Build skyscrapers or die!
This is essentially the message of those in favour of the United Gulf Developments proposed "twin towers" for downtown Halifax. Well, okay, maybe the city won't die, but it is destined to be forever "bland", which I guess is a kind of death if you have to look to outsiders to tell you who you are.
For those that are not familiar with the city, there is a long-standing building code that dictates no building shall restrict the view of the harbour from Citadel Hill. This has been broken a few times, but by and large has resulted in Citadel Hill being the most prominent feature of downtown Halifax when seen from the water. This proposal would put two 27-story towers along the waterfront and block a largish piece of that viewplane. The developers claim that it will become an identifiable part of the Halifax waterfront, which is indeed true if by that you mean "basically all you see south of Citadel Hill". Personally, I have no problem with a nice green hill with a clock tower on it being our image to the public. Well, that and the awful MTT building.
Apparently what Halifax needs more than anything else is "vibrant" and "new" retail space in the downtown core in order to boost tourism and make Halifax a more "lively" place. Perhaps we could find some "vibrant" retail space along the mostly-empty Barrington Street instead? Hell there are actual buildings there already that are looking for tenants. Perhaps instead of putting a blue "heritage plaque" on every single old unusable building, thereby making it more difficult to upgrade and forever unusable, we could start tearing some of them down and throwing up some five - ten story buildings. That way we can have this almost-mystical "growth" all of the town planning people talk so much about without having to resort to more suburban sprawl or putting another concrete-and-glass monstrosity on the waterfront.
There is a a strange provincialism that exists within our municiple governments that peeks its head up with phrases like "vibrant" and "world-class" that makes me want to scream sometimes.
The good thing is that the citizens are indeed up in arms about this. Last night's public hearing on the topic was standing-room only and others couldn't get in and a second meeting is to be held March 7.
For those that are not familiar with the city, there is a long-standing building code that dictates no building shall restrict the view of the harbour from Citadel Hill. This has been broken a few times, but by and large has resulted in Citadel Hill being the most prominent feature of downtown Halifax when seen from the water. This proposal would put two 27-story towers along the waterfront and block a largish piece of that viewplane. The developers claim that it will become an identifiable part of the Halifax waterfront, which is indeed true if by that you mean "basically all you see south of Citadel Hill". Personally, I have no problem with a nice green hill with a clock tower on it being our image to the public. Well, that and the awful MTT building.
Apparently what Halifax needs more than anything else is "vibrant" and "new" retail space in the downtown core in order to boost tourism and make Halifax a more "lively" place. Perhaps we could find some "vibrant" retail space along the mostly-empty Barrington Street instead? Hell there are actual buildings there already that are looking for tenants. Perhaps instead of putting a blue "heritage plaque" on every single old unusable building, thereby making it more difficult to upgrade and forever unusable, we could start tearing some of them down and throwing up some five - ten story buildings. That way we can have this almost-mystical "growth" all of the town planning people talk so much about without having to resort to more suburban sprawl or putting another concrete-and-glass monstrosity on the waterfront.
There is a a strange provincialism that exists within our municiple governments that peeks its head up with phrases like "vibrant" and "world-class" that makes me want to scream sometimes.
The good thing is that the citizens are indeed up in arms about this. Last night's public hearing on the topic was standing-room only and others couldn't get in and a second meeting is to be held March 7.
Ye Gods, those are ugly buildings! Yeah, the develop-at-any-cost forces are in full force here in St John's, along with of course, the preserve-our-history ones you speak of, the ones who say that you can't make any changes to the downtown core. Hard to say which way I lean, there's faults with both approaches, although I like your suggestion, which strikes me as an acceptable middle ground.
Posted by
Dan |
Wed Mar 01, 06:03:00 PM
I dunno about ugly so much, Dan; I think they're kind of interesting, just not appropriate for this city. We have lots of room to grow in the areas that are currently under-utilized. One day, maybe, but not now.
Posted by
kevvyd |
Thu Mar 02, 09:53:00 AM
True, Paul, but then they wouldn't be "distinctive", would they? You're right, though, there are some architects that would probably really want a project like that.
Unfortunately I think that the heritage building designation becomes a bit of an obstacle to the kind of "infilling" that Halifax's downtown really needs. Not that I prefer they tear down all of the old structures, but some of them certainly could go if the alternative is the death of the downtown.
Posted by
kevvyd |
Thu Mar 02, 03:12:00 PM