The Gaslight District | completed

[cherrypark]

Seems like the same bait and switch of the DTK renders. Propose higher quality materials and airy garage design and swap back to pre-fab monoliths.

It seems like that was possibly the exactly the situation. Someone was posting about this on Reddit and an architect that was involved in the design of the podium said that they tried to object to the design and offered alternatives, but that the developer went with this as a cost saving measure. I'm definitely not surprised, since it was done by one of our best architecture firms, but developed by one of the worst/cheapest developers in the region.

I really wish the city focused more effort on holding to account publicly marketed designs vs. actualized builds. Admittedly ignorant in this area, but seems like there is a lot of consternation about size of buildings and impact on the skyline while the actual impact of approved builds feels missed too often in KW.

[ac3r]

Yeah. There ought to be some sort of way to ensure that a building is architecturally acceptable. An issue with doing that, though, is that it can act as a hinderance to developers. If a developer can't afford a really good architect or materials, a building may not get built. For affordable housing or just smaller projects, this can be an issue. But for something of this scale, they should have done a better job at the design. They can afford it.

[Bytor]

If a developer can't afford a really good architect or materials, a building may not get built.

Maybe that quality requirement should be the case? Buildings should be expected to be in good condition 50 years from now, especially the taller ones because they are going to be the most difficult to demolish and there the least like to have that done. You'll have deteriorating buildings with either enormous condo fees that nobody wants move into even they could afford it, or you'll have slum-ghetto squalor as they become increasingly unfit places to live.

[ac3r]

The longevity is a good point. I can't imagine how a lot of these buildings will look in 50 years. This one might not be that bad because, apart from the podium, it's acceptable looking and the rest of the materials are fine. All those buildings in Waterloo, though? King Street Towers are full of stains and deterioration due to vents leaking out. Preston House next door is suffering from the same problem. That one condo at King and James often has some sort of issue with the grey fake brick panels where they get white stains on them. 22 Frederick, which Europro painted with ugly grey paint thereby ruining John Lingwood's original architecture, will need to be perpetually repainted as it decays. There are so many more examples.

I'm not sure how the cities could remedy this. They don't seem to have any desire to do so either way. Waterloo is the worst offender for it. Kitchener isn't that bad...we have a few cheap buildings and failures, but it's not like there are dozens of them clustered together. Cambridge rarely gets new developments right now, but overall they seem to have the sense to preserve the original architecture of the city and any new buildings they do have aren't that bad.

[KevinL]

One might go so far as to say we have been... gaslit... by the quality promised in the renders.

[tomh009]

Yeah. There ought to be some sort of way to ensure that a building is architecturally acceptable. An issue with doing that, though, is that it can act as a hinderance to developers. If a developer can't afford a really good architect or materials, a building may not get built. For affordable housing or just smaller projects, this can be an issue. But for something of this scale, they should have done a better job at the design. They can afford it.

I am not an architect (although I do love architecture). But I suspect that this kind of post-design cost-cutting by the developer is bound to produce sub-optimal results.

A good architect would likely be able to make a better (but different) design if the final cost constraints were to be clear at the start, rather than being foisted upon the architect once the original design had already been completed.

[cherrypark]

Yeah. There ought to be some sort of way to ensure that a building is architecturally acceptable. An issue with doing that, though, is that it can act as a hinderance to developers. If a developer can't afford a really good architect or materials, a building may not get built. For affordable housing or just smaller projects, this can be an issue. But for something of this scale, they should have done a better job at the design. They can afford it.

I am not an architect (although I do love architecture). But I suspect that this kind of post-design cost-cutting by the developer is bound to produce sub-optimal results.

A good architect would likely be able to make a better (but different) design if the final cost constraints were to be clear at the start, rather than being foisted upon the architect once the original design had already been completed.

I think thats part of it too. Some of the more affordable rentals in town (Drewlo, et al) are not architecturally stunning but they seem to do a clean, simple job of what they are intended to be. The ones that seem to worst off are the marketed as upper mid-scale but then cut corners after the flashy marketing has done its job to get the speculative buying in the door. Not sure there is a clean way to manage it, but almost that certain cost per sq ft or rental rate should dictate a degree of architectural right-sizing.

