Toronto Vü Condos | 83.51m | 24s | Aspen Ridge | Hariri Pontarini

I agree with urbandreamer's assessment of this cluster of buildings. Does there really have to be so much going on ? There's something for everyone - polite, precast faux stone on some of the George Street townhouse bays - to match the adjacent Bank of Upper Canada building - and not on the rest, for instance. And the Big Hair side - the view terminus to Adelaide - is so fussily angular. It reminds me of Zeidler's overly-contrived College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario building on College Street:

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It's an oddly-shaped site, but they've created unnecessarily showy complexity. It's a step up from the schizophrenic something-for-everyone-depending-on-which-side-of-the-building-you-look-at London on the Esplanade, for sure, but the danger is that you end up with nothing much of anything if you break things down too much and nuance everything into oblivion - the result doesn't tie together very well as a whole. As urbandreamer's photo-contrast with Spire suggests, simpler might have been better.
 
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August 6 2009 update

The VU today ~

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A sleek tower that bookends the park in consort with Spire - and a development that's less circle-the-wagons in nature, with a pedestrian walkway mid-block though to George Street - might've been nice. At first glance Vu is composed of several apparently separate buildings, but in reality they clump together in one rather large, stubborn bolus.
 
There is/will be a pedestrian pathway through the courtyard of the building from Jarvis to George. Officially, at least. I like this project--materials, massing--but I'm disappointed by the way the balconies have been handled and am concerned about the cladding of the hi-rise. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
 
Oh that's good news - the nearbye walkway through Market Square that frames the cathedral is a favourite of mine. These little mid-block downtown pedestrian ways are both charming and practical, and add layering akin to the network of lanes and back alleys in residential neighbourhoods - a city that's obvious at first glance but full of hidden surprises.
 
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