This 3-D computer model of Kelowna was created by Eric MacMillan of Windsor, ON. and shows current and proposed high-rise buildings that look towards the city center, with the landmark towers in the foreground.
Image Credit: Submitted / Eric MacMillan
April 01, 2021 – 7:30 a.m.
Eric MacMillan was unfortunate enough to graduate from the University of Windsor in May 2020, some of the darkest days in COVID-19 lockdown with no job to go to.
He turned this unfortunate timing into a hobby that benefits distant Kelowna residents who wonder what their downtown area will be like once the almost weekly barrage of high-rise tower announcements becomes a reality.
“There weren’t any jobs for me in my town. To pass the time and improve my 3D rendering and CAD skills, I started,” MacMillan told iNFOnews.ca of Windsor, where he now has a job with an environmental engineering company.
“This” began as a 3D model of his hometown, Mississauga, and evolved into similar models in other cities, including Kelowna.
This is the view of downtown from across Lake Okanagan.
Image Credit: Submitted / Eric MacMillan
“In the past decade we have seen a complete and complete transformation there (Mississauga) with so many towers,” he said. “Mississauga is a great example of where for most of its history there have been empty fields and parking lots, and now it’s just being filled with 150 foot plus condominium buildings. I really like to see that. It’s something that symbolizes progress to me, and it’s just a passion that grew out of my appreciation for engineering and architecture. ”
As a junior environmental engineer, he is more focused on the subsurface and reviewing the environmental history where new developments are planned.
But his passion for skyscrapers has grown into a huge hobby, creating 3D computer models first in his hometown of Mississauga and then in other Canadian cities like Halifax, Ottawa, Barrie, Hamilton, London, Windsor and Saskatoon.
He added Kelowna to that list even though he’s never been to the West Coast, let alone Kelowna.
The process was quite time consuming at first. MacMillan starts with a Google Earth view of the city and then searches through urban development reports and developer drawings, for example, to create views of the proposed buildings and match them as closely as possible to the proposed buildings. Then he drops it on the card.
This is the latest Google Earth view of downtown Kelowna.
Photo credit: Google Earth
This is the same view once all of the proposed towers are built.
Image Credit: Submitted / Eric MacMillan
It is a process that he can add relatively quickly when new developments are added. He was able to add a 16-story tower proposal on Bertram Street that was submitted to City Hall last week.
READ MORE: More than 200 stories are planned for this short street in downtown Kelowna
This shows the three-block section of Bertram Street, where about a dozen high-rise buildings are proposed. The most recent suggestion is the tower on the left.
Image Credit: Submitted / Eric MacMillan
MacMillan has been approached by companies interested in buying his models, but he’s working now and likes keeping them as a hobby.
As for the lack of fields and parking lots in his hometown? Not at all.
“These were just empty fields with nothing going on, not even farming or anything,” he said. “When it comes to density, especially now that we’ve learned that expansion isn’t necessarily a good model for a city’s development, I’d rather see them filled with tall towers than with single-family homes.”
That fits right in with Kelowna’s development model, as it recently turned down a single-family subdivision of 680 lots but appears to support a dozen other high-rise buildings in the downtown area.
READ MORE: Kelowna learned the “iceberg” lesson of rambling development
Another view of the impending high-rise boom in Kelowna was posted on a YouTube video by Kelowna-based New Town Architecture and Engineering.
It shows the still to be approved 46-story 20/20 residential tower next to the three-tower Bernard Block project of the mission group.
When approved and built, the 20/20 will be the tallest tower in Kelowna. Currently, the award goes to One Water Street, a nearly complete 36-story tower with a penthouse suite valued at $ 10 million.
READ MORE: IN THE VIDEO: Kelowna’s One Water Street Penthouse Could Be Yours For $ 10M
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