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

[Jasonzed]

from today

 

[steveve]

wow... this thread completely died....
anyway.

I posted these last summer, and only recently edited them so that they're not as fuzzy/unviewable as before.

 

[philofra]

In the beginning:

 

[gristle]

I can still remember when it was a parking lot.

 

[drum118]

May 21
It was only yesterday that this tower grew from nothing like the rest of the block is going to do shortly.

 

[Therion]

Yup. Still boring.

 

[taal]

This building looks great at night as well, from the base.

The 'light' at the top is pretty disappointing though.

 

[spaced]

Ya, the tower is very forgettable, even ugly from some angels such as from a distance west of it. But the interior of the lightbox and the energy the tiff (and all the other festivals it hosts) brings to the area more than makes up for the blandness of the tower (so much so that it feels ridiculous to even say it).

 

[taal]

meh, bland is too harsh. For a box its pretty nice compared to most. Above average to say the last.

The King face of the podium is good, again not amazing, but it meets the street well and really creates a *place/destination* on king. The lighting features at night really stand out around the base.

The other sides along John and the like leave a lot to be desired. Not terrible, but the precast panels look OK when they're clean but as they're fairly dirty 70%+ of the time it doesn't work well.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I'd also say the tower is not the best but certainly better than average. It's no X, Casa, Met or Murano but it's no green glass covered nightmare either. The Bell Lightbox is terrific by day and by night, especially the King and John Street sides. This complex has really nudged it's way into the neighbourhood well. In five years once this area is fully developed it'll be a truly great, vibrant nabe to live in.

 

[Parkdalian]

Ya, the tower is very forgettable, even ugly from some angels such as from a distance west of it.

Toronto's architecture doesn't depress me; Toronto's architecture critics do.

 

[duper]

This building is a huge success where it matters -- the street. I recently went out on a warm spring evening and sat on a patio across from it, just watching the colours change on the base and taking in the overall feel of the area. Considering I was very concerned how a large tower would interact with the two-storey buildings across, I was very impressed by how nothing about it felt out of place.

The stretch definitely has more of a buzz now.

 

[TheKingEast]

I think it's a wonderful project. Daniel's did a great job here.

Is Cinema Tower going to have retail on the ground floor? This may turn out to be one great looking block.

 

[Tewder]

The small TIFF sign on the west side is a little silly. Is there something else planned for that facade that I don't know about? It is such a big cheap looking expanse of grey that I would have pictured something huge in lights there or a marquee or something.

 

[MBS]

^^
retail along Adelaide. The pinnacle building will also have retail along Adelaide and John as well. Also the entire block will apparently have granite sidewalks - looking forward to that.

^
It looks like they have anchors for a small sign but it would be nice if there was more.