Which Version Of 1 Bloor East Do You Like The Best?

Version One: Kolter


Version Two: Bazis


Version Three: Great Gulf

This poll is a bit unfair. The Bazi's render you posted was not the final design, and the Great Gulf design we haven't really seen the whole design yet.
However, given these options, I'd pick the Bazis design for sure.

There was a third version by Bazis, which was the official design after the city's review panel looked at it. That was my favourite, and was very well suited to the intersection, especially at ground level, while bringing a new shape to the skyline.

It was my favourite.

Agreed. The final canceled version was my favourite too.

Need to see the base of Great Gulf's tower before I vote.
This would be the perfect spot to relocate Mississauga's twin beauties going up.

I agree with several of the other guys, the final Bazi's version was looking very solid! I voted for Bazi's in the poll based on the final version...

I also voted for Bazis on the assumption that the poll is referring to the final 80 storey version. Based on height alone it beats out all of the other designs and from a design standpoint it was not too shabby either. Had it been built it would have looked stunning.

Bazis, without the podium ads. Looks beautiful.

wonderboy416 said:

Need to see the base of Great Gulf's tower before I vote.
This would be the perfect spot to relocate Mississauga's twin beauties going up.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd have a solid preference towards Great Gulf if it had a good base. Take the Bazis base and stick it on the Great Gulf tower design and you got a deal.

But I wouldn't be totally unhappy with that final version of Bazis. Just as long as it's not the rendering in the OP.

EDIT: Actually, it's very close for me. I like Great Gulf's texture more than the plainness of Bazis, but either one would be great (with the Bazis base.)

The new one looks Ok but nothing beats this one:



This one was perfect for Toronto and is amazing in terms of altra modern box like skyscrapers

My preference is for H+P's current design but, to be honest, none of those proposals strikes me as particularly refined.

In all cases, something is just a bit off. The Kolter proposal, which is now almost 10 years old, has aged badly. Very few buildings like it were built in Toronto, but examples of this sort early 2000s architecture, like Q1 in Australia's Gold Coast, look somewhat comical today. The Bazis proposal (aka: "The Clippers") also had a sort of resort town silliness to it; the checkered pattern was interesting but the crown of fins was ridiculous. H+P's latest one is probably the most tasteful, but the giant recessed tulip is a somewhat incongruous match with the standard box shape of the tower itself.

I know that Toronto architects are trying harder to dress up the standard glass box. Somehow the slanted balconies on U condos and the hat on Casa can pull it off, while the tulip on 1 BE looks a little bizarre.