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  #161  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 4:03 AM
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I like the design a lot more than the preliminary design that was released a few months ago, although the second building looks very vague and it's not clear exactly how the exterior cladding will look.

The best part of the development of these sites is the continuity that will be established between Spring Garden Road, Schmidtville, and to some extent the hospitals/Dal area. It makes such a difference to have good pedestrian corridors with quality buildings and shops.

I think the Nova Centre, library, and whatever might happen with the St. Mary's property will have a similar effect in terms of tying together the downtown and Spring Garden areas.

The balconies are interesting. I like how Halifax's tradition of liberal building colours is working its way into modern building designs.
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  #162  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 2:07 PM
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By the way, this one also appears to have coloured balconies.
Yeah that was one of the 1st things that jumped out at me.
Amazing how quickly glass coloured balconies have become a huge trend.

I wondered if the use of the orange glass was supposed to pick up from the use of orange glass in the library.
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  #163  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 2:22 PM
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I wondered if the use of the orange glass was supposed to pick up from the use of orange glass in the library.
This is a possibility that's crossed my mind, as well.
Even without consideration of the library, orange is blue's complimentary colour -- which this residential development sports quite handsomely.

I'm thrilled by the trees and lighting this rendering shows for the sidewalks. The Spring Garden area needs more trees.
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  #164  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 6:26 PM
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This looks fantastic! I love the feel of the base (which almost looks like an updated Bishop's Landing) and the modernity of the upper floors. The orange balconies will looks great with the library.
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  #165  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 8:36 PM
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Not sure how I feel about the round windows. I alternate between liking them and not, but... otherwise looks great.

I hope they follow through with the lighting and trees, as well.
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  #166  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 9:15 PM
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I'm thrilled by the trees and lighting this rendering shows for the sidewalks. The Spring Garden area needs more trees.
That's the one aspect on the Queen St side especially that I do not like. The sidewalk seems narrow and the trees both encroach on the building (or will as they mature) and block the view of the commercial space. As a commercial tenant you want your business to be seen and not hidden behind excessive foliage. Hopefully that can fix this.
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  #167  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 9:50 PM
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Interesting point. These buildings have an extra setback on Clyde to accommodate a larger sidewalk (a great idea), but they don't seem to have that on Queen and it wouldn't help much anyway because of the existing lots and buildings to the north. Trees along Queen are not important because a park is planned for the space behind the library, right across the street.

I think it's better to have a mix of treed and bare streetscapes, and a mix of different types of public spaces. I don't agree with the "green space everywhere" crowd and, actually, I think that having too much greenspace or too many trees can detract from their appeal. That's also a good way to stretch the city's budget and ensure that there are lots of poorly-used, poorly-maintained spaces. Halifax already has an abundance of public space that could be managed more efficiently and could support a large number of people. In Halifax I'd also argue that there's less of an advantage to having shade trees than in a lot of other cities. In the Southern US or California they are great because otherwise people have to contend with lots of sun and hot temperatures. Excess sun isn't really an issue in Halifax. The biggest climactic problems are wind and rain. Trees help a little with wind. To deal with rain the city should encourage more covered areas outside of new buildings. The Clyde Street buildings appear to have those.

The size and shape of the trees depend on the species that they choose and there are probably lots of varieties that would work. Vancouver has many cherry trees that look great, bloom early in the year, and don't seem to get too big. Hakodate, Halifax's sister city, has tons of them and a very similar climate to Halifax.
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  #168  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 10:11 PM
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So one of the two is likely going to house NSLC? One can only hope that they won't take up much of the street frontage with taped over windows.
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  #169  
Old Posted Apr 12, 2012, 10:52 PM
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Yeah, I believe they are slotted for the entire Queen St frontage, or at least most of it. They aren't known for their entertaining store window displays.
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  #170  
Old Posted Apr 13, 2012, 3:46 AM
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Green space everywhere is logically impossible. It is incongruous to say fewer trees are more appreciable, in today's climate. I really don't care if people are desensitized by a large quantity of trees. Public worship isn't the goal.

Yes, California is more southern than Halifax....and Mexico is even more southern than California. I guess shade trees are more rational the further south you go. ...........OR, just maybe, anywhere that receives summer temperatures in the 30's (bingo: Halifax) is susceptible, especially in cities, to heat islands.

