02-18-2024, 11:55 AM
(02-09-2024, 05:08 PM)westwardloo Wrote: Honestly I am getting sick of these proposals around Waterloo. There are two other proposed "Masterplanned" neighbourhoods near this one between Weber and King. All three are comprised of some of the ugliest towers I have ever seen, none of them seem to incorporate a proper street grid system, include adequate park space or provide much in terms of retail or small office space.
The HUB is probably the ugliest built urban form in our region and this proposal looks exactly like those towers. The scary part is The Hub looked kind of cool before it was value engineered. This proposal looks like it was already value engineered in the initial renderings. I can only imagine how bad this is going to look. I wouldn't want my house anywhere near these buildings.
I am actual pissed that somehow developers continue to find a way to build shittier and shitteir buildings over time in this Region. I thought by now we would start to get a bit of expertise on how to utilizes materials that are slightly cheaper then we see used in Toronto, but no its like developers have a competition in the region to see who can produce the ugliest buildings.
How hard is it to design something that looks like what is proposed in Vaughan? Are developers not trying to make as much money in the GTA as they are in Waterloo?
https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2024/01/mas...mall.55051
Or this project in Thorncliff?
https://urbantoronto.ca/database/project...nity.54213
Even Brampton is getting much nicer proposals
https://urbantoronto.ca/database/project...west.49595
I’ve got to agree. I’m as pro development as they come but I’m sick and tired of this region being ruined by shitty architecture. Waterloo is a miserable mess and I genuinely think the buildings have gotten worse over time. Look at 205 Albert (brand new) and compare that to 222 Albert (across the street). 222 actually looks serviceable and if that was the starting point from which things only improved it would be fine, but they’ve genuinely gotten worse. Phillips square looks like it belongs in the Soviet Union.
Barrelyards was decent for when the project started but it’s still going over a decade later and looks extremely dated plus all the towers look the same. There’s no excuse for this garbage that is populating our city and I’m not going to shout it down because I know we need housing but these are changes that are going to stick with us for 50 if not 100 years. There is a chance to radically transform the urban fabric of this region and chance to turn this region into something architecturally beautiful or at bare minimum serviceable, is slipping through our fingers.