Toronto First Canadian Place Rejuvenation | 298.08m | 72s | Brookfield | MdeAS Architects

like i said in another thread, i enjoy the diverse colours in our skyline, particularly the white of fcp. i'm surprised you would suggest colour is unimportant in a skyline. it's a basic element of design, and an easy way to distinguish buildings from others. it's just a matter of aesthetics. for example, the sears tower is wonderfully black, just like our td centre.

i'm guessing though that you believe a building's colour, when observed as one part of the whole skyline is not important. this i agree with to an extent. a skyline is not like an outfit where the colours have to match, necessarily. however, don't you enjoy the the colours of our towers? i would hate for a skyline to be entirely one colour...like a series of greys...

anyway, as our glorious administrator pointed out, the new yorkers aren't liking the the new glass facade of the newsweek building, and they have a right to be upset. and even though toronto does not have the same historic architectural clout as our buddies to the south, i would generally apply every argument they use in that thread to fcp.
 
This goes way beyond anything a mere flossing could remedy. A 72 storey gold and enamel crown, inset with a few diamonds, might be a flashily gangsta-esque solution.
 
I often see crushed marble and granite type stone used in decorative gardens and landscaping features, perhaps some will be put to that use.
 
With 2 Columbus Circle now reclad I wonder if Huxtable is satisfied? To me, Cloepfil's work has the air of an inexperienced Holl, and as a result, the end-product suffers.

I hope we can avoid New York's mistakes here by recognizing not only the size of Stone's marble and glass tower as we often do, but also its power. It seems like the city is all too willing to consign the marble to the scrap heap, but this decision should not be made so lightly. Though the inexorable TD Center will top skyscraper fan's for some years to come, I believe First Bank Building (as it was originally named) deserves equal consideration. If someone proposed that Mies' towers be reclad, there would surely be an uproar - so why is the attitude so passive when considering FCP?

Perhaps the comparison is not completely justifed since FCP has had problems with their cladding while TD has not, but believe it still raises a good point. Why are some buildings considered untouchable while we would gladly alter others? Why are we quick to offer suggestions regarding some structures while we jump back aghast at the prospect of modifying others?

Will our Stone turn out as limp-wristed as New York's? I hope not and the first step to ensuring its longevity is to ditch the re-clad idea in favor of an economical way to preserve its existing skin.
 
I wouldn't mind a piece of the building for myself. Not a whole slab of course, but just a little hand sized chunk.
 
Ed007Toronto said:
Newsweek Building in New York is an example. Not going over too well with the Wired New York gang.

http://www.wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16497
Click to expand...

Well, that's a different situation in that it involves a total aesthetic transformation. Kind of like when Allied Chemical marbleized the old Times Tower--or conversely, these days when 50s modernism is LoPoMo'd (cf the Westbury)

Here, we're talking about a reclad that maintains something of the original character--and I know what they probably have in mind, a vaguely Vitrolitesque applied glass facing...
 
From Paris Walking Tours .com

The Basilica of Sacre CÅ“ur is made of a travertine which exudes calcite, bleaching the stone with each rainfall so that it doesn't require cleaning of the city's pollutants.

Why can't they use this stuff on FCP?
 
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