My first thought when I saw the "hero" renderings was Henning Larsen—it certainly stands out from the rest with its interpretation of the village typology in front of a row of towers. That certainly seems to be the Etobicoke of today, especially if you experience it in the Humber Bay Shores area, or even the Six Points/Islington area where this development is going to go up. I was also seduced by having a Danish firm in the mix, and these guys have certainly displayed a particular creativity in many of their completed works. The interior renderings certainly show off an attractive complex.
Where Henning Larsen totally lost me, however, was the public square. It has no focus, and feel, no intimacy, and it fails to give Dundas Street an urban edge at any point on the block. I think it deep-sixes the whole design.
The other three designs have better public squares, the lest appealing to me of which is Moriyama + Teshima's. Interesting that they want to swap the park block (as discussed above from across Dundas with an extension of the site to the east, but I'm not convinced by the renderings of how much that adds to their design overall). The real problem here though is that awful tower. It looks more forbidding to me than inviting, and seems to turn its back on everything other than the square, meaning that from most angles it will look unfriendly. For something as tall as it is, it should draw you to it, not turn you off.
KPMB has a solid if dated plan. It reminds me of the Valhalla Inn that was torn down several years ago now for condos along the 427, that same aesthetic, melded with every other building KPMB has ever designed. The details look beautifully handled, but they don't add up to a compelling whole for me. It's handsome and dignified, but it's dull dull dull. The public plaza, dominated by jack pines appeals to me on principle (I love those trees), but as rendered, I just don't believe that they can achieve what they're promising for at least 20 years after its planted and carefully tended. Those trees are finicky—you don't see many of them in the city—and I can't see them all thriving as vigorously here as promised by the renderings. It's also a monoculture planting, and as we are learning with ash trees right now, and as a couple of generations back learned with elms, you don't plant all one species because they can be wiped out in one go.
For me, Diamond Schmitt/MVVA stands out head and tails above the others. The tower has a both a monumentality with its slight (but restrained enough to avoid cheesiness) PoMo influence from the friezes at various levels, while benefitting from the playful injection of the staggered sky atriums. The wandering path of the staircase that runs through those atriums is pretty much begging me to climb it. At ground level, cantilevering porticos at Kipling and Bloor, and Kipling and Dundas sweep upwards encouraging passersby to wander in, the public square is nicely sheltered and surrounded by multiple levels of activity creating an amphitheatre feel, while the Dundas stairs at the south end specifically can be used for as theatre seating. If you haven't seen the retractable stage at the stairs' base with the hillock roof on it, check that out: that's a great little feature which would quickly become a landmark.
Inside, none of the council chamber plans beat the Diamond Schmitt one. It's beautiful, and it integrates wonderfully with the tiered seating of the Great Hall immediately outside its glass walls. The whole space in really inviting, with the community recreation centre on one side and the library on the other. South of the recreation centre you get a couple of shops and a restaurant, and voila, you've got a complete set of uses needed to keep the whole complex vital. It's really well thought out!
So, there you go. Diamond Schmitt MVVA for me.
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Where Henning Larsen totally lost me, however, was the public square. It has no focus, and feel, no intimacy, and it fails to give Dundas Street an urban edge at any point on the block. I think it deep-sixes the whole design.
The other three designs have better public squares, the lest appealing to me of which is Moriyama + Teshima's. Interesting that they want to swap the park block (as discussed above from across Dundas with an extension of the site to the east, but I'm not convinced by the renderings of how much that adds to their design overall). The real problem here though is that awful tower. It looks more forbidding to me than inviting, and seems to turn its back on everything other than the square, meaning that from most angles it will look unfriendly. For something as tall as it is, it should draw you to it, not turn you off.
KPMB has a solid if dated plan. It reminds me of the Valhalla Inn that was torn down several years ago now for condos along the 427, that same aesthetic, melded with every other building KPMB has ever designed. The details look beautifully handled, but they don't add up to a compelling whole for me. It's handsome and dignified, but it's dull dull dull. The public plaza, dominated by jack pines appeals to me on principle (I love those trees), but as rendered, I just don't believe that they can achieve what they're promising for at least 20 years after its planted and carefully tended. Those trees are finicky—you don't see many of them in the city—and I can't see them all thriving as vigorously here as promised by the renderings. It's also a monoculture planting, and as we are learning with ash trees right now, and as a couple of generations back learned with elms, you don't plant all one species because they can be wiped out in one go.
For me, Diamond Schmitt/MVVA stands out head and tails above the others. The tower has a both a monumentality with its slight (but restrained enough to avoid cheesiness) PoMo influence from the friezes at various levels, while benefitting from the playful injection of the staggered sky atriums. The wandering path of the staircase that runs through those atriums is pretty much begging me to climb it. At ground level, cantilevering porticos at Kipling and Bloor, and Kipling and Dundas sweep upwards encouraging passersby to wander in, the public square is nicely sheltered and surrounded by multiple levels of activity creating an amphitheatre feel, while the Dundas stairs at the south end specifically can be used for as theatre seating. If you haven't seen the retractable stage at the stairs' base with the hillock roof on it, check that out: that's a great little feature which would quickly become a landmark.
Inside, none of the council chamber plans beat the Diamond Schmitt one. It's beautiful, and it integrates wonderfully with the tiered seating of the Great Hall immediately outside its glass walls. The whole space in really inviting, with the community recreation centre on one side and the library on the other. South of the recreation centre you get a couple of shops and a restaurant, and voila, you've got a complete set of uses needed to keep the whole complex vital. It's really well thought out!
So, there you go. Diamond Schmitt MVVA for me.
42
