The Icon on Wellington--who is responsible?

i have noticed this building many times and it has always bothered me. its "just another condo"--a total non-entity of a building, about 5 years old.



when you get up close to it though you become aware of how unbelievably shoddy it is. its truly shocking to me how poorly finished it is.

i find it staggering that the developer would sign off on work like this. i'm not an architect or designer, so i don't know whose responsibility this ultimately is.

i'm curious though--how does this kind of stuff happen? whose fault is it? are there no professional standards enforced with this kind of work?

i know its impossible, but its too bad the city can't enforce a certain level of 'finish'.

i only ask because there innumerable developments as cheaply put together--College Park Condos i am looking at you--especially the charming use of uh, sheet metal as a 'building material'.

my fear is that we are entering a future where these things are going to basically look like slums. i mean its only 5 years old--i cant imagine it at 50 years old!

i'm not singling this particular development out. the problem is clearly much bigger than one building. it just seems to me that work this bad is kind of a recent development and should be called out.

we all live in this city--why should we be forced to live with such dreck?














yes, that's a green garbage bag poking through the pot light!







the black granite is so "classy"!





what's the rusted chain for? who knows!

I am especially terrified by its already-rusting (or missing) mullions etc. etc...

You can visually tell it was made from a bunch of stock bits that don't really line up with eachother, let alone stick together for more than 5 years.

Those vents on the outside look like they are indoor features that were mistakenly used as exterior pieces. Yikes.

I believe that chain is a failed attempt at pubic art.

To answer your question, this is Tridel's handiwork.

Safe and super-conservative, appealing to the widest possible audience of the tasteless masses.

I quick Internet search reveals that both phases of Icon were built by Tridel, which is routinely rated as one of the best builders in the GTA.

They are often criticized on this board for uninspiring design, but these photos show that their reputation for quality is pretty much undeserved too.

Tridel makes unbelievable conservative, boring buildings, with the "luxury" accoutrements of suburban McMansions owners. Check out the Element nearby for another example of crap. They also tend to charge more than other builders because of their "quality".

Tridel has shown some improved designs recently, but I am surprised to see such inferior quality from a builder that has one of the best reputations. I suppose that the modern "mass production" method of building is bound to produce a lemon. It's not like their buildings consistently turn out that way.

Since so many people have so much money invested in these buildings, they're not going to let them deteriorate too much more. I wouldn't be surprised if the condo corporation embarked on a pretty massive restoration on this building and many other condos.

At least the building doesn't leak like so many in Vancouver... unless it does...

At this point, the Board of the Condominium Corporation is responsible. Let's hope they have a large reserve fund.

junctionist said:

Tridel has shown some improved designs recently, but I am surprised to see such inferior quality from a builder that has one of the best reputations. I suppose that the modern "mass production" method of building is bound to produce a lemon. It's not like their buildings consistently turn out that way.

Click to expand...

i'm glad to hear that their designs may have improved, as they learn to copy AA, but in the end its not really the design which is at issue. its the absolutely abominable workmanship.

its important to realize that most of issues documented here have been there from the beginning: that metal chain has always been there, those blue MDF 'panels' have always been crooked, that glue, putty, cement (or whatever) has always been smeared like that, that green plastic has always been poking through the pot light etc. etc.

my point was, its mind boggling that the 'tradesmen' responsible for finishing the building would leave it like this. wouldn't the 'architect' or the developer review the work before cutting the cheque? doesn't anyone sign off on this stuff?

that's very very sad ... for only a 5 year old building too ! ! !

one must remember that those 'customer satisfaction' surveys are for initial 'quality' and not long term results ...

Big Box Blunders

Now imagine how all of our area's Big Box Stores are going to look in 5-10 years.

Lucky us; we live in a World of Disposability... so I'm assuming they're (developpers) are hoping these types of developments will come down just as easily as they went up, just to replace it with another shoddy, temporary structure.

Styrofoam + Fake Stucco may fly in Vegas, but not in our Climates!

Here is a list of all the companies involved, from the architect to the structural engineer, etc., if you want to apportion the blame more readily.

Archivist said:

Here is a list of all the companies involved, from the architect to the structural engineer, etc., if you want to apportion the blame more readily.

Click to expand...

very interesting--straight to the Hall Of Shame for all of them, with a special Lifetime Achievement Award to "Global Precast" for their stellar performance on the facade.