Waterloo 205 Albert Street | 81m | 25s | Prica | ASP

emphurent

emphurent

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As UT expands coverage of the GTA, it's finally about time to fill in the missing threads for Waterloo as Kitchener is mostly documented.

As a lot of the major changes have already happened in Waterloo (seriously if you haven't been in 10 years, it's a different landscape around the universities), I'm starting with a fairly large student building located on University Avenue, filling in the final corner of a now pretty major intersection. (Albert and University could use a pedestrian scramble!)

This project is nearing top out, and is the tallest in the immediate area. These photos were taken yesterday between snow storms.

PXL_20211207_005400617.NIGHT.jpg


Pp25MGt.jpg


This is an interlocking precast build which has allowed it to grow very quickly.



PXL_20211207_005551185.NIGHT.jpg


On a not totally unrelated note, this is the first time I've walked this part of the student area, and as I said before on another thread for a nearby building, the student district in waterloo gets way too much flack for how well it's actually turned out.

This photo with the tower in the back shows how urban and built up it really feels. This was all single family homes less than 10 years ago, but it's now quite pleasant to walk with retail sprinkled around. Never could this have happened at this pace in Toronto, and never could this have happened on side streets like it did here. It's really quite impressive. Only gripe would be that now that the street is an apartment street, the public realm should be made consistent.

PXL_20211207_005210581.NIGHT.jpg


To further my point, this cross through alley I found with a lovely mural is something even Toronto forgoes sometimes where it'd be well used.

PXL_20211207_005903395.jpg


And for the final photo, the tower as seen from the alleyway.

PXL_20211207_005955438.jpg
 
Last edited:
emphur said:
As UT expands coverage of the GTA, it's finally about time to fill in the missing threads for Waterloo as Kitchener is mostly documented.

As a lot of the major changes have already happened in Waterloo (seriously if you haven't been in 10 years, it's a different landscape around the universities), I'm starting with a fairly large student building located on University Avenue, filling in the final corner of a now pretty major intersection. (Albert and University could use a pedestrian scramble!)

This project is nearing top out, and is the tallest in the immediate area. These photos were taken yesterday between snow storms.

View attachment 367710

View attachment 367705

This is an interlocking precast build which has allowed it to grow very quickly.



View attachment 367711

On a not totally unrelated note, this is the first time I've walked this part of the student area, and as I said before on another thread for a nearby building, the student district in waterloo gets way too much flack for how well it's actually turned out.

This photo with the tower in the back shows how urban and built up it really feels. This was all single family homes less than 10 years ago, but it's now quite pleasant to walk with retail sprinkled around. Never could this have happened at this pace in Toronto, and never could this have happened on side streets like it did here. It's really quite impressive. Only gripe would be that now that the street is an apartment street, the public realm should be made consistent.

View attachment 367709

To further my point, this cross through alley I found with a lovely mural is something even Toronto forgoes sometimes where it'd be well used.

View attachment 367712

And for the final photo, the tower as seen from the alleyway.

View attachment 367713
Click to expand...
Beautiful pictures! What a throwback....!
 
It’s astounding how much Waterloo is squandering its wealth and growth on such hideous urban design and architecture. The city has become breathtakingly ugly in its growth spurt over the last decade.

I have a lot of good to say about the place so I don’t relish in saying that.
 
Last edited:
.dwg said:
It’s astounding how much Waterloo is squandering its wealth and growth on such hideous urban design. The city has become breathtakingly ugly in its growth spurt over the last decade.

I have a lot of good to say about the place so I don’t relish in saying that.
Click to expand...

To preface: I'm not really sure what you mean by urban design in this context (architectural/materials, public realm, massing/form) so I'll just be listing my own critiques. This isn't me agreeing or disagreeing, it's just some thoughts this made me have. If it's just the architecture/building quality that is the issue, many do feel unsatisfied with the architectural choices, but as that's not within the city's scope of control, I won't comment on it.

