The Soul-Sucking Canada Thread

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

You think that Hurontario St. in Mississauga was intentionally built as a view corridor for the most prominent building in the area - which I guess would be the Marilyn Monroe towers?

Oh, I thought you were actually talking still about that Russian Church one... in which I absolutely don't think the road width and "showcase" position of the church is a problem at all - in fact that exact setup / built form could look great if the architecture and street furniture weren't dreary. Many old village cores have their churches featured like that, or capital cities with their govt building.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

Oh, I thought you were actually talking still about that Russian Church one... in which I absolutely don't think the road width and "showcase" position of the church is a problem at all - in fact that exact setup / built form could look great if the architecture wasn't dreary. Many old village cores have their churches featured like that, or capital cities with their govt building.

Agreed. The scene from Markham would actually look pretty decent I bet under better climactic conditions.

A sunny summer day with leaves in the trees and green grass, or even a sunny winter day with freshly-fallen snow.

[lio45]

I re-read to see how come I was mistaken, out of curiosity, and the guy right before you said "The street widths really don't work well in this context." talking about the Russian Church, and you seconded that going even further (or so I thought) about street widths...

Explains my misunderstanding

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

I re-read to see how come I was mistaken, out of curiosity, and the guy right before you said "The street widths really don't work well in this context." talking about the Russian Church, and you seconded that going even further (or so I thought) about street widths...

Explains my misunderstanding

Nazhdroviyeh!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Agreed. The scene from Markham would actually look pretty decent I bet under better climactic conditions.

Nope - the Soviet Gulag is still a Gulag no matter what the weather..........

[Doady]

Hurontario isn't as wide as Champs-Elysees, at least.

I don't see why single out one of the busiest transit corridors in the GTA for being pedestrian unfriendly. They are planning to spend $1.2 billion on an LRT here that won't connect to the TTC. Maybe it's for a good reason.

To say that a road with 4 lanes for cars and 2 lanes for LRT will still be too wide is criticize the entire LRT concept to begin with. It's the same idea as St. Clair and Spadina. How else are they supposed to build it? Only 2 lanes for cars? Underground? Elevated? I don't get it.

If it wasn't in Mississauga, it wouldn't be such a stupid idea, I guess.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Doady

Hurontario isn't as wide as Champs-Elysees, at least.

I don't see why single out one of the busiest transit corridors in the GTA for being pedestrian unfriendly. They are planning to spend $1.2 billion on an LRT here that won't connect to the TTC. Maybe it's for a good reason.

To say that a road with 4 lanes for cars and 2 lanes for LRT will still be too wide is criticize the entire LRT concept to begin with. It's the same idea as St. Clair and Spadina. How else are they supposed to build it? Only 2 lanes for cars? Underground? Elevated? I don't get it.

If it wasn't in Mississauga, it wouldn't be such a stupid idea, I guess.

I wasn't criticizing the idea of putting LRT on Hurontario at all. In fact, I wasn't even thinking of that.

I thought we were discussing the genesis of its streetscape - which dates from long before anyone thought of putting LRT on there.

Yeah, Hurontario isn't worse than 100 other roads in Mississauga or in dozens of other Canadian cities.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Nope - the Soviet Gulag is still a Gulag no matter what the weather..........

Said Ivan Denisovich.

The Markham picture is not the gulag. It is slightly monoliithic. Lacking human scale. Does it have some elements that could have worked fairly well? Sure. The focal point down the road could certainly work. But it came out bad. Maybe in thirty years it looks better, but the road is still too wide, it lacks interaction between the two sides. The lack of material variety is staggering. I'm in dusty-rose hell. The lamp posts look so dated in comparison to the actual built form. Mid 18th century lamp posts beside value-engineered construction materials leads me to throw up in my mouth a little.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Doesn't matter. The photo still looks like it was taken somewhere east of the Urals - bleak, austere, sullen, depressing, drab and authoritarian. The scene is devoid of hopefulness and is the perfect epitome of "soul-sucking" as defined by this thread.



Are you sure this photo was taken in Canada???