[Spokes]

One might go so far as to say we have been... gaslit... by the quality promised in the renders.

I see what you did there haha

[Bjays93]

Drove by again today and noticed something I didn't pick up last time. If you go back to my photo, around the lower windows that are already installed appears to be cladding not just concrete. So I suspect what the first few levels above the podium looks like will be what the whole building looks like. 

The cladding is near identical to that of brick brewery. Slightly beige up close but from afar it looks like poured concrete. This will be an abomination when complete

[jeffster]

Can we start a poll for Duke St vs Gaslight, mid construction monstrosity award?

Nah...DTK is OK. I could see Gaslight being used in some Batman movie.

Why so serious?

[ac3r]

How far along has this come? I basically never have a reason to go to Cambridge so I haven't seen it. I'm curious to see how the podium is looking. A few weeks ago, one of the architects who was on the design team for this project posted a reply to some person on Reddit in which they objected to the design for the podium, but explained that the developer cheapened out on it to save money.

haaaaaa I was on the design team for the Gaslight podiums! The architect ended up going with with the vertical stripe idea because of how easy it was to prefab the concrete and *fake* bricks. I didn't support that design because the stripes emphasized the height of the parking podium and had nothing to do with the surrounding context of downtown Galt. But yeah the Gaslight condos are kind of embarrassing and primitive, however still a step forward for the development of Cambridge in my opinion. I gotta say though that the units on the bottom of the podium, once finished, are going to look kickass

...

I was working under the project architect for Gaslight at the time and he selected the idea from design team (aka the grunts) that we put forward to the developer (HIP) so ultimately the developer made the decision

I'm hoping it doesn't turn out that bad, but the way they explained wit with the stripes does make it hard to ignore.

[Bjays93]

How far along has this come? I basically never have a reason to go to Cambridge so I haven't seen it. I'm curious to see how the podium is looking. A few weeks ago, one of the architects who was on the design team for this project posted a reply to some person on Reddit in which they objected to the design for the podium, but explained that the developer cheapened out on it to save money.

haaaaaa I was on the design team for the Gaslight podiums! The architect ended up going with with the vertical stripe idea because of how easy it was to prefab the concrete and *fake* bricks. I didn't support that design because the stripes emphasized the height of the parking podium and had nothing to do with the surrounding context of downtown Galt. But yeah the Gaslight condos are kind of embarrassing and primitive, however still a step forward for the development of Cambridge in my opinion. I gotta say though that the units on the bottom of the podium, once finished, are going to look kickass

...

I was working under the project architect for Gaslight at the time and he selected the idea from design team (aka the grunts) that we put forward to the developer (HIP) so ultimately the developer made the decision

I'm hoping it doesn't turn out that bad, but the way they explained wit with the stripes does make it hard to ignore.

Funny you asked, because I just happened to be by these for the first time today in months. No change in the podium since I last took pictures. The podium is virtually finished on the exterior and it is just that bad. Hopefully good public and community space can make up for some of it but this whole thing is a monstrosity. 

I wouldn't blame cambridge residents one bit for being vehemently opposed to any new developments in the core after this. It's like so bad it looks like a hulking concrete wall thrown up next to a heritage building in the middle of a classic downtown. They couldve at least tried to make it fit in to the area, if only at ground level. The development literally incorporates heritage buildings. 

Suffice to say it's awful. As for the buildings themselves the on tower is topped out and the crane is already down, the other is getting up there. Unfortunately these are quite visible no matter what direction your coming into galt from and it's a damn shame.

[dtkvictim]

Few shots here. Sorry not great, was just passing by on the trail.

[ac3r]

Forget the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Award or the Pritzker Architecture Prize Award. Waterloo Region needs to pioneer a "What the Hell were they Thinking?" Award. Waterloo Region would come out on top.

This project is so, so, so ugly. Money prevailed, in the end. Some of the architects on the team for this project objected to the aesthetic and material choices being made, but because the developer was only interested in profit, any actual will to develop nice architecture was shot down. Doesn't matter if Peter Zumthor or Alvaro Siza design your buildings, they'll only be as good as what the developer wants to invest in.

[KevinL]

That last photo! Why is there a massive blank wall facing the road?