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General Architecture & Design Discussion

archited said:
Formerly the Alexander Taylor School -- still owned by the the Edmonton Public School Board leased to the nonprofit E4C (assistance for the poor) -- built in 1907 -- designed by architect Roland Lines (and drawing Lines was his trade).
Click to expand...
Could you expand on the phrase "drawing lines" ?
 
drawing-board-2863664_960_720.jpg
 
Drafting Machines darn near made me a hunchback -- I expelled mine in the early '80s in favor of computers.
 
grew up around those. My father was head of the drafting dept at one of our early Engineering firms. As A kid I remember going in on weekends with him. The rows of drafting tables and those strange machines. Mind you I never got good at that. My brothers and I did learn to read drawings at a very early age though. And I loved the smell of Blue Prints.
 
I'm not sure if this is the proper thread for this but I thought it was applicable to "General Architecture and Design". There has been an increase in recent years of the Neo-Traditionalist architectural style, which I think is a very interesting phenomena. I don't know about everyone but for me personally buildings from eras like the Baroque, Gothic, and other older styles are "better" in my opinion. I know art is subjective and architecture is a part of that but I think most people would agree that a beautiful old building is better than the glass obelisks and arms race to create the most outlandish post-modernist building. There is a development that has gone up in Guatemala City called "Cayala" which exemplifies the ideas of Neo-Traditionalist architecture. It's built in a style that is meant to resemble the Colonial architecture of Guatemala, but also incorporates elements of the native Mayan style in interesting ways. They come together in a new sort of style that is both beautiful (in my opinion), and representative of the nation and people.

What do we think an Edmonton / Canadian style developed in this way might look like. Combining the many styles and influences from European, Indigenous and other peoples who call our country home. I think one of the reasons modernism is so prevalent is because we see it as sort of a culturally neutral style but I think this style shows we can build architecturally and culturally interesting buildings without necessarily serving one specific ethnic groups style.

cayala2.jpg
cayala2.jpg
 
erudyk_29 said:
I'm not sure if this is the proper thread for this but I thought it was applicable to "General Architecture and Design". There has been an increase in recent years of the Neo-Traditionalist architectural style, which I think is a very interesting phenomena. I don't know about everyone but for me personally buildings from eras like the Baroque, Gothic, and other older styles are "better" in my opinion. I know art is subjective and architecture is a part of that but I think most people would agree that a beautiful old building is better than the glass obelisks and arms race to create the most outlandish post-modernist building. There is a development that has gone up in Guatemala City called "Cayala" which exemplifies the ideas of Neo-Traditionalist architecture. It's built in a style that is meant to resemble the Colonial architecture of Guatemala, but also incorporates elements of the native Mayan style in interesting ways. They come together in a new sort of style that is both beautiful (in my opinion), and representative of the nation and people.

What do we think an Edmonton / Canadian style developed in this way might look like. Combining the many styles and influences from European, Indigenous and other peoples who call our country home. I think one of the reasons modernism is so prevalent is because we see it as sort of a culturally neutral style but I think this style shows we can build architecturally and culturally interesting buildings without necessarily serving one specific ethnic groups style.

View attachment 525655View attachment 525656
Click to expand...
I don't know if I particularly like it as a trend, but this one was certainly very well done.

I guess if we were to have an Edmonton/Canadian equivalent, it would probably be a lot of red brick, reminiscent of late 19th and early 20th century, which is when our city really took shape. I do like the idea, but I also think it should be focused on areas that already have some of these AND need a big breath of fresh air, such as the Quarters or Chinatown, where having low and mid-rise buildings would probably be the best idea.

I'd still prefer to see towers go in the core and Oliver, especially, with a more modern look (even if we do incorporate materials such as brick or wood in the facades and podiums).
 
Robotics manufactured facades on the rise... a potential upgrade solution for some buildings that are too ugly for any other kind of help.
materialdistrict.com

A facade robotically woven of carbon and glass fibres - MaterialDistrict

For a new building at the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences, architectural studios Allmannwappner and Menges Scheffler Architekten created a façade that looks like a web made of robotically woven carbon and glass fibres. The building, called Texoversum, is a new building of the...
materialdistrict.com materialdistrict.com
 
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erudyk_29 said:
I'm not sure if this is the proper thread for this but I thought it was applicable to "General Architecture and Design". There has been an increase in recent years of the Neo-Traditionalist architectural style, which I think is a very interesting phenomena. I don't know about everyone but for me personally buildings from eras like the Baroque, Gothic, and other older styles are "better" in my opinion. I know art is subjective and architecture is a part of that but I think most people would agree that a beautiful old building is better than the glass obelisks and arms race to create the most outlandish post-modernist building. There is a development that has gone up in Guatemala City called "Cayala" which exemplifies the ideas of Neo-Traditionalist architecture. It's built in a style that is meant to resemble the Colonial architecture of Guatemala, but also incorporates elements of the native Mayan style in interesting ways. They come together in a new sort of style that is both beautiful (in my opinion), and representative of the nation and people.

What do we think an Edmonton / Canadian style developed in this way might look like. Combining the many styles and influences from European, Indigenous and other peoples who call our country home. I think one of the reasons modernism is so prevalent is because we see it as sort of a culturally neutral style but I think this style shows we can build architecturally and culturally interesting buildings without necessarily serving one specific ethnic groups style.

View attachment 525655View attachment 525656
Click to expand...
We are not a resort where appearance is important or a place with a lot of historical buildings, but a commercial centre that has grown quickly in the modern era. So in our haste, I think we often just went for the generic current North American as the default style and so have ended up looking too much like a generic modern North American city. We have forgotten or overlooked our roots.

I would like to see some of the older styles we still have around thoughtfully replicated and echoed in various places in our city. For instance, we have actually kept some wonderful older buildings (ex. McDougal School) in various spots but they are often in isolation or chopped up so there is no strong or consistent character to the area.
 
I meant to say MacKay Ave School, but we have many of the older schools in a somewhat similar style in older central areas.
 
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