Recent content by constance_chlore

The ubiquity of pupusas is one of the things I miss most about Montreal (or rather, La Petite-Patrie / Saint-Michel).

Having been in the area many times, I would note that the Grand Rapids metro area is not that much smaller than the Edmonton region and quite affluent. (Most US cities are wealthier than most Canadian cities, in purely monetary terms.) But you'd have a hard time finding a duller city, in my opinion.

Having windows will of course be good, but otherwise I find this a downgrade. The Butterdome was a weird (and weirdly self-assured) statement. This is just a branded box.

What's wrong with Ever Red? Rhodium and the coming (?) building by Concordia seem pretty good.

Some street views of the more tourist-friendly bits of South Bombay (Colaba, Fort, South Bombay...). Here I leave out some of the more iconic buildings (Victoria Terminus, Taj Hotel, etc) since that's not the point of this thread. Most of these photos were taken through the dirty window of a...

The Aviary is asking people to buy gift cards to support them as they carry out repairs from the next-door fire:

Street view from Malabar Hill: Various scenes from around Chowpatty Beach:

I've spent most of the past month in rural Lincolnshire, London, Mumbai, and rural Gujarat. I wanted to share some photos from Mumbai because I suspect that Canadians know much less about it than other comparable megacities. Mumbai has a lot of problems, including traffic, pollution/trash, lack...

A new working paper from prominent urban economists argues that distinctive architecture sells at a 15% premium and generates a positive spillover effect where nearby buildings sell at a 9% premium. However, they're 25% more expensive to build, so builders don't currently recoup the additional...

This post from Brian Potter of Construction Physics argues that prefab housing hasn't meaningfully reduced single-family home prices in Sweden. Along the way we find this chart, which seems to show that as of 2008 construction labor productivity growth in Canada was lagging other countries a bit:

Oh, I'd totally believe that the reason is economic, but that doesn't mean that there won't be benefits for downtown to having a large number of new car-free residents.

Even downtown, and even when it's not -20, a lot of folks will just drive from one parkade to another without really stepping outside. It's terrible for street life. This is why I'm glad Westrich and others are beginning to experiment with reduced/no parking.

No photo, but I've been by a couple times lately and this building looks good.

Yeah, I also guessed it was some sort of combined solar power/shade thing. The building also has some great lighting. I'll try to capture it next time I'm there at night, which won't be for a while since I'm in the UK and then India for the next month.

Yeah, on a practical level I'm skeptical of how well these will rent. Maybe if the interiors are really thoughtfully designed, but if the exteriors are this bland that doesn't seem likely. I think a certain kind of developer thinks that students are undiscerning and will put up with...