Toronto Sun Life Financial Tower & Harbour Plaza Residences | 236.51m | 67s | Menkes | Sweeny &Co

The awning really looks like an afterthought, but it's not offensive. I would say the biggest drawback is the blank side facing MLS. Once that off-ramp comes down it's going to be a lot more visible and I think it's going to be pretty sterile on that side. Otherwise this complex is pretty much a success. It's still a square floorplate, but the balcony effect is convincing. I like how they managed to make each tower slightly different by having one tower using predominantly couplets and triplets of balconies while one uses only singles. It's simple, but effective.
 
I think you're a little mixed up. MLS is to the north of the complex while the ramp being removed is to the south. The sterility argument still holds though...
 
July 20, 2016
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Yep, the awning could go. And I've been concerned about the sterility of the eastern end of the podium for ages, as I just worry that this is The Bay on Bloor circa 2016. I suppose time will tell. The financial tower though? Damn it's nice.
 
Logan said:
...The only thing I'm disappointed with is the awning. It looks tacked on, almost like a cheap temporary afterthought. This really could have been better integrated.
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I think the canopy at Bay Park Centre (81 Bay St) will look similarly disjointed.
 
I quite like this project. Like most of Southcore - Infiniti condos, notwithstanding - it isn't the individual structures I find unappealing, but the grey and blue glass sameness of the area as a whole.
 
The awning ruins the feel. There's always hope the podium will be re-imagined providing the space is still vacant. There's something to Southcore with the scale of the towers, the likeness of the facades, second floor retail linked by bridges that make the podium's interface with the street feel less important than the Hudsons Bay Centre.
 
ProjectEnd said:
The sterility argument still holds though...
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Disagree. The last thing this area needed was more glass. The podium adds much needed colour, texture, solidity, and weight. A glass podium would have added to the sea of sterility already present. This podium is a breath of fresh air.
 
That's pretty damn extreme to call this bunker a breath of fresh air. That's putting cladding choices well ahead of design.
 
isaidso said:
Disagree. The last thing this area needed was more glass. The podium adds much needed colour, texture, solidity, and weight. A glass podium would have added to the sea of sterility already present. This podium is a breath of fresh air.
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If you think of design in black and white terms of "glass podium" vs. "what we got", you're missing a whole lot of in-between that would have been better than what we got.
 
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