Jarrek
Active Member
Unreal.
The amount of condos being constructed is simply staggering.
Great job.
The amount of condos being constructed is simply staggering.
Great job.
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Big December Construction Update
- Thread starter Archivist
- Start date
BuildTO
Active Member
Amazing thread! My favourite is # 50.
We don't care as long as you've included 9T6.
PS: love the somewhat mysterious avatar.
We don't care as long as you've included 9T6.
PS: love the somewhat mysterious avatar.
Bogtrotter
Senior Member
Nicely done. There were a bunch of projects in your posting that I had not heard of or forgotten about, indeed some are perhaps best forgotten- that awful Hakim and 500 sherbourne for instance. Fortunately there's also some that are thoughtful and contextually appropriate in terms of scale and design - Toy factory Lofts come to mind. I generally agree with Shocker's opinion of the large office projects- uninteresting designs to be sure. However of the larger projects the Ritz holds greater promise and hopefully the L-tower will go ahead as expected.
TonyV
Senior Member
Just some comments, more or less along the lines of Urban Shocker’s, as I page through this big post again. I am reminded of some written Toronto comments (circa 1990) from Philip Johnson, the famous (and very infamous) American architect who designed the CBC hq at Front/John Sts. He was impressed with the “patronage†in downtown Toronto – yes, patronage was the word he used. The comments generally applied to the financial section, where one can find Mies, I.M. Pei, Stone, and some Calatrava. Johnson also singled out the concert hall designed by Erickson. (Ironically Johnson and Erickson both have acoustic clunkers to their credit).
This kind of patronage is happening again -- presently some iconic architects are endowing the city with arts and culture infrastructure: Ghery, Libeskind, KPMB. Will these folks inform and inspire the future builders? I really believe that they will.
Viljo Revell had intended to inspire with New City Hall, and frankly, he did. TD Centre followed shortly after, and it is an enduring statement.
Yes, Bay-Adelaide is a lost opportunity. But it’s an accountancy head office, so I guess (as I said in a previous post) the design represents something sexy to a bunch of accountants. The only thing I really like about that complex is the site plan. Well, also the all-glass of the thing. This project’s design speaks of the nail-biting that went on in Toronto, for over a decade, about the lack of investment in the downtown core. The city settled for little.
But I really do believe that the winds have changed, in future the City can afford to push harder for some innovation – and also for some fun, it’s got to be fun and the planners mustn't forget that.
This kind of patronage is happening again -- presently some iconic architects are endowing the city with arts and culture infrastructure: Ghery, Libeskind, KPMB. Will these folks inform and inspire the future builders? I really believe that they will.
Viljo Revell had intended to inspire with New City Hall, and frankly, he did. TD Centre followed shortly after, and it is an enduring statement.
Yes, Bay-Adelaide is a lost opportunity. But it’s an accountancy head office, so I guess (as I said in a previous post) the design represents something sexy to a bunch of accountants. The only thing I really like about that complex is the site plan. Well, also the all-glass of the thing. This project’s design speaks of the nail-biting that went on in Toronto, for over a decade, about the lack of investment in the downtown core. The city settled for little.
But I really do believe that the winds have changed, in future the City can afford to push harder for some innovation – and also for some fun, it’s got to be fun and the planners mustn't forget that.
WooWah
New Member
Wow, thanks for taking the time to make this. Great work!
allabootmatt
Senior Member
This was a fantastic update--many projects I had forgotten/never knew about.
I agree with the sentiment expressed by others that the median level of design is actually quite remarkable; few of our new buildings are truly spectacular, but the vast majority are perfectly decent. The clunkers are really few and far between, even if some otherwise potentially handsome structures (like Verve) are going to be ruined at street level by exposed concrete columns.
That said, this incredible profusion of snazzy new architecture just throws into sharper relief the utterly shameful state of our streetscapes. The number of images of sharp-looking new buildings juxtaposed with dirty, narrow, cracked sidewalks and third-world utility poles is really disconcerting. Toronto is getting a huge number of things right, but that's not one of them, and fixing it will be essential to really taking things to the next level.
Luckily for us, that's easy to fix. Just takes money. The hard stuff, like creating a vital and vibrant urban environment, and a culture of design in which even mid-range condos are pretty well-designed, we have already figured out.
I agree with the sentiment expressed by others that the median level of design is actually quite remarkable; few of our new buildings are truly spectacular, but the vast majority are perfectly decent. The clunkers are really few and far between, even if some otherwise potentially handsome structures (like Verve) are going to be ruined at street level by exposed concrete columns.
That said, this incredible profusion of snazzy new architecture just throws into sharper relief the utterly shameful state of our streetscapes. The number of images of sharp-looking new buildings juxtaposed with dirty, narrow, cracked sidewalks and third-world utility poles is really disconcerting. Toronto is getting a huge number of things right, but that's not one of them, and fixing it will be essential to really taking things to the next level.
Luckily for us, that's easy to fix. Just takes money. The hard stuff, like creating a vital and vibrant urban environment, and a culture of design in which even mid-range condos are pretty well-designed, we have already figured out.
Tewder
Senior Member
^Couldn't agree more.
urbandreamer
recession proof
Every time I walked by the Bellwoods house this past summer I wondered why I'd never heard of this little Euro-styled gem before: love it!
Btw, Archivist what kind of camera did you use? I'd like to post photos of "the real toronto" (sort of like Chris DeWolf's Montreal photos and Flar's Hamilton pix--for some reason, photographers in Toronto are timid and focus on glittery new buildings instead of the real people, the real lowrise Victorian 'hoods, etc. Just a comment on Toronto-the-polite I suppose?) So I wonder--do I need an SLR or will a cheapish ($300) digital camera do the job?
Finally, some "meat" to this forum--photos are what make me smile
Btw, Archivist what kind of camera did you use? I'd like to post photos of "the real toronto" (sort of like Chris DeWolf's Montreal photos and Flar's Hamilton pix--for some reason, photographers in Toronto are timid and focus on glittery new buildings instead of the real people, the real lowrise Victorian 'hoods, etc. Just a comment on Toronto-the-polite I suppose?) So I wonder--do I need an SLR or will a cheapish ($300) digital camera do the job?
Finally, some "meat" to this forum--photos are what make me smile
Redroom Studios
Senior Member
I know you didnt ask me, but I would suggest getting in at the low end of slr if money is part of your decision. The Nikon D40 seems to be pretty good from what Ive seen, think its around the $600 range. Personally I have the SONY A100 which was around $900 when I bought it... I love SONY but I think Nikons image quality is much better, especially on night images.