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Warehouse District Park

My expectation:
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Google
 
^^^^ If the warehouse park site was about 7 times as big as it actually is. Small as it is, it should be considering more than just the ground plane and it should be actively incorporating existing alleys into MUPs. There should be thought given to subterranean uses and to second storey uses. There has been little to no effort put forth to sculpt the land into some interesting possibilities -- a fault of City-Admin-driven thought processes (lack of imagination -- the bureaucratic mindset).
 
www.edmonton.ca

Warehouse Park | City of Edmonton

Turning parking lots into paradise. The Warehouse Park Project will bring a new, signature community park to the heart of Edmonton. Construction is set to begin in summer 2024 and is anticipated to be complete before the end of 2025.
www.edmonton.ca www.edmonton.ca

Project Update - December 2022​


Thank you to everyone who engaged with us during preliminary design engagement for Warehouse Park.

The online survey was open from November 14 - December 4 with in-person and online events and stakeholder meetings occurring throughout that period. Regardless of how you chose to engage, we appreciate everyone who took the time to provide their feedback. A What We Heard Report will be posted in early 2023.

This was the final stage of engagement for Warehouse Park. The project team will now review all of the feedback provided, along with technical information and City policies and programs, to develop a final design. We will share that design when it is available. Construction is anticipated to begin in spring 2024.
 
It is a good thing that City Administration slows down and takes a good look at this. It is easy to bungle -- as has been demonstrated so far -- I would rather see the start delayed a year or more than have a mediocre park in the downtown core.
 
So far in blanketed fashion, they (City Admin.) have entirely missed the mark.
 
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If I had my way they would start digging up all the asphalt in later 2023 so site is more or less prepped and ready to begin construction in 2024, haha, probably wouldn't do much to save time but I'm just impatient.
 
IMHO, I'm with Ted on this one, I'd rather the city take a hands off approach to this park. Let's see what the designers and architects can come up with. If the costs are extraordinary and unanticipated (they may be anyways considering current construction costs), the project can be built out over phases over coming years. I'd rather see iconic and destination style landmarks akin to what you would see in San Francisco, rather than take half measures and create something that doesn't draw attention or development to the surrounding area.

As it stands right now, the park is missing key elements that were conveniently left out of the census - which stinks of "we already have a plan in line with our budget and we're going for it based off what we think".

I hope we get an incredibly beautiful and well delivered product, but I feel like we are going to end up with something generic.
 
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Avenuer said:
What is missing from the latest concept plans?
Click to expand...
My opinion? Scale mostly. The park is a huge space but many of the elements are not big enough to satisfy the community. The (edit) playground is too small for a community with hundreds of families, the toboggan hill can only service a handful of kids, the water feature does nothing to drown out city noise as it is too small and doesn’t appear to contain any fountains. There are no elements that ensure active usage and monitoring such as a full time restaurant. The amphitheatre is simply a hill. I see no distinguishable statues, or monuments to the warehouse district’s history talking about important businesses and people who built the original community, and there’s really no centrepiece item such as a rink or a natural wetland etc.

It’s not a bad design, it’s just a bit suburban.
 
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Stevey_G said:
My opinion? Scale mostly. The park is a huge space but many of the elements are not big enough to satisfy the community. The (edit) playground is too small for a community with hundreds of families, the toboggan hill can only service a handful of kids, the water feature does nothing to drown out city noise as it is too small and doesn’t appear to contain any fountains. There are no elements that ensure active usage and monitoring such as a full time restaurant. The amphitheatre is simply a hill. I see no distinguishable statues, or monuments to the warehouse district’s history talking about important businesses and people who built the original community, and there’s really no centrepiece item such as a rink or a natural wetland etc.

It’s not a bad design, it’s just a bit suburban.
Click to expand...
Would you be happier if the open grass space in the middle was shrunken in order to fit more of the features you noted (i.e. bigger playground, bigger hill, area for a rink, etc.) within the park boundaries?

I think a rink was not considered as there are both the ICE District Plaza and City Hall rinks within walking distance, but maybe there was another reason.
 
We don't need yet another rink Downtown, but rather more spaces that can be used at a variety of times of the year and focus on creating spaces that will be very good during the warmer months.
 
Avenuer said:
Would you be happier if the open grass space in the middle was shrunken in order to fit more of the features you noted (i.e. bigger playground, bigger hill, area for a rink, etc.) within the park boundaries?

I think a rink was not considered as there are both the ICE District Plaza and City Hall rinks within walking distance, but maybe there was another reason.
Click to expand...

I think so, I think when you go and stand in those lots and imagine what an (approximately) 30-50,000 square foot green space feels like, then see the smaller and limited amenities around it, you get a sense for how out of proportion everything is. To give some context, you could fit a landmark aquarium almost 2/3's the size of the Vancouver aquarium (building itself) in that space and not make any alterations to any of the surrounding amenities. THAT is how big this space is. Monopolizing a significant portion of the park to ""sitting and reflecting" will only serve to make more important elements more crowded, limited in scope, and undesirable - especially in the winter time.
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As per the second part, I think I'm in the minority of opinion when it comes to rink space, I think there's not enough rinks in the downtown area simply for the fact that people are typically unwilling to walk more than a block or two with skates to get to an ice surface. Driving more than a few blocks is also impractical. Ice surfaces are the one go-to and staple outdoor amenity across the entire province that essentially guarantee year round usage. No matter how many places to skate we have have, there will always be people nearby ready to walk the short distance and use them - especially when thousands of residents move into the area.

I'm still holding hope that the green space, if implemented as is, will be better activated than I am imagining. I'm beating a dead-horse here, but it's probably the only space in the entire downtown capable of supporting something like an ice skating track such as the one seen below. I could see LED lights lighting up below the ice track, natural gas fire pits lighting the area, warm 4700K park-lighting, Christmas music playing, and a small bistro with an indoor sitting area to go get hot chocolate from and warm up in. This will attract the residents on cold dark bitter nights from the surrounding towers; and this will be the type of view that makes more luxurious developments surrounding the area more economically viable through the ability to demand higher $ per sq. footage.
19canada-skate-top-superJumbo.jpg
 
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'As per the second part, I think I'm in the minority of opinion when it comes to rink space, I think there's not enough rinks in the downtown area simply for the fact that people are typically unwilling to walk more than a block or two with skates to get to an ice surface. Driving more than a few blocks is also impractical. Ice surfaces are the one go-to and staple outdoor amenity across the entire province that essentially guarantee year round usage. No matter how many places to skate we have have, there will always be people nearby ready to walk the short distance and use them - especially when thousands of residents move into the area.'

ICE District
City Hall
Leg
Victoria Park oval + skate way
Community rink at Rogers Place
Ice hockey at McCauley and Riverdale

If anything, we need an ODR Downtown or in Oliver.
 
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