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

I do think the shape of it is intriguing. I wish they could have highlighted some of the shapes (the line that snakes its way down the podium especially) with a more noticeable colour. But yeah, definitely some fun shapes at play here.

I imagine the head architect (not sure who it was out of the KPMB group) is probably a little let down with the black cladding. I definitely liked what they were planning with those black sections, except it seemed the vision was more for a material that gave a heavy, chunky look, whereas the cladding looks thin and tinny-- the viewer is aware that it's just a thin layer of cladding, instead of an entire cinema pushing out of the facade a bit.

It definitely presents the Toronto style to the international film community. I'm actually very intrigued this season to see how it's received.

I know some people here are going to take it very personally and feel that I'm committing treason by stating criticisms about this tower and not simply drooling all over it. But before you get overly defensive, please note that my criticisms are constructive. Thank you.
 
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SP!RE said:
I do think the shape of it is intriguing. I wish they could have highlighted some of the shapes (the line that snakes its way down the podium especially) with a more noticeable colour. But yeah, definitely some fun shapes at play here.

I imagine the head architect (not sure who it was out of the KPMB group) is probably a little let down with the black cladding. I definitely liked what they were planning with those black sections, except it seemed the vision was more for a material that gave a heavy, chunky look, whereas the cladding looks thin and tinny-- the viewer is aware that it's just a thin layer of cladding, instead of an entire cinema pushing out of the facade a bit.

It definitely presents the Toronto style to the international film community. I'm actually very intrigued this season to see how it's received.

I know some people here are going to take it very personally and feel that I'm committing treason by stating criticisms about this tower and not simply drooling all over it. But before you get overly defensive, please note that my criticisms are constructive. Thank you.
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I don't think you're being treasonous at all, Spire. The discussion, and disagreements, are what makes UrbanToronto so interesting. I just think that some members are making up their minds too quickly, or before the whole place is animated with light through windows, as well as life through windows. It is going to change.

The lead architects were Shirley Blumberg and Bruce Kuwabara. I can tell you that the zinc cladding has been tough to deal with - it is a soft enough metal that it shows any mistake from the installation process. Daniels is not happy with it either, as they have had to replace quite a number of the panels, all the worst ones at least.

Anyway, there's lots more to come over the next week.

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Ah yes-- Bruce Kuwabara. I had heard Shirley was the other main architect.

Looking forward to seeing further updates!
 
It must have been inspiring for them, when designing this building, to look out the window and see the site directly across the street.
 
Yes - KPMB's offices are immediately across John, and they were glad for it. Such a complex project required a lot of oversight, especially by project architect Matthew Wilson.

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However... A structure that relies on fancy lighting to improve its appearance, rather than highlight it, is bad design.
 
I don't know if TIFF "subscribers" have been kept in the loop more than the rest of us, but when it comes to releasing information about the design and construction of the building I'm struck by how different the approach has been to that taken when the Four Seasons Centre was being built - we were given construction updates in various COC publications as well as salient information about the design ( soundproofing methods for the hall, computer simulations of acoustical values, materials used in the hall etc. ) long before the place opened.
 
Another pet peeve of mine is the the name tiff. Spelled with all minuscule letters (lower case), when acronyms are conventionally spelled with majuscule letters (capital letters). To me it seems 80's trendy. (Remember in the 80's when all of a sudden everyone's business cards had their names spelled with no capitals?)... For the readers under 30 years-old, you will recognize this trend as starting during the Internet revolution in 94/95 to match the look of web addresses. Can we say TRENDY?

As well... Traditionally in the British Commonwealth a capital letter at the beginning of your name connoted an entitlement. Just like Lord, Duke and Mister (Mr.) are titles. In the case of majuscules at the beginning of your name it announced you as a member of the British Empire. If you were disowned by royalty (Let's say for a crime against the crown) then you were no longer allowed to use capital letters at the beginning of your name. So to me, these cutesy Internet-inspired lower case names always look like they have been socially demoted by the Queen and are no longer recognized. They have a lower-class air about them.

But I'm a bit of a snob.
 
You're entitled to that opinion, but you said it yourself: it IS trendy. Most likely because trends come and go, but history and its fads always repeat themselves. Thus, once again, this supposedly '80s idea is new again. Even though it had been used well before the '80s too.
 
SP!RE said:
You're entitled to that opinion, but you said it yourself: it IS trendy. Most likely because trends come and go, but history and its fads always repeat themselves. Thus, once again, this supposedly '80s idea is new again. Even though it had been used well before the '80s too.
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And it's still TIFF in writing. The logo is just written tiff. Same with AT&T. We still write AT&T, but the logo is at&t. In time, with another logo change, TIFF could very well become TIFF in big letters again. So in my opinion, it's no big deal :)
 
It's a neat looking building. Walked past it today for the first time (lol?) on my way to the TIFF box office. Definitely going to be spending some time there in the months to come, that's for sure!
 
Coruscanti Cognoscente said:
And it's still TIFF in writing. The logo is just written tiff. Same with AT&T. We still write AT&T, but the logo is at&t. In time, with another logo change, TIFF could very well become TIFF in big letters again. So in my opinion, it's no big deal :)
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No it's not. Have you not seen the posters, commercials or their website?

It's tiff.

http://tiff.net/

Sure that's their logo, but they use it everywhere, often in their writing.
 
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