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Bay Adelaide Centre West Tower (Brookfield, 50s, WZMH)

My friend who works in FCP told me a few months ago that they'd been told by the building owner that it was going to be reclad in some sort of white glass material (and I think he might have said that there was a test piece on display somewhere in the building). I don't really know any more than that, but if it's true it sounds like it could be interesting.

Exactly what I was hoping for! I hope its true.
 
maybe we should start a new thread for this...

BUT NO! don't get rid of the marble, as dirty as it is. FCP has become an iconic building in toronto. it is the most dominant, and likely known skyscraper on our skyline.

yes the marble is old, but remember, ITS MARBLE! when was the last time a building in this city was clad with such decadent and impressive material. besides, it still looks white.

glass would completely diminish FCP's presence. glass is a material of the 2000's. the marble represents the time the building was created.

glass is not always the answer! it is certainly not the most aesthetically appealing material.
 
yes the marble is old, but remember, ITS MARBLE! when was the last time a building in this city was clad with such decadent and impressive material. besides, it still looks white.

glass would completely diminish FCP's presence. glass is a material of the 2000's. the marble represents the time the building was created.

glass is not always the answer! it is certainly not the most aesthetically appealing material.

Clumsy argument. Glass was a material representing the time the building was created, too. And to critics of the day, the marble was foremost among FCP's problems--next to TD or CC, it was seen as vulgar.

Also mind the fate of FCP's Chicago sibling.
 
I have trouble believing that they would go to the trouble of removing the marble and re-cladding the entire building in glass. Would it not be cheaper just to clean the marble?

That would be a shit load of precarious work.
 
everyone should read lisa rochon's lament over toronto's blue/green glass predicament on her website. i already posted it on this forum a couple of times.

and please, no matter how clumsy an argument, the majority of this forum is governed by aesthetic opinion. we're all participants in this.
 
everyone should read lisa rochon's lament over toronto's blue/green glass predicament on her website. i already posted it on this forum a couple of times.

and please, no matter how clumsy an argument, the majority of this forum is governed by aesthetic opinion. we're all participants in this.

That was, though, a very clumsy argument considering the innovation that was the glass curtain wall was when FCP was built. Glass was the material of midcentury modernism. Lisa Rochon's concern, if I recall correctly was the use of the cheapest green glass. She wasn't speaking out against the high-quality bronze or gold tinted glass used in our finest office towers.

On a side note, since Brutalism was in part a reaction to the perceived anonymity and coldness of the glass midcentury International style towers, and considering that we're seeing buildings echoing this style, I wonder if we'll see a new Brutalist movement in the not too distance future :cool:.
 

The "result of climate change"? Give me a break. Freeze and thaw cycles have always been part of our climate. Are we to believe from reading this article that fluctuating temperatures didn't happen when this building was constructed?

What a feeble argument. Its Canada. It gets really cold in the winter and really hot in the summer. Construct your buildings accordingly.
 
The north east corner of B/A has now been sealed off. But not with the glass cladding, rather some stainless steel siding type of material. Might just be temporary to protect from the elements or its the backside of some lighting feature. Anybody know?
 
if a brutalist movement pops up again ill shoot myself. HOW BOUT DECO???
 
The "result of climate change"? Give me a break.

Yeah, I agree, the climate change angle of that article is completely ridiculous. I think article writers just like to throw it in as the fashionable crisis-du-jour.

The point though, and the reason I cited the article, is that the marble on FCP has to be replaced or structurally remediated somehow, it can't just be cleaned.
 
Probably would need a picture, to starting making some guess as to what it is, or what it's for.....

It can be seen (somewhat) on the webcam:
BA_2009-01-09.jpg


Looks to me like it could be the backing for something, it seems to be inset a bit compared to the rest of the cladding.
 

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