Toronto First Canadian Place Rejuvenation | 298.08m | 72s | Brookfield | MdeAS Architects

Automation Gallery said:
I kind of agree with NGB, its a great building complex if your from Toronto and a skyscraper geek here..but if your a tourist visiting Toronto your not going back saying Wow as you would by seeing say, the CN Tower or even the City Hall.
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Exactly. Anyone without an understanding of architecture wouldn't even give it a second glance.
 
My inkling is, Nads Gone Bads is the latest incarnation of somebody banned at least once before...
 
I'll agree that the Mies-TD Centre-esque architecture is quite impressive, and continues to do so even today, however, what has always taken away it's title, is the amount of bulk/repetition of these things. There are too many North American cities/and cities in general, that have these buildings... Even the TD Centre, i consider, a bit overkill. They make up too huge of a portion on our skyline, especially our cbd.
 
Mississauga Slim said:
Chicago also has:

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Wow! That IS identical.
 
hawc said:
Which one is the 'fake' one? I've heard not all of the Toronto ones are 'real'.
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All but one of the buildings in the complex is a Mies design, and technically none of them are "fake", but three of the Mies-inspired towers were not part of Mies' original vision for the site.

TD Centre was completed first in '67. The banking pavilion (single storey structure) and Royal Trust Tower were completed in '68 and '69 respectively. These were all built by Bregman + Hamann Architects under the strict supervision of Mies himself. As far as I know, this was the extent of Mies' original plan. He died in '69.

Bregman + Hamann continued adding to the complex. The Canadian Pacific tower was built in '74 on site, but it wasn't part of Mies' plan. It was followed by the IBM Tower across the street in '85 and Ernst & Young went up in '92 on the site of the former Toronto Stock Exchange. 95 Wellington Street West, which is fairly unremarkable and not inspired by Mies, was incorporated into the complex in '98.

It's often said that the TD Centre towers were built with a decreasing rate of success. I think the CP and IBM towers are fine. They're basically carbon copies of the Royal Trust tower and they fill in the block nicely, but I definitely see why the Ernst & Young tower is the least favourite of the collection. The art deco details clearly violate the sacred Miesian design aesthetic. The property owners have also committed various sins with regard to statues here and there, which they've recently corrected. They've also permitted gross liberties to be taken with shop signage in the PATH concourse.
 
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Say what you want about the Ernst & Young Tower itself.. but the way it incorporated the Toronto Stock Exchange without actually demolishing the rest of the building (save the facade) is remarkable.
 
I dunno if you can compare those two, Pirate Bay is just about the best at what it does, whatever that is... :rolleyes:

Anyways, it doesn't seem like it'll be long now before this reclad is finished.
 
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Somewhat unrelated question to the re-cladding, but is it possible that eventually Brookfield will sell of chunks of FCP's Monstrous podium to developers? I'm just curious because that podium leaves a huge hole in our CBD.
 
I don't think that will happen. The bank's main branch and trading operations are located in the podium. They demolished their original deco office tower to build it. Also, I think the empty space at the centre of the CBD is appropriate. It works in the same way as the TD banking pavilion across the street, although it wasn't handled as well.

Recladding is taking place on the 28th floor this week.
 
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vegeta_skyline said:
I dunno if you can compare those two, Pirate Bay is just about the best at what it does, whatever that is... :rolleyes:

Anyways, it doesn't seem like it'll be long now before this reclad is finished.
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Tower reclad is supposed to be finished by the end of Q3.
Podium reclad by the end of Q4.
 
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