Toronto PJ Condos | 156.96m | 48s | Pinnacle | Hariri Pontarini

Screenshot_20210129-115416_Instagram.jpg
 
This building isn't chubby chubs, it's a reasonable floorplate size with some hope of actually making reasonable unit plans out of it. The Toronto urban design obsession with skinny towers belies the importance of tower plates that can actually accommodate residential layouts.
 
This building isn't chubby chubs, it's a reasonable floorplate size with some hope of actually making reasonable unit plans out of it. The Toronto urban design obsession with skinny towers belies the importance of tower plates that can actually accommodate residential layouts.
I think the "chubby chubs" was referring to the ridiculous barrel distortion in that photo, caused by auto-panorama stitching
 
Am I the only one who feels this grey wall of spandrel on the South end really throws this project off? Everything else about it is stellar...but I can't seem to get behind it because of that soulless grey wall, IMO. And I'm not sure just ignoring it is really working for me, as much as I would like it to. /sigh
 
Am I the only one who feels this grey wall of spandrel on the South end really throws this project off? Everything else about it is stellar...but I can't seem to get behind it because of that soulless grey wall, IMO. And I'm not sure just ignoring it is really working for me, as much as I would like it to. /sigh
it's the weakest side but the uniformity of it makes it tolerable.
 
Am I the only one who feels this grey wall of spandrel on the South end really throws this project off? Everything else about it is stellar...but I can't seem to get behind it because of that soulless grey wall, IMO. And I'm not sure just ignoring it is really working for me, as much as I would like it to. /sigh

Especially because that side will be highly visible pretty much indefinitely right next to Mirvish + Gehry unless the corner warehouse building at John and King is eventually developed into another tower.
 
Am I the only one who feels this grey wall of spandrel on the South end really throws this project off? Everything else about it is stellar...but I can't seem to get behind it because of that soulless grey wall, IMO. And I'm not sure just ignoring it is really working for me, as much as I would like it to. /sigh
It's more black than grey but I hear you.
 
Am I the only one who feels this grey wall of spandrel on the South end really throws this project off? Everything else about it is stellar...but I can't seem to get behind it because of that soulless grey wall, IMO. And I'm not sure just ignoring it is really working for me, as much as I would like it to. /sigh

I hate that too. The south side sucks. We see alot of this sort of thing. They build a decent/beautiful facade on 1-3 sides then throw in the towel with the rest.
 
The south end is just Pinnacle being Pinnacle...not much of a surprise from this developer at all. The north end suffers from that bland design choice as well. The podium feels like it wasn't fleshed out fully as an idea...it looks like half an idea that was reworked and rushed a bit...it just looks awkward and fussy with proportions IMO.
 
This building isn't chubby chubs, it's a reasonable floorplate size with some hope of actually making reasonable unit plans out of it. The Toronto urban design obsession with skinny towers belies the importance of tower plates that can actually accommodate residential layouts.
It's a lot less of an obsession as it is a planning policy - minimum setbacks from property lines vary from 3 to 12 meters, and maximum floorplate of 750 sqm.

See the full tall buildings guidebook that shapes Toronto's blandness here: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/pg/bgrd/backgroundfile-57177.pdf
 

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