RBC Centre (LEED Gold, CadFair, 41s, KPF/B+H/&Co.) COMPLETE

[Redroom Studios]

from one of my flickr contacts karbon69, visiting from Chicago last weekend. I told him he needs a wider angle lens! Taken from the CN Tower, RBC poking up with some beautiful aqua coloured glass...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karbon69/3570233220/

 

[MBS]

Will RBC have a green roof?

 

[Solaris]

I doubt there'll be green roof on RBC ... well at least the 'white roof' is still better than a black roof (for heat accumation purposes)

 

[SP!RE]

The tower looks great. The podium is a big, awkwardly proportioned mess that doesn't work well with the tower at all, IMO. The wrong lines, the wrong colours and texture.

 

[Ziggy]

I doubt there'll be green roof on RBC ... well at least the 'white roof' is still better than a black roof (for heat accumation purposes)

Yeah, I think "white roof" generally makes a lot more sense than "green roof". I'd like to see more of a push for "white roof", as I think it's a more effective way of reducing the urban heat island effect, and is more economical and practical.

 

[ProjectEnd]

The tower looks great. The podium is a big, awkwardly proportioned mess that doesn't work well with the tower at all, IMO. The wrong lines, the wrong colours and texture.

I don't follow your logic. You state that you like the tower but don't appreciate the podium because it has the wrong 'lines, color and texture.' From what I know of the building, both the color and texture of the podium and tower are the same (aside from the ghastly mechanical box which has been plunked down on the podium's roof) since they both feature the same aquamarine glass. That leaves only one point on which to hinge your argument - the wrong 'lines.' Please elaborate.

 

[grey]

Here's a heavily processed version of a photo I took back in April before the street numbering signage was added:

(click to enlarge)

 

[marcus_a_j]

That looks really awesome, grey. Excellant work

 

[simply Dan]

Very sharp, grey, love it!

 

[yyzer]

drove by RBC tonight, the address signs were lit up in blue, looked pretty good actually....there were also spotlights shining down from the overhang as shown in this pic by spaced (where the worker is)....

All in all, looked pretty sharp..

Inside the east-facing lobby, looked like there might be some furniture, and maybe a couple of decorative palm trees already....there was also signage for a new Royal Bank branch opening soon, along Wellington....

 

[Nebakenezer]

Is there a floorplan for the ground floor? How much retail will it have?

 

[Solaris]

Ground floor plan previously posted ~

Found these plans from the http://www.rbccentre.ca/ website ~

although RBC Centre is physically attached to Simcoe Place on the site plan, the ground floor plan shows no grade level connection between the two buildings, I guess the connection will be through the underground concourse level ~

 

[gei]

The sidewalk and parking garage are now open. Seems the first few floors of the building are now occupied too.

I walked around inside this building a bit today. The lobby has that 'new building' smell... and all the path connections seem open (although I didn't take the time to explore them all). The lobby and the path hallways are very bright and white. There were quite a few people milling around. Sadly I didn't have my camera..

 

[Eck]

I have also just checked out RBC Centre. I walked through the new PATH connection. There is no retail in the concourse level and no food court for the building. In Simcoe Place they have added more tables into the same space and now the seating seems very crowded. Luckily for the new RBC Centre tenants, there is a good underground mall at Metro Hall. Path connections are at one end of the parking lot for RBC Centre and the other connection is in the middle of the parking lot with a glass enclosure that you have to exit into the parking area to cross into Simcoe Place. The Lobby is impressive but the two different elevator banks (tower and podium) - it feels like going through a maze to get from one to the other.

 

[valkoholic]

I have also just checked out RBC Centre. I walked through the new PATH connection. There is no retail in the concourse level and no food court for the building. In Simcoe Place they have added more tables into the same space and now the seating seems very crowded. Luckily for the new RBC Centre tenants, there is a good underground mall at Metro Hall. Path connections are at one end of the parking lot for RBC Centre and the other connection is in the middle of the parking lot with a glass enclosure that you have to exit into the parking area to cross into Simcoe Place. The Lobby is impressive but the two different elevator banks (tower and podium) - it feels like going through a maze to get from one to the other.

Funny story about the PATH connections. The proper location for the PATH connection from a pedestrian standpoint is the central location (due to the location of escalators in the WSIB tower and a proposed future connection across Front Street to the Convention Centre).

Unfortunately, the central connection required a short connection across an aisle of the parking garage. So the City required the developer to build a second connection (the westerly one) that met City PATH standards (PATH connections can only cross through parking lots at City Hall, apparently) while admitting it wouldn't really get used. The cost of this brilliant piece of planning is probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.