Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza

Took a little staycation and got a room with a sweet view.

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On balance I agree with the masses of Torontonians who are booing this development.

From a distance: for sure, there are some captivating views of this thing.

- Looking from Queen and University, it's easy to be impressed.

- From the west, in general, it's easy to get taken by the upswept top in both directions.

- From the north, fine.

- From the south at Yonge & Dundas, fine.

- From the east, what a mess. That's where one realizes that the developer and architect tried to pile on opposing shapes and forms and it didn't work. It just doesn't make for pretty visuals. Especially bad is the view from Carlton and Parliament where I live. It's a "what were they thinking" reaction all the time (so say a lot of us out this way). Any skyscraper of this magnitude must look nice -- that's the rule. This was adjudicated by the DRP? God help us!

The view from up close: Please spare me.

- I know it's move-in time, just how many living room and bedroom windows have to be eyesores at one time? Piles of boxes, and other messes. Look up close from the north these days. If you have the stomach for it.

- The safety canopy is gone and there is so little drama to this complex. Blandness is bad for this intersection.

- The detail work is (as we all agree) worse than dreadful.

From inside the retail podium:

Sad, sad, sad and depressing. A Sayvette-quality department store (Marshalls) and a dreary housewares store (BBB). Really pleb concourses and corridors -- cheapest of the cheap.

Summary.

The developers have done nothing to make cohesive the messy hodgepodge that is College Park. Lost opportunity - no one at the switch. Bargain basement architect allowed to design an 80 storey building … wha ???

Toronto has endured the shitshow of The Ford Bros, and then came Ghomeshi and I thought things couldn't get worse - until I got a look at the retail segment of Aura. What a trash bin this project is. Someone please save us from more of the same.
 
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great pic agoraflaneur ^. Those horizontal strips near the crown still bug me, the gap in the 'dropping off' of the taller slope, and abrupt end of vertical strips on the west face of the taller slope, however Aura still manages to not only be the best looking building in that shot. The curves are visually impressive and elegant, very few buildings in the city can be compared to it. It's almost like the bottom half is an entirely different building. Aura is quite the shape shifter. It loses its sex appeal from the north and various vantage points from the east imo.
 
I doubt there's a building of similar height on this planet with as poor an architectural pedigree as this one. Truly disgraceful that this one flew through unopposed. Shows Toronto for what it is--a greed driven, provincial hicktown at heart with more money than pride, vision or good taste. Thank goodness there are some decent projects going up in other prominent sites, but for every 1 Bloor, there are 3 Auras/Signatures/10 Yorks.
 
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TonyV said:
On balance I agree with the masses of Torontonians who are booing this development.

From a distance: for sure, there are some captivating views of this thing.

- Looking from Queen and University, it's easy to be impressed.

- From the west, in general, it's easy to get taken by the upswept top in both directions.

- From the north, fine.

- From the south at Yonge & Dundas, fine.

- From the east, what a mess. That's where one realizes that the developer and architect tried to pile on opposing shapes and forms and it didn't work. It just doesn't make for pretty visuals. Especially bad is the view from Carlton and Parliament where I live. It's a "what were they thinking" reaction all the time (so say a lot of us out this way). Any skyscraper of this magnitude must look nice -- that's the rule. This was adjudicated by the DRP? God help us!

The view from up close: Please spare me.

- I know it's move-in time, just how many living room and bedroom windows have to be eyesores at one time? Piles of boxes, and other messes. Look up close from the north these days. If you have the stomach for it.

- The safety canopy is gone and there is so little drama to this complex. Blandness is bad for this intersection.

- The detail work is (as we all agree) worse than dreadful.

From inside the retail podium:

Sad, sad, sad and depressing. A Sayvette-quality department store (Marshalls) and a dreary housewares store (BBB). Really pleb concourses and corridors -- cheapest of the cheap.

Summary.

The developers have done nothing to make cohesive the messy hodgepodge that is College Park. Lost opportunity - no one at the switch. Bargain basement architect allowed to design an 80 storey building … wha ???

Toronto has endured the shitshow of The Ford Bros, and then came Ghomeshi and I thought things couldn't get worse - until I got a look at the retail segment of Aura. What a trash bin this project is. Someone please save us from more of the same.
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LOL enough drama for today. The building is not nearly as bad as you are saying. It's not a showpiece and for sure could have been done better. But overall it's still a win. A striking monster 900ft tower that dominates the skyline in the area, from all distances it looks great from a distance. Even up close, walking by on Yonge it looks good. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
 
Irishmonk said:
I doubt there's a building of similar height on this planet with as poor an architectural pedigree as this one. Truly disgraceful that this one flew through. Shows Toronto for what it is--a greed driven, provincial hicktown at heart with more money than pride, vision or good taste. Thank goodness there are some decent projects going up in other prominent sites, but for every 1 Bloor, there are 3 Auras/Signatures/10 Yorks.
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Disagree totally. Aura impresses me. It's a solid contribution to any city. Not perfect but still decent.
 
TonyV said:
Toronto has endured the shitshow of The Ford Bros, and then came Ghomeshi and I thought things couldn't get worse - until I got a look at the retail segment of Aura. What a trash bin this project is. Someone please save us from more of the same.
Click to expand...

Can we start having UT awards for best drama? :)
 
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