What do urban condominium and suburban homes have in common? On the surface, many would say “nothing” other than they provide shelter.
Yet, if we look beneath the surface at what each represents, they have more in common.
Architecture student Dan Rempel’s recent blog entry, “The Overspecified Generic” got me thinking more about what I’ve started to find disappointing about Vancouver’s newer high rise neighbourhoods.
Condominium buildings and the units within them have become as generic and monotonous as many sprawling suburban communities. The glass towers with identical corner balconies all start to look alike in the same way that driving through a new suburb offers mostly architectural boredom (sure, at first a design might look interesting, but not once you’ve seen 1000 nearly-identical houses).
The homes themselves are almost clones. Whether suburban single family houses or a high-rise unit, most homes have nearly identical floor plans and features — the same granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, and jet tubs.
And, at street level these new communities whether in the suburbs or the inner city tend to offer generic retail experiences. In the suburbs, it’s the identical neighborhood strip centre with a grocery store, a Starbucks, and maybe another fast food chain along with a dry cleaner. In condo-ville, it can be unit-after-unit of national or global chains: Starbucks, Subway, a mini-Macdonalds, Booster Juice, Cobbs Bread, Blendz Coffee, Wireless Wave (cell phones) etc.
While, yes there are some innovations — the smaller, 2 storey supermarkets emerging in Vancouver’s high rises are intriguing and clever. But they will soon be popping up all over the place, making them less unique and interesting. Similarly, the Lifestyle Center was sort of interesting and creative, but soon every suburb will have one that will be identical to the version in the next suburb 7 miles down the road.
It may be that these communities will need time for the residents and the new community to take control from the developers. Based on shopping preferences, retailers will change over time. The lobbies and front entry ways of high rises may also change too if some residents make the effort to claim them. The new owners of suburban houses will change them over time — repainting, re landscaping, and remodelling the kitchen.
After all, 100 years ago there were a lot of “kit” houses assembled in new neighbourhoods. The California Bungalow, and various craftsman and Edwardian specials appeared everywhere. Many are still there, but their series of owners over time have made changes that give each one its own special look and character.
Urban planners and developers perhaps need to rethink sponsoring such generic development.
If cities today are meant to inspire workers in the knowledge economy then a new version of high rise sprawl may not prove good enough — at least not if some cities can come up with something better and more inspiring.
Certainly once a pattern proves itself in the business realm, it’s easier to copy than to innovate. Yet, over time, in a world that is becoming increasingly bland and uniform in so many ways, people will likely pay more to live some place that is truly special and unique – being different could pay off.
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Vancouver condos have not escaped globalization, that’s for sure. And globalization did bring unification, too. But you are right, special look and character of these uniformized condos can be achieved by their owners. And the result? Well, you can’t really influence the way these high rise buildings look, but you can do little wonders with a bit of a DIY.
A condo is basically a cheap solution to housing, to be honest I would not really care how does the building look from the outside as long as the inside is flexible and I could do whatever I wanted to make it comfy and good to live in. Condos like this one: http://juliekinnear.com/toronto-condos-lofts/456-college-street-401/ is very sought after in the Vancouver area, no wonder many of them are sold quite quickly!
I think the boom we saw in high-rise development really didn’t help the monotony. There seemed to be a “gold rush” mentality in 2006, especially here in Dallas. As a result, developers bought very non-descript, dull office buildings and started converting them to condominiums as quickly as they could because they didn’t want to miss out on the buyers. Now those buildings are not only eyesores, but they’re half-empty. Hopefully the silver lining of the tighter condo market is that developers will have to improve their product in order to achieve desired profits.
To be honest with you, at least in Vancouver, condos offer a solution to an affortability issue. As our city is very expensive to live it does offer a densification solution and allows for affordability. Now with the prices of real estate softening in Canada, we hope that developers will improve their finishes and overall product.
I am recalling “condo canyon” in North York, Ontario – an area of many high rise condo buildings and 100,000 multicultural residents. While new buildings offer a set number of unit floor plans and a finite number “finishes” (like suburban box developments), older units are being renovated across the breadth of what the design industry can provide, many with a “green” sustainability focus. The buildings may still appear monotone from the distance; the reality is that the wonderful variety of design is in the eye of the owner (and guests). The real issue is that a condo corporation is a community-within-a-community. Energizing and motivating members and residents to participate in the greater community – and to provide a street-level energy and neighbourhood “colour” is the challenge.
While Vancouver condos are more affordable than outlying areas, they are tiny!!
But then, again you don’t have to commute. It’s all about choice. Let the market dictate the price.
The good idea if the developers attract more young architects to design something different from “monotonous” and “boredom”. Organize competition, stimulate them by prizes and awards…The only thing it’s if the building is special and unique, not too many buyers will afford to buy that place.
dry cleaners come in handy specially if you need your precious clothes to get cleaned very fast :*-