I do feel urban design in this case maybe paints it a little too broadly, it's not totally wrong, but the changes have happened so fast that every street has vastly different issues/quirks. If you are referring to public realm, the real issue is much of what's been developed were single family home neighborhoods, and that plain infrastructure (basic sidewalk, street layout) hasn't been updated yet for the level of density some areas are seeing. The King street corridor north of University is the most common punching bag, and is arguably the worst street that's seen redevelopment because it's so desolate, but I feel there are many better urban examples around that completely outshine that mess and are better examples of upgrading suburbs to mixed use communities. Lester Street, Sunview Street, Hemlock Street, among others feature decently interesting public realms that were not possible in what existed before, what they lack is an elevated streetscape and traffic calming,

Without a consistent vision from the beginning, the building shapes and interactivity are vastly inconsistent which is why it's such a street by street issue. Better urban design guidelines would've been useful when the swath of development started. Ideally the redeveloped streets would have left less room between buildings and had a more cohesive goal, but because the redevelopments have to fit within their property it can sometimes appear like a vertical suburb without the upgraded public realm. The transformation is really only half done in many places, so the city hasn't put a focus on really beefing up the public realm with more than just a sidewalk.

A good demonstration of how an updated public realm could enhance the urban realm can be seen on Larch street. While in no way should this be the model (way too much concrete, not enough trees, not enough interest), it shows how much the public realm impacts your perception of the space. The updated look doesn't feel like a suburb, which I think is the goal. On top of the traffic calming, and seating, it's overall a nicer space than what was there before, even including retail. It's a step in the right direction, and should be a learning moment for the city, the intentions were good, the lack of plantings are not.

(Source)

3jgyG49l.jpg

wYBeTgYl.png
 
I'm wondering if they will be doing the plantings in the spring. Considering the Larch St. woonerf was only completed this fall (I think?) doing the planting at that time might not have given the plants enough time to establish themselves before winter?
 
emphur said:
To preface: I'm not really sure what you mean by urban design in this context (architectural/materials, public realm, massing/form) so I'll just be listing my own critiques. This isn't me agreeing or disagreeing, it's just some thoughts this made me have. If it's just the architecture/building quality that is the issue, many do feel unsatisfied with the architectural choices, but as that's not within the city's scope of control, I won't comment on it.

I do feel urban design in this case maybe paints it a little too broadly, it's not totally wrong, but the changes have happened so fast that every street has vastly different issues/quirks. If you are referring to public realm, the real issue is much of what's been developed were single family home neighborhoods, and that plain infrastructure (basic sidewalk, street layout) hasn't been updated yet for the level of density some areas are seeing. The King street corridor north of University is the most common punching bag, and is arguably the worst street that's seen redevelopment because it's so desolate, but I feel there are many better urban examples around that completely outshine that mess and are better examples of upgrading suburbs to mixed use communities. Lester Street, Sunview Street, Hemlock Street, among others feature decently interesting public realms that were not possible in what existed before, what they lack is an elevated streetscape and traffic calming,

Without a consistent vision from the beginning, the building shapes and interactivity are vastly inconsistent which is why it's such a street by street issue. Better urban design guidelines would've been useful when the swath of development started. Ideally the redeveloped streets would have left less room between buildings and had a more cohesive goal, but because the redevelopments have to fit within their property it can sometimes appear like a vertical suburb without the upgraded public realm. The transformation is really only half done in many places, so the city hasn't put a focus on really beefing up the public realm with more than just a sidewalk.

A good demonstration of how an updated public realm could enhance the urban realm can be seen on Larch street. While in no way should this be the model (way too much concrete, not enough trees, not enough interest), it shows how much the public realm impacts your perception of the space. The updated look doesn't feel like a suburb, which I think is the goal. On top of the traffic calming, and seating, it's overall a nicer space than what was there before, even including retail. It's a step in the right direction, and should be a learning moment for the city, the intentions were good, the lack of plantings are not.

(Source)

3jgyG49l.jpg

wYBeTgYl.png
Click to expand...

My two-cent here!

I previously lived in the city of KW in my school years. The explosion of new development is mainly targeted to build as much "student housing" as possible. Which makes sense due to the proximity of the locations clustered around the majority student population. Hence streets such as Albert, Lester & King St are filled with new developments.

Outside the student area, new developments like in the City of Kitchener are aimed at filling in new demographic: urban young professionals.

Urban design is important but the city is experiencing such explosive growth the company behind it believes in serving the market first rather than going thru the city planning vision.
 
This has to be one of the worst buildings in the city. Great impact on the skyline driving down university but every time I get closer to Albert street I cant help but wonder what the hell happened here.

It's worse than anything in its immediate surroundings despite being the newest.
 
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