King-Victoria Transit Hub

[jamincan]

As a point of comparison, the Stephen Hawking Centre at the PI was $30 million.

[REnerd]

Will this design be part of some sort of architecture competition?

Would something like this possibly draw (inter)national attention?

Who is the dream starchitect/architect - surely there are some architects here with some dream designers for something like this?

It would be too exciting if done as a competition that people could vote on.

[Spokes]

Region taking on construction of transit terminal portion of hub in downtown Kitchener

The landmark mixed-use development planned for downtown Kitchener will now be built in stages, and Waterloo Region will look after the transit portion.

"We are going to take on the construction of the transit hub," Coun. Tom Galloway, chair of the region's planning and works committee, said Tuesday.

"Then we'll chunk out the commercial, residential piece at a later date."

The original plan for the parcel at King and Victoria streets was to have a master developer look after the entire site, which would include transit infrastructure as well as residential, office and retail uses.
...
"It's no change to the overall vision for the site," said Ellen McGaghey, the region's director of facilities and fleet management. "They weren't going to do it all at one go, anyway."

This way the region can move forward with the transit terminal, which will seamlessly connect passengers on Ion, GO Transit, Via Rail service and Grand River Transit, while having more control over the look of the hub.

"This is going to have a high level of design. This is going to be an iconic building," Galloway said.

The province has committed $43 million for the transit-related components of the project. It's not expected the stumble with the master developer will significantly affect the original schedule, with construction on the transit hub expected to be completed in late 2021 or early 2022.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/923...kitchener/

[clasher]

I work as an ironworker so I have a pretty good idea about how buildings go together. It's totally plausible to build it. The manulife building on Water street was built to support a tower. I also work for an engineer and they aren't always the smartest people around... on Thursday I cut a piece of a giant tube out of a chute because it had a hole in it and the boss decided that somehow having the new piece made bigger than the piece that I took out was a good idea. Engineers and designers are notorious for making fancy things in CAD that can't actually be fabricated in real life so the knife certainly cuts the other way when it comes to the "engineers-know-best" attitude.

[ac3r]

I'm sure it's easier to add supports for one now then to retrofit it afterwards without them. If they do it right, it can be easily done.

So many armchair engineers and architects, wow!

Well I am someone with a master's in architecture, so I can say it is indeed entirely possible to do something like this, actually. It might add more steps to a design and building process, but it's in no way impossible to do.

What is built will most certainly be designed and constructed in such a way that it can be expanded on - unless for some reason they decide beforehand that there would be no taller structures built here. But, that is highly unlikely because of how important this intersection is going to be to the region (it will be home to the main train station, transit hub and exist in an increasingly densified area). You'll definitely see larger projects grow here, but not anytime soon. There is a big difference between architects concept of something and reality.

[KevinL]

Public talks about the design should start soon. The Record took umbrage after some initial meetings with architects were held in private, but I think that was overblown.

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/953...ansit-hub/

[Spokes]

I would have thought this would be done before the first RFP

[KevinL]

Well, the RFP is being changed so the Region builds the station structure and the rest is privately developed. It's a fresh start.

[Spokes]

Ahh yes true. I forgot they split it like that

[westwardloo]

Does anyone have any addition information on this?

Are they hosting public consultations? 

I think if they expect to have this done by 2021 they would have to start moving quickly on this. I guess the funding is up in the air after all the recent elections. This type of project should qualify for the Federal infrastructure funding no?

Sorry for the bump with no actual addition information.

[panamaniac]

Does anyone have any addition information on this?

Are they hosting public consultations? 

I think if they expect to have this done by 2021 they would have to start moving quickly on this. I guess the funding is up in the air after all the recent elections. This type of project should qualify for the Federal infrastructure funding no?

Sorry for the bump with no actual addition information.

Is 2021 still in play?  I assumed it had been pushed back.

[MidTowner]

Does anyone have any addition information on this?

Are they hosting public consultations? 

I think if they expect to have this done by 2021 they would have to start moving quickly on this. I guess the funding is up in the air after all the recent elections. This type of project should qualify for the Federal infrastructure funding no?

Sorry for the bump with no actual addition information.

No need for the apology, but when I saw this bumped after more than three months, I admit my thought was "Plans! Renderings! Concrete Timelines!"

If 2021 is still the date, I don't think that's realistic at this point.

[Spokes]

I can't imagine 2021 can be a target. Without any plans I can't think that there's even a date in mind.

[Square]

Was not the Region suppose to update to the public the plans this fall?

[tomh009]

Was not the Region suppose to update to the public the plans this fall?

There is still a month and a half left!