I'm fair-complected and have to be careful about burning. I don't feel too bad because even my black friends will burn under a summertime Haligonian sun.

The more trees the merrier.
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  #171  
Old Posted Jun 2, 2012, 11:41 AM
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Website is up http://www.thesistersites.ca/ and there is a public open house on Monday, June 11th in the Trillium offices.
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  #172  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2012, 2:00 AM
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Apparently the HbD design review committee meeting won't be held until August and so construction will not be able to start until September at the earliest. Construction of the second building could begin in the spring of 2013.
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  #173  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2012, 2:07 AM
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Apparently the HbD design review committee meeting won't be held until August and so construction will not be able to start until September at the earliest. Construction of the second building could begin in the spring of 2013.
Man those are some very small units.

Would have rather seen a design competition for the site, rather then the highest dollar bid trumps all. Who knows what others would have come up with.

Hopefully the approval will speed up.
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  #174  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2012, 3:31 AM
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I find it hard to make out the size and configuration of the units from the floor plans.

A design competition may have been interesting. My sense is that this is a pretty average development, but it will definitely be a lot better than the surface lots.
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  #175  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2012, 1:09 PM
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Man those are some very small units.

Would have rather seen a design competition for the site, rather then the highest dollar bid trumps all. Who knows what others would have come up with.

Hopefully the approval will speed up.
They seem standard sizes to me - 550+SF for 1BR and 1000SF for 2 BR. That scale bar is in metres...a bit difficult to read
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  #176  
Old Posted Jun 11, 2012, 10:27 AM
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Meeting tonight:

Monday, June 11 at 7 pm there is a public information meeting to introduce the development proposed for the “Mary Ann” site in the parking lot bounded by Birmingham, Clyde and Queen Streets. The meeting will be held in the Trillium Building at the corner of South Park Street and Brenton Place.
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  #177  
Old Posted Jun 11, 2012, 7:22 PM
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After doing some poking around I don't think this is a PIM, as the proposal comes under HRMbD so this is just a public gander at the proposed design. I expect new renderings tonight!
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  #178  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2012, 12:56 AM
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We can change this to 29m 9 floors.

15% low income, 20% below market for 15 years to "buy" the bonus height.

Building design is interesting... same as renderings here. Grey material below the brick is NS polished granite. What I found interesting is how much say, how demanding it appears HRM is, how much input they have... apparently the design changed from a traditional to a modern because of HRM staff input/demands. Really interesting...

Also, what was MOST interesting is how under HRMbD there is no PIM, there is just an open house. It is not the developers job to manage the neighbours, it is HRM staff's job to protect HRMbD and make sure that the project meets the goals expressed there. So there has been little to no communication with the neighbours across the road - because it was already done under HRMbD. There was lots of confusion...

Fares staff said that the 60 days starts in 15 days... this should be approved in 75 days.

This may be the first test of an HRMbD compliant plan that faces significant opposition, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Last edited by Waye Mason; Jun 12, 2012 at 11:49 AM.
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  #179  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2012, 1:19 AM
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This may be the first test of an HRMbD compliant plan that faces significant opposition, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Some of these people will never be happy because they want things that are completely unrealistic. The 9 storey height is already a good compromise between the highrise scale of some nearby buildings and the lowrise scale of Schmidtville. I predict that residents won't have much of a problem with these when they're built because they're across the street and they're being built to the north.

I am happy that they're using granite. In the past when councillors were voting on developments they often didn't even really establish what would be used and there'd be vague language like "stone-like material" (the architectural equivalent of "imitation cheddar processed soy loaf").
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  #180  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2012, 2:35 AM
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They reported on the open house in ANS tonight and the comments from the "Friends of Schmidtville" are pretty special. Same old complaints except they seem to have been taken to a new level. There's already a setback but they want a bigger one. It's only 9 storeys but they'd prefer 7 (and I guess it's fine to eliminate the below-market housing). Also it should "fit in" more with the other buildings -- in other words, where are the foam cornices?

Pretty good argument for why we don't need the case-by-case NIMBY critique.
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