools within the centre -- the Balsillie School for International Affairs and two more that have yet to be announced. Together, they will host scholars from around the world and about 150 students.

"This announcement today does incredible things for this community," said Peter Braid, MP for Kitchener-Waterloo.

"It will, in the very short term, provide a very direct injection of economic stimulus into our economy by creating jobs -- over 500 jobs in the construction of the school.

"Over the longer term this is . . . another step in this region truly becoming a world-class community."

Conestoga College will increase in size and scope by nearly half thanks to $48 million in new funding from the federal and provincial governments.

That figure, combined with investments announced previously, makes a total of $103 million in funding for expansion of the college's campus and programs over the next several years.

"It's the biggest announcement in the history of the college," Conestoga president John Tibbits said following a reception at the Doon campus woodworking centre attended by hundreds of staff, students and dignitaries.

"By the time the dust settles we will grow the college by 40 to 50 per cent. It will be a whole different college," he said.

The funding will go toward a number of expansion projects at the college, including:

"Our goal is to be the most comprehensive technical institute in Canada," Tibbits said.

The college is still hoping to receive additional funding to finance an expansion of the health care curriculum.

The Knowledge Infrastructure Program has separate components for universities and colleges, in order to fund improvements in research and academic development as well as skills training.

Braid said that only by financially supporting all forms of education can Waterloo Region be prepared to emerge from the recession with a ready and capable workforce.

"These are significant announcements, they're huge, and they're multi-faceted in terms of the areas of study they cover."

chunter@therecord.com
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