City Seeks Grant to Expand Park Picnic Shelter
Prince George, B.C.- The City of Prince George is looking to the Northern Development Initiative Trust for another $30 thousand dollars for an enhancement to the picnic shelter project at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park.
The project already has a budget of $779 thousand dollars. Of that amount, $377 thousand will come from the Canada 150 fund, the City will match that amount, and the Province has contributed $25 thousand for a Lheidli T’enneh memorial structure.
“There is now a unique opportunity to capitalize on the upcoming construction season to create, an essentially uncovered, concrete, or other hard surface patio that extends from the pavilion at ground level ensuring accessibility for all” said Director of Communications Rob Van Adrichem in making the request to Council for its support of the grant application.
“This patio would significantly increase the useable space and allow for additional activities at the pavilion including performances and exhibitions” said Van Adrichem.
“$30 thousand dollars is a lot if the construction is not challenging” says Councillor Garth Frizzell, ” I know any work in the park can be very challenging to do, so is there going to be additional top ups to this from anywhere else or is all of this going to achieve the hard surfacing that’s needed?”
Van Adrichem says he knows there has already been some initial geo-technical work done in the park regarding th pavilion structure “and that will inform the construction of the (hard surface) project going forward.”
Council unanimously approved submitting the application.
Comments
Director of Communications Rob Van Adrichem
Who??
yeahhh WHO is this guy???? Is he the one they hide in the basement??? Now that Mayor Hall realizes he’s going to get a lot of flack for a poorly design shelter, he digs this guy out to shield him..
Timber Kings probably do a better design and much cheaper
He’s the former PR guy from UNBC. He was hired by the City in 2015.
I am puzzled and disappointed by the fact that the Timber Kings from Williams Lake were not given the job to design and build this picnic shelter project with magnificent cedar logs from our BC forests!
This commercially bland Vancouver design does in my opinion not fit into the park and will look oddly out of place there. It looks like the dozens of rest area site shelters with toilet facilities that one encounters when driving along the west coast on US I-5!
Too bad!
I do not like the details of the current design. I am afraid it might be very crudely detailed, industrial looking shelter rather than representing what Bruce Carscadden, the Architect, refers to as being “a really nice, modern interpretation with historical features”.
I get that impression from the fly through video which was assembled using I-Beam sections and looking at the Architects’ web page where some very rough I-Beam exterior shelter projects are shown such as these images from their web page:
carscadden.ca/robert-burnaby-and-kensington-parks-1-1
carscadden.ca/wreck-beach-washrooms-1
This one is interesting in my opinion. The firm’s designs are interesting, but they missed the functional needs of a rain shelter as well as the need to reflect the historical relevance of the Memorial Park for the PG project. Part of the fault would lie with the people at City Hall who represented the citizens of this community.
carscadden.ca/canadian-architect-mircoloft-submission-1
I have not got the faintest clue where he gets that notion from, especially when he went on to mention that the “peaked roof references across to the escarpment on the other side”. I think he must be talking about the peaked North Shore Mountains visible from Vancouver, not the undulating cutbanks of airport hill.
I have already posted on the other shortcomings regard protection from the rain as well as lack of structural recognition that the design gives rise to a potential folded plate structural system which precludes the need for the I-Beam supports at the intersections of the roof panels.
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As far as the “Timber Kings” design and construction goes, I agree that they build some beautiful as well as complex timber structures. We have several lighter timber structures as picnic shelters in this City, the Regional District as well as throughout BC and the rest of Canada.
The Williams Lake company is called Pioneer Log Homes. I designed a project in Williams Lake using
Pioneer as a contractor for a portion of the conversion of a health club to a provincial training centre. At the time it was still a relatively small firm, so I got to work with the brains of the company, André Chevigny, directly.
Believe me, if they were to do a pavilion of the size shown, the City would face two challenges:
1. the design and construction price would likely double, and
2. due to their international workload, the project would likely not be able to be started until 2018 or even 2019. The project cost is far too low to accommodate their overhead.
for sure it should have went to the timber kings.
I would agree but gus makes good points above.
Obviously, not a lot of thought put into it.
Its all about spending what some at City Hall refer to as **Free Money**
Don’t we have some local companies that do log construction similar to what Pioneer Log Homes does?
Yup …. but very uninspired designs and some of questionable quality.
I tried working with one a couple of decades ago on a project in Russia. The Russians were enamoured with the log house restaurant when they visited here.
The building was designed, and then the funders decided to build a standard stick framed building.
I am not sure of the current expertise in the vicinity. Someone else might have more knowledge about that. If Allan Mackie would still be around, it would be a different story, but he isn’t.
If you do not know about him, put him into a search engine.
From the above article: “……to create, an essentially uncovered, concrete, or other hard surface patio”
Why on earth is the City even contemplating more concrete hard surfaces in a park?
There are many public spaces in the industrialized world which have non-concrete hard surfaces which allow for precipitation to penetrate them, thus dry more quickly after a rain and present a much “softer” appearance in park setting, while, at the same time, accommodating people using wheelchairs, walkers, etc.
some examples of many possibilities
sustainablepavingsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Barnum-Park-Grasscrete-Road22-720×310.jpg
wood in high traffic public area – Portland, Oregon landperspectives.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/streetside-boardwalk-portland-or.jpg
decomposed granite crush
taprootgardens.blogspot.ca/2016/06/modern-garden-design-in-menlo-park.html
maybe the Lheidli T’enneh can dig into their pockets and fork over some of the costs.
Why not put 37k into the food/homeless shelter, instead of a meaningless cost to an already inflated price for a shelter in a park? Those people lining up outside the soup kitchen sure look like they would appreciate the funds more than a park…
You can call it a **soup kitchen** if you like, however these people are provided with a full breakfast, lunch, and soup and sandwiches for supper, on a regular basis, seven days per week. In addition they have access to clothing either free or at very reduced costs. They of course then get their monthly welfare cheque.
So much better than a **soup kitchen**, however I agree that more could be done.
I think everyone agrees, the price and design are both ridiculous.
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