Toronto Nobu Residences Toronto | 156.66m | 45s | Madison Group | Teeple Architects

I read in the marketing materials that curtain wall is going to be used only on the podium levels, which is too bad as the towers have very few balconies and the facades that face each other are just a clean monolithic glass wall, which both will lend itself very well and will look stunning done in curtain wall.

It will be interesting to see how the perforated grid system is assembled and executed. Perforated metal is always hard to fabricate/execute cleanly, especially with angled folds and where and how seams are treated. I hope it won't suffer problems like at Origami Lofts (another Teeple design) where the complex angles and the chosen material contributed to poor installation and detailing. Also it is curious how those perforated elements will age or get maintained, as dirt, debris and bugs will accumulate or get trapped inside those perforated beams and columns.
The bronze tinted/reflective glass will look stunning against it. I hope that will stay.
 
This building will change the looks of this area in colour for new buildings being built. Like the Shelby is doing in its area. Yes to a variety of different coloured facades.
 
One of the laziest designs in recent memory (the handling of the heritage element is particularly atrocious) and this thing is garnering praise around here; I can't understand it. Because they slapped some gold-coloured glazing on it?
 
modernizt said:
One of the laziest designs in recent memory (the handling of the heritage element is particularly atrocious) and this thing is garnering praise around here; I can't understand it. Because they slapped some gold-coloured glazing on it?
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Or maybe it's just personal taste. Personally, I think it's stunning.
 
I'm quite confident the towers will look great and glad they are keeping the heritage buildings. A bit anxious to see how the mishmash of glass that is above the heritage base and below the towers will look. Also, there will be quite the table top in this area with these twin towers both at 512 feet and directly across the street the two King Blue towers each being 511 feet. Not to mention the existing Festival Tower nearby at 515 feet.
 
The height restrictions do add to the general sameness of the point towers, although Picasso and Tableau do help add variety in that area. The Gehry towers should certainly help mitigate that rather uninteresting tabletop effect too.
 
I prefer this iteration to the first (rectangular doughnut shape). I hope the steel mesh veil successfully enhances sunlight as proposed. At least it's not grey and I like the integration of the heritage buildings.
 
Bogtrotter said:
Nice looking towers, quite meis-like
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Mies is rolling in his grave. This tower doesn't have one ounce of the sophistication of his residential towers. I'm still stunned at the seemingly warm reception this project has on here - its design strikes me as weak on just about every front.
 
modernizt said:
Mies is rolling in his grave. This tower doesn't have one ounce of the sophistication of his residential towers. I'm still stunned at the seemingly warm reception this project has on here - its design strikes me as weak on just about every front.
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No offense intended, but I'm genuinely curious... what projects in this city do you actually like? You seem to be very critical of almost every project. (Full disclosure I'm a big Teeple fan)
 
In a city with this much development, you're correct, I don't find many buildings with a level of quality to write home about. Part of that is just the sheer demand being placed on firms, but so many projects these days are just churned out and "handed in". So no, I'm not too thrilled by most of the stuff we're seeing these days in Toronto. And as for what makes it onto UrbanToronto, it's a smaller list because housing in the city is not being designed as homes - it's being treated as a commodity. While earlier in the condo boom there was still an idea about housing and innovation therein - the District Lofts being a standout in that regard - now we are working with a formula that is perfected to one very specific end: profits margins. As a result, innovation is lacking. So I look for clarity of concept, and for well-considered detailing over gimmicks.

I think the majority of HPA and aA projects are of consistently high quality, as well as a handful of other firms. Saucier+Perrotte do outstanding work - in terms of "bigger" firms in Canada, they are the real standout for me. Of course, outside of residential development there are a number of typologies that you don't see discussed on UrbanToronto. I'm a big fan of MJMA's work - in fact, despite my leaning toward multi-residential as an area of interest and where I wish to focus my own career, the Regent Park Aquatic Centre is one of my favourite projects in Toronto, far above many residential projects. It's clear and simple in concept, it's warm and inviting and yet modern, and it's very well detailed. And it works. There are also a number of projects I enjoy by 5468796 Architecture, gh3, and a range of projects by other small firms that don't do large-scale projects and/or are not practising in Toronto and so are never discussed on UT. I would say that I have so many favourite buildings it's hard to even come up with a list right now on the spot. Let me think more on it.

I find Teeple to have its strengths and weaknesses - I think their older projects were better, like so many firms. I feel that Canadian firms were doing really outstanding stuff around 2000-2010 by comparison to now, but maybe there's some nostalgia wrapped up in that. I just think the work was more dynamic, more attentive to details, more humane. But there are still some Teeple projects I appreciate, with the tower portion of Picasso being one of them.


EDIT: a misspelled word
 
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This set of towers looks really great in the renderings, however I am still saddened that 1. There is no connecting bridge up top, and 2. they are the exact same height as the rest of the towers in this nbhd. Should there not be some points awarded for design that stands out in a good way? I realize the subjectivity but it would be a shame to not let our best towers show, in a city almost devoid of unconventional design.
 
Urban-Affair said:
in a city almost devoid of unconventional design
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ROM Crystal, Gehry AGO addition, Alsop OCAD box/stilts, QRC West, Foster Leslie Dan Pharmacy building, Daniels Faculty addition, Royal Bank Plaza, Bergeron Centre, 7 St. Thomas, Calatrava Brookfield Place galleria, 60 Richmond, Aga Khan Museum, Ryerson SLC, and I suppose the CN Tower, City Hall, Skydome, Casa Loma, Robarts, Village Green, and Gooderham building, while we're at it...
 
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