Toronto Festival Tower and tiff Bell Lightbox | 156.96m | 42s | Daniels | KPMB

[khris]

Such a chasm in her opinion is a poor reflection on her own writing but doesn't mean her review of this building is incorrect-- the Lightbox is a combination of dreary, texture-less materials.

Texture-less materials? Ummm... if anything it has too much texture.

 

[SP!RE]

RE: the Lightbox / podium:

How so? Every single surface is smooth or gives such an effect (apart from maybe the black sections... maybe); and all sections seem to come from the same range of greys and black. There's no contrast or standout feature, except that terribly dull black.

 

[khris]

The entire block that the building is on has been renamed to Reitman Square.
Source

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

I don't disagree with the Lisa Rochon's thesis - i.e. the building is rather boring - I just found it rather disingenious for her to present the whole thing as a "surprise" when the general form of the project has been established years ago. Like seriously, she should have offered her critique then.

AoD

Well, then she wouldn't have a chance to put the boot in just as it's being opened for its first TIFF. Rochon is consistent in needing her publicity fix, too (although that's also due to the nature of writing for a newspaper -- two years ago, few readers would have cared.)

I'm so bored with her, I didn't even bother to read the review. I know it'll just be a sneering diatribe, and it'd make me angry.

 

[Parkdalian]

I really don't like how some people think aimless complaining is a substitute for sophistication. And by aimless complaining, I mean: saying it isn't a lightbox when it is covered in glass; that it doesn't use enough materials when it uses more different materials than the 19th century buildings across the street; saying it is boring and that it "doesn't fit in" - if it doesn't fit in, it isn't boring, is it? Are these people actually looking at the building they are complaining about?

I like the building. I like the scale and the grandeur. I like that it doesn't back away from being a little overpowering and majestic, but that it is raised off the ground to give room for pedestrians and other uses. I like the understated but colourful LED display. I like the tower, which faces in all four directions - rather than say, the Shangri-La, which at most, only faces in two. I like the way it brings the Hyatt into the conversation of the street with its similar palette and massing. I like the way it is a major cultural use building, but it feels integrated into the urban fabric rather than some gaudy bauble that we have to approach on bended knee. I think the west wall is the most disappointing part of the building, and where it meets the street could have a little more oomph, but I'm willing to live with that. All in all, it's one of my favorite new buildings in the city, and it gives me pleasure to look at it whenever I pass by.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Hard to take her seriously anymore.

Anymore?

As the renderings indicated it would, the general form and surface detailing of the podium building works as a horizontal counterpoint to the narrow brick retail outlets on the south side of the street, and I don't see disharmony in such lively contradiction. The expected result - layerings of muted colour and texture, like geological strata, with interior uses expressed on the outside ( windowless theatres become dark walls adorned with slashes of colour ... ) - has come to pass as promised.

 

[alklay]

Dito on the last posts.

I like this building: I like how it works with the street, how it reflects its time, how it presents itself as dignified and serious and how it does not project shallow flashiness. I also suspect that once the ground level uses are all in play, that it will work much better than many fear.

 

[adma]

Unbelievable that Rochon could call this building boring, yet declare that "A new standard has been set for building tall in Torontp" by the Bay Adelaide Centre.

If the Lightbox represents lost opportunities for architectural drama in Toronto, then Bay Adelaide should not even have merited a review from her. Beyond its lobby, BA is a non-entity; the dullest and most deliberately self-effacing glass box ever erected here, almost design-free... yet for Rochon it sets a new standard.

Hard to take her seriously anymore.

42

I suppose the thesis here is: B-A is an office tower in the financial core; ergo it has the licence to bore. The Lightbox serves TIFF-y razzle-dazzle; ergo it should strive for a little oomph. Form follows function, you know...

 

[Traynor]

Such a chasm in her opinion is a poor reflection on her own writing but doesn't mean her review of this building is incorrect-- the Lightbox is a combination of dreary, texture-less materials.

If it were a cruise ship it would be great marine architecture. That's what it the podium reminds me of: The middle portion of a Carnival cruise ship. Same scale and the same featureless blank walls. I imagine standing on King Street would be like being dockside in Miami.

 

[interchange42]

I'm still waiting to see photos of these featureless blank walls.

42

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Me too. Or new glasses.

 

[interchange42]

tiff. | Bell Lightbox is finally here and the embargo on publication has been lifted! Over the next week, Urban Toronto will be giving you insider access to this long-awaited, new heart of Toronto's internationally-acclaimed film community. Our exhaustive tour will be taking you into spaces big and small, from top to bottom, inside and out. So, stay tuned.

For now, here's a teaser of recent exterior images and interior pics taken in early August showing Lightbox still under construction. Enjoy.

Text by Doug Convoy Photos by Interchange42

Main atrium looking west toward Master Control.

Main atrium looking east.

Atrium for TIFF offices.

Luma Restaurant and Blackberry Lounge.

Cinema One.

Way more detail and lots of photos are coming over the next week!

 

[JayBee]

I find what kills this building is the black "cladding". Too bad they didn't continue the glass material all the way down. I still like the building overall though.

 

[Rowe]

Compared to most of the buildings going up in TO.. I like this one. For some reason I feel it really shows Toronto (positive).. and Toronto's style. I think with time people will start to enjoy this building.

 

[syn]

I find what kills this building is the black "cladding". Too bad they didn't continue the glass material all the way down. I still like the building overall though.

The paneling seemed nice in theory, but in practice it hasn't been executed very well.