Toronto Ten York Street Condos | 224.02m | 65s | Tridel | Wallman Architects

March 29
More up on site
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Everyone seems to like this one but I am not a fan of those white, vertical spandrel panels on the triangle podium... I am reserving judgement until it is finished.
 
Everyone seems to like this one but I am not a fan of those white, vertical spandrel panels on the triangle podium... I am reserving judgement until it is finished.

Meh, still pretty nondescript from most angles.

I had very low expectations for this project, especially with Tridel's terrible condo record. Fortunately, the quality looks high for the developer. It also looks sharp eastbound on the Gardiner.

However, I think it's still a missed opportunity. Its south facade and poor attempt at a crown is undeserving of its placement on Toronto's skyline, especially from the typical 'Toronto postcard' vantage point.
 
I can imagine in 50 to 100 years, long after the Gardiner has disappeared, some visitor to Toronto with little if any knowledge of today's street orientations and patterns, looking up and wondering why this building is so uniquely shaped. Yet, in my opinion, this building quickly loses its interest after the sharp apex of its podium gives way to the blunter angle of the tower above. This building is unique only in that its form was dictated by the uniqueness of its site. What we are left with is an essentially banal glass tower in what is becoming a sea of banal glass towers.

I just can't help thinking what a great opportunity was lost here. This site was screaming out for an iconic piece of architecture. Something that would endure and help define Toronto on the world stage just as the CN Tower and new City Hall did generations before. Imagine if this were London or even New York, where the densities of those city's demand innovative and interesting solutions to oddly shaped lots, and then consider what might have been erected on similarly unique sites there. I'm not asking for the Great Pyramids here, but it's time we started to demand more from our builders and architects, and design and build our city with a longer term view.
 
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Very true, and becoming much denser. However density alone doesn't guarantee great or even good architecture. For that, city planners, politicians and builders have to have vision.
 

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