Hamilton Pier 8 Redevelopment | 147m | 45s | Cityzen | Omar Gandhi

[ushahid]

looks like the US bank building in LA. looks nice.

 

[cd concept]

I seems that the farther away you go from the escarpment the more hieght is added in Hamilton. This one and the Frances st development maximum hieght is at 44 to 45 storeys. Could this the norm for extra hieght limit in the Hamilton Harbour, Burlington Bay areas instead of downtown core area ??

 

[Lachlan Holmes]

I seems that the farther away you go from the escarpment the more hieght is added in Hamilton. This one and the Frances st development maximum hieght is at 44 to 45 storeys. Could this the norm for extra hieght limit in the Hamilton Harbour, Burlington Bay areas instead of downtown core area ??

Not quite. The reason this one may be able to surpass the escarpment height limit is because of a somewhat bizarre LPAT settlement to an appeal of the original Pier 8 redevelopment plan, which was midrise only. The height of the building here is intentionally at or below the height of Landmark Place which is the tallest building by geodetic height in lower Hamilton, in order to prevent the creation of a new height precedent. It is able to squeeze in a couple extra storeys compared to Landmark Place because the ground elevation of Pier 8 is lower than that of Landmark.

310 Frances on the other hand is a very rare case of existing as-of-right zoning having zero height limit. I believe it was originally set that way in the 1970s zoning and then reaffirmed in 2010.

 

[daniel_kryz]

I don't think the tower is appropriate here. I'd much rather have this work of art built, as originally designed by gh3. Other than that, this project is amazing!

 

[Irishmonk]

The tower is definitely out of proportion to the neighborhood, will cast shadows and generally be a looming, unfriendly presence.

Not sure if I'm correct, but the original plan for the site may have been for a new Hamilton Art Gallery. I'm guessing that notion has been dropped.

 

[innsertnamehere]

Art Gallery is staying in place downtown and is getting a renovation as a part of the Copps Coliseum sale deal.

The shadows here will mostly go out across the lake so won't actually be that bad.

 

[allengeorge]

I actually like the most recent design iteration with the circular tower.

 

[daniel_kryz]

I actually like the most recent design iteration with the circular tower.

To each his own, of course. But lemme ask you this. Does the tower have any relation (massing, materials, expression) to the rest of the master plan? And wouldn't it create an unbalanced view from the water?
Also, I think that the design is kinda lazy and resembles a typical North American CBD tower.

 

[allengeorge]

To each his own, of course. But lemme ask you this. Does the tower have any relation (massing, materials, expression) to the rest of the master plan? And wouldn't it create an unbalanced view from the water?

It does create an unbalanced view. But the photos of when the CN Tower was built don't paint a particularly flattering picture of Toronto either.

I'm honestly unsure that buildings necessarily need to have relations in terms of massing/materials/expression to each other. That's an extreme view, but visiting New York and seeing buildings from very different contexts with different materials and different heights next to each other, and it all just working out - I think consistency is overrated.

 

[daniel_kryz]

It does create an unbalanced view. But the photos of when the CN Tower was built don't paint a particularly flattering picture of Toronto either.

I'm honestly unsure that buildings necessarily need to have relations in terms of massing/materials/expression to each other. That's an extreme view, but visiting New York and seeing buildings from very different contexts with different materials and different heights next to each other, and it all just working out - I think consistency is overrated.

That's fine at a city-wide level, but this is a Pier. It extends into the water like a square and has limited space, so the inconsistency can't be remedied like it was with the CN Tower.

 

[AlbertC]

Hamilton takes big strides on waterfront development - Daily Commercial News

Two years since its creation, the City of Hamilton’s Municipal Land Development Office is presiding over a significant portfolio of waterfront projects that will transform the district from unloved wasteland to a busy people place. The division’s manager

canada.constructconnect.com

The Jamesville Redevelopment, the Barton-Tiffany district plan, the multi-use build-up of the West Harbour’s Pier 8 and the revitalization of Piers 5, 6 and 7 are in various stages of development with considerable progress anticipated for the rest of 2022.

“There’s significant work going on,” said Phillips. “It’s not just all talk. There’s a lot of action happening and we are well on our way to realizing the broader vision for the West Harbour.”

The development office was formally launched in January 2020 to co-ordinate major redevelopment projects by leveraging city-owned assets while meeting city policy objectives. Key priorities include the city’s West Harbour redevelopment plan, creating the film studio district and expanding the city’s affordable housing supply.

