414 Westhaven Street | 13 fl | U/C

[ijmorlan]

The architecture team had a goal to create a self-contained pedestrian friendly project by constructing a network of pathways and a traffic calmed street that will curve, be built out of a unique form of material and contain colours to allow vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians to share the internal road in a safe manner.

But where are the bicycles and people walking going to go to? Argh. Sucks.

I have to say it seems somewhat meaningless if retail isn’t integrated. And what do they mean by “adjacent”? Apartment residents should not have to go outside to get to the party room. It’s simply not believable that interior connections can’t be provided attractively in a single development like this.

Also, what is this internal roadway for? It shouldn’t be for the tower parking: that can just exit directly or almost directly on to whatever main street this is on. It doesn’t make sense to make a woonerf for something which is the access to hundreds of residential units (i.e., larger than many entire villages). If the idea is that the townhouse driveways connect to it then that could make some sense.

Finally, unless the pedestrian friendliness extends to links to adjacent developments, existing and future, it’s also meaningless. Single developments can’t really be pedestrian friendly, unless they are essentially an entire settlement within themselves; it’s how the different properties in a city link together which determines pedestrian friendliness. I mean, the inside of a Home Depot is a fairly pedestrian friendly environment; it’s how one would walk to another nearby property which makes it unfriendly.