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

Halifax is a nautical city, so the light theming makes a bit more sense. It mixes well with the modern structures.

In Hamilton’s plan, you’ve got this gawdy Blue Mountains-Meets Disney nonsense on one side, and KPMB-designed structures on the other.

The completed promenades don’t even match!!

If these lots sit vacant for five years as you predict, they’ll quickly become feeding/dumping grounds for the seagulls and geese that clearly run this part of town lol
 
Lol that's an insane amt of stonework being put down - screw nature - we'll just make everything a concrete jungle lol..

also what are those benches supposed to be looking at - its just a sea of empty stone paving..

now if events are held here then maybe.. like aquafest *COUGHS*
 
At least the pavers are semi-permeable, unlike the sea of asphalt the City poured down over and around the Promenade. It looks so cheap. And is so bizarre considering the climate crisis we’re in.
Then there’s Asphalt Park, err, I mean John-Rebecca Park (the park so bad it doesn’t even deserve a real name).

I’m curious what the ‘carbon footprint’ of those stairs would be! That’s a lot of concrete!!

Just Google ‘Urban Park Stairs’ and you’ll see dozens of better, less brutalist, less climate-hostile options.

Don’t forget, the City cut $15 Million from this budget and it really shows!
 
For a Hamilton organized plan, it ended up being pretty nice I think. Will likely walk over on the Saturday once they unveil the art completed and take some photos.

I do wish there were more trees, but there are more than were there prior. I just hope they can find builders for the planned blocks because it will surely feel less barren then. It will also be a disaster during construction. They really should have either built the buildings then sold them or ensured the building were done at the same time.
 
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Chronamut said:
Lol that's an insane amt of stonework being put down - screw nature - we'll just make everything a concrete jungle lol..

also what are those benches supposed to be looking at - its just a sea of empty stone paving..

now if events are held here then maybe.. like aquafest *COUGHS*
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Would planting a row of trees be too much to ask? Trees are so underrated for not only how they improve aesthetics but overall quality of life.

"We always shoot ourselves in the foot it seems.."

Hamilton: We want nice things...
we just don't want to pay for it
 
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Chronamut said:
I live by the metro on lawrence which used to be the barn, it's a pretty small one and it does the job - you could probably fit something of its size downtown.
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Yeah there's something wrong with North American society where we think grocery stores need to be Fortinos sized lol

My local go to is a Food Basics that was a holdover from A&P like 5 decades ago. Interior footprint still the same as far as I'm aware and based on customer traffic they make a really nice profit from a smaller store.
 
Wigs said:
Yeah there's something wrong with North American society where we think grocery stores need to be Fortinos sized lol

My local go to is a Food Basics that was a holdover from A&P like 5 decades ago. Interior footprint still the same as far as I'm aware and based on customer traffic they make a really nice profit from a smaller store.
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Yeah we used to shop at A&P all the time - I used to love the conveyor belt thing which would bring your groceries to the outside to pick up :)
 
Absolutely agree with the Halifax comparison. Hamilton would be so lucky if it had the same level of success. The Pier 7/8 residential development is agonizingly slow, so don't think this pier development will be happening anytime soon. Still nice to see the infrastructure being put in place.
 
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DC83 said:
What a missed opportunity 😓

Those suburban patches of grass should have been rain gardens:

urban-rain-gardens-lastavica-main.jpeg




And the amount of concrete is so bizarre. It looks blinding in the sun!

The only up side here is the public art installation. Looks great and has a huge impact over the area.
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Yes to rain gardens. I often feel like I could design a better public place...

I'm right now by the Toronto waterfront having a beer, and the public realm is amazing. I feel this area will feel a bit nicer with some buildings filling in the now grass fields. More trees would have been preferred though, but yet again, Hamilton's lack of money strikes again. Our recreational services, our parks, our public places all get 75% of the way there or less because we overbuilt our infrastructure and the city is bleeding money.

On Reddit and skyscraper page, people lament the 15% property tax increase, but even just maintaining our existing budget requires a 4.5% increase. We need to go into overdrive tearing out extra infrastructure, focus on preventative maintenance, and attract more dense residential development and commercial/industrial. We really need to leverage McMaster to attract a significant employer like KW has with Google.

These spaces will continue to suffer from low budgets value engineering them into mediocrity if the city doesn't get its act together.

All that being said. I still welcome this, as it's far more public than it previously was, and has potential for future improvements through future budgets.
 
Hamilton, is uniquely bad at investing in/creating public spaces.

Using John-Rebecca Park as an example, the design here wasn’t the main problem, the cheap and lazy execution is what gave us this (old photo, looks worse today):

EIzEeW9WoAAXGpA.jpg

(John-Rebecca Park:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1193185568093552640
)


This example (Perk Plaza) from another Rust Belt City around the corner, Cleveland, shows how an urban mound park (properly executed) can turn out beautiful!

WebPerkPark_0197.jpg

(Perk Plaza: https://www.americancityandcounty.com/slides/perk-park-planted-mounds/)


What you don’t see in the above photo is the ‘playing field’ portion of the park, which is just a sheet of grass bordered by trees —An important feature John-Rebecca totally lacks. There’s no one to just chill, read a book, have a picnic, take a nap, whatever.

And speaking of Toronto’s waterfront, its public spaces are amazing!! HTO Park (another ‘mound’ style parkette), Sugar Beach, Music Gardens, Sherbourne Commons are all beautifully designed and executed!

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(HTO Park:
https://flic.kr/p/Po9fz
)
 
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