[Dartmouth] Lotus Point Living | 25 m | 7 fl | Completed

[Phalanx]

I'm pretty sure it's not going to be vinyl siding. It's really not easy to judge renderings that use generic, low res textures. Anything that's a flat colour and appears to be mostly horizontal lines 'looks like vinyl'.

Likely some type of brick, engineered stone or precast panel.

[Keith P.]

I'm betting that the left-rear block is metal panel.

[Takeo]

Originally Posted by Jstaleness

Sure looks like vinyl siding on the top layers.

This is a high end building. My guess is that it’s ceramic tile. A lot of building s are using it now. It’s a pretty nice material.

[Keith P.]

Meanwhile there were people on FB yesterday posting about how ugly/looming this is. That was based on a pictured posted of the concrete framework. Unreal.

[Acadie_1755]

One thing we were taught in my program's site design class is not to create a realistic render until the design had been finalized. The prof explained that displaying a well-polished render too early gives people the false impression that the design had already been finalized.

The older concept looks to be a screenshot taken from Sketchup, which to me says it was still in the works. The final design is a render done in Artlantis Studio with reflections, shadows, clouds - the fancy stuff.

I like the choice of materials, but it seems as if they squeezed more units in on the upper levels which gave it the blocky shape.

[IanWatson]

There was a fancy design done between the Sketchup model and the most recent posting. It was posted here on the forum, but it was done as a link to the project website, so now that the developer has removed those renderings the links are broken.

EDIT: Here is the previous rendering



EDIT2: I actually like the massing of the new one better. All those jigs and jogs on the last rendering looked kinda messy to me. This could be an improvement if those cladding materials are high-quality.

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

There was a fancy design done between the Sketchup model and the most recent posting. It was posted here on the forum, but it was done as a link to the project website, so now that the developer has removed those renderings the links are broken.

EDIT: Here is the previous rendering



EDIT2: I actually like the massing of the new one better. All those jigs and jogs on the last rendering looked kinda messy to me. This could be an improvement if those cladding materials are high-quality.

I see it the other way around. I saw the "fancy" design as a lot more harmonious and a building that nestled into its surroundings nicely. This new iteration feels so much more imposing and harsh. It reads more as one or two big masses while the previous one broke everything up.

That being said, for me it really always comes down to material and material quality. If that is done well, then I won't feel so jilted by the design change.

[Acadie_1755]

Ah, I did not catch that rendering. It is true that the new design is much cleaner. I'll call Lotus Point the simpler, less sophisticated cousin of Saint-Joseph's square, just because of similarities in material choice.

[JET]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Looks like it has veered off quite a bit from the rendering shown on page 1 of this thread (the one posted by Phalanx above).

It seems to have become somewhat generic...

Yep, that's a shame, it was nice when there was a tiered effect, now it's just a box. It really pens in the historic house

[OldDartmouthMark]

Yes, to me the stepped effect worked better with its surroundings.

[Jonovision]

20180508_114646 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20180508_114745 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20180508_114904 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[kph06]

I would say the loss of the stepped front is a recent change. The March 29 photos show some stepping like the old renderings and all formwork was removed. These recent photos show the flat front made up with new formwork. The original concrete stepped section is visible in one column line from the front..

[Takeo]

my god, how much space did they leave around that historic house? Looks like not much more than an alleyway... a 70 foot high sheer wall alleyway. I take it no one lives there? I wouldn’t be terribly pleased if I were the next house over either. 70 high sheer wall of windows looking into your back yard. The terraced design was more considerate.

20180508_114904 by Jonovision23, on Flickr[/QUOTE]

[IanWatson]

The developer owns the house. They restored it before starting construction on Lotus Point, and I do believe it's currently used as their offices.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Takeo

my god, how much space did they leave around that historic house? Looks like not much more than an alleyway... a 70 foot high sheer wall alleyway.

It's a driveway/service entrance, wide enough that they are using it for deliveries of materials for the building. I know because I was held up in traffic on Ochterloney earlier today as a truck trailer was backed into the driveway.

[Takeo]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

The developer owns the house. They restored it before starting construction on Lotus Point, and I do believe it's currently used as their offices.

Interesting. And they couldn’t tear it down? Surely that plot of land would have been much more valuable as apartments. And they could have built office space in the ground level.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Takeo

Interesting. And they couldn’t tear it down? Surely that plot of land would have been much more valuable as apartments. And they could have built office space in the ground level.

Yeah, it's odd as developers usually have no problem tearing down heritage properties to build upon the site. Maybe they have another use for it?

[Jonovision]

20180613_195117_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20180613_195020 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jonovision]

20180814_101635 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jstaleness]

The color of the lower level brick has me really concerned. It has the same look and feel as a 1970's 80's Mall exterior. Driving by this weekend it looked dull.