Same view from last August:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.89327...7i13312!8i6656

[Martin Mtl]

/\ Looks just as horrible.

[HomeInMyShoes]

The buildings lining the street look less-offensive in the winter photograph.

[SkahHigh]

Can't believe there's not even one patch of grass on that street.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

/\ Looks just as horrible.

The best that can be said is that it is a sanitized Disney version of a Russian state factory town located on the western Siberian steppes.

The only things missing are a few commissars and stocky peasant women wandering the streets and a few decrepit Ladas in the parking spaces.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

Can't believe there's not even one patch of grass on that street.

I think that would actually make it look even more suburban as it's intended to be a retail street. Nothing worse than the grass strip on a retail strip IMO. They could definitely use some more substantial street furniture though.

The buildings suck, but as the rest of the neighbourhood builds out (including a square in front of the cathedral), retail (hopefully) evolves and the trees mature it will look a lot less offensive. Most of the retail appears to be occupied now which actually isn't bad for a partially built suburban neighbourhood that wasn't there 10 years ago. IIRC the developer dropped the ball on quite a few things that were originally promised but some appear to be coming through now.

[SkahHigh]

Originally Posted by niwell

I think that would actually make it look even more suburban as it's intended to be a retail street. Nothing worse than the grass strip on a retail strip IMO. They could definitely use some more substantial street furniture though.

The buildings suck, but as the rest of the neighbourhood builds out (including a square in front of the cathedral), retail (hopefully) evolves and the trees mature it will look a lot less offensive. Most of the retail appears to be occupied now which actually isn't bad for a partially built suburban neighbourhood that wasn't there 10 years ago. IIRC the developer dropped the ball on quite a few things that were originally promised but some appear to be coming through now.

Maybe you're right.

I noticed the street is way too large and the businesses are way too remote from the street and sidewalk. That big patch of asphalt between the "path" and the buildings could have brought the buildings closer and make it seem more like an actual commercial street. So much wasted space.

Something like this: https://www.google.ca/maps/@42.11658...7i13312!8i6656

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Schoolyards also tend to be soul sucking dead patches of concrete and grass:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.05251...7i13312!8i6656

That looks awesome. I wished for grass and concrete as a kid. Instead the Catholic school board in Toronto only believed in schoolyards of asphalt inbedded with sharp stones.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.65612...7i13312!8i6656
not a place where you slide into home

[niwell]

Originally Posted by SkahHigh

Maybe you're right.

I noticed the street is way too large and the businesses are way too remote from the street and sidewalk. That big patch of asphalt between the "path" and the buildings could have brought the buildings closer and make it seem more like an actual commercial street. So much wasted space.

Something like this: https://www.google.ca/maps/@42.11658...7i13312!8i6656

Don't get me wrong, it still sucks, and older main street neighbourhoods had much better scale. Even not that far away in Markham:https://goo.gl/maps/PtpV2NK3H812
https://goo.gl/maps/NUcaxPbCczt

Just comparing it to other brand new suburban developments which suck even more. The width of the street in this case seems to have been tied to the width of the cathedral, but the buildings lining the high street aren't really the right scale to make it work.

I don't like grass but something like this could have been done on the bumpouts between parking and still look somewhat urban (another brand new suburban development): https://goo.gl/maps/kmTtkb7wC7v

[WhipperSnapper]

The street is purposely planned wide to have nothing block the church. Think about it too. Would it be as creepy if it wasn't planned this way?

The architecture isn't bad for new urbanism in the GTA either. The colours are really bland and uniform across the whole development.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by niwell

I don't like grass but something like this could have been done on the bumpouts between parking and still look somewhat urban (another brand new suburban development): https://goo.gl/maps/kmTtkb7wC7v

Re: Brampton example. I worked in Brampton from 1989-1994 and I'm sure in that era that area was just fields owned by numbered companies.

It has a Truman Show vibe about it.

In the past there was a distinct gap between Brampton and Georgetown but that seems to be getting blurred with more and more 'product' appearing.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Same view from last August:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@43.89327...7i13312!8i6656

It actually looks worse! In summer it looks like a potemkin village. At least the winter shot is authentic looking.