The signature project is the 31-acre multi-use Pier 8. Phillips noted the development office is acting not only as landowner but also land developer.

“We’ve had tremendous activity going on here over the last two to three years,” said Phillips. “We took responsibility for all the planning approvals, for the subdivision application, for LPAT issues and settlements. We also did all the procuring and all of the construction of the civil works.”

The key underground works including site remediation, roads, sewers and a pumping station project have been completed, with the site now ready for the preferred development proponent, the consortium Waterfront Shores, to take the next steps of obtaining site plan approvals and getting down to construction.

The consortium will eventually take ownership through a purchase from the city.

Plans for Pier 8’s nine development blocks include 1,600 residential units, 70,000 square feet of leasable commercial space, 27,000 square feet of proposed institutional space and over one-third of the property devoted to open space.

“Big picture, we’re probably talking about a market value of the site now between $750 million and a billion dollars,” said Phillips.

Also notable for Pier 8 is a proposed official plan amendment for Block 16 to permit a 45-storey tower that has been designed by renowned architect Bruce Kuwabara of KPMB Architects.

“Bruce is also a born and bred Hamiltonian and specifically grew up here in the north end,” said Phillips. “You’ll start to see his passion for this project over the next few weeks as the city moves through the application process and rolls it out to the community.”

The 5.4-acre Jamesville project involves the redevelopment of 92 townhouses owned by CityHousing Hamilton, the city’s social housing developer, into a larger mixed-income affordable housing community. Jamesville Redevelopment Limited Partnership was selected as the preferred development proponent with Marz Homes, Melrose, DeSantis, Fram + Stoker, Indwell and City Housing Hamilton as builders. The housing mix will include 287 units of stacked townhouses, a seven-storey affordable rental property with 46 units and another seven-storey affordable rental property with up to 120 units.

Demolition is expected to get underway this spring with site remediation, underground servicing and home construction to follow.

 

[Northern Light]

Story from CBC on this one:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/waterfront-tower-1.6352772

Some neighbours concerned, but 2 local neighbourhood associations in support.

But an academic expressing serious concern over the height precedent.

But it's moving forward, so far:

 

[Lachlan Holmes]

I watched the public meeting yesterday evening and took some screenshots of the presentation. I'll try and summarize a bit of it here, before the full presentation is uploaded to the City's website in the coming days. Bear with me as the slides worth sharing will take two posts to share.

All of the tower design options (there are three of those; those will be post #2) are circular-ish in nature. This is because the site is naturally windy as it is, and a circular shape will reduce pushing more wind down to the ground level. As well, the podium takes these wind considerations into account.

Next, here are some preliminary renderings on the podium and streetscape (and one of the lobby):

Now, taking a closer look at the balconies and the preliminary floorplans.

In the original conceptual tower design, the balconies were more of a wraparound design. Mr. Kuwabara noted however, that the balcony design has been changed to inset in response to the wind studies that were completed, and that they'll be more useful as such.

Further, it was mentioned that the floorplate sizes are as follows: 850 square metres for the lower tower floors (30 and under) and 650 square metres for the upper tower floors (31 and over). This is notable, because it means this tower will have a significantly smaller footprint, and more elegant stature, than many of the towers that have recently gone up in Hamilton with floorplate sizes often between 900 and 1100 square metres. (!!!)

Then, we saw an updated overall aerial view of the project with the tower included:

That's all for this first post. Next up, I'll post the three tower design options in a few minutes.

 

[Lachlan Holmes]

Now, on to looking at the three different tower design options. The difference between the three, as you'll see, is in tower footprint/shape. Mr. Kuwabara shared that exterior treatment is still a work in progress. I suspect it will become more concrete by the time of the second Design Review Panel meeting, in late April.

Option 1 - Cylinder

Note: they went through these slides rather quickly, and thus I missed the slide "View from the North" for Option 1. Also, please note that I have excluded the "Aerial View" slide for this option to fit under the fifteen image limit. It is visible in the last image of the previous post, however.

Option 2 - Waves

Option 3 - Lily

That's it for now. There is a special meeting of the Design Review Panel for this project tomorrow at 6:30pm which I'm planning to observe, and if there's anything of interest I'll bring it back to show you here!

 

[Red_Bulmer]

This is the worst method of design. I had a prof that always wanted us to draw a squiggle and then base our whole design around it. There is a maple tree nearby so draw a maple leaf and repeat that pattern in the design lol
It's for people with no creativity and frankly no business being a designer lol