Puglies 2008: People's Choice Awards for Architecture

[pugawards]

Voting for the 4th Annual People's Choice Awards for Architecture (the PUG AWARDS) has officially started this morning!

You have one month to vote whether you "HATE" or "LOVE" the 18 Residential Nominees and 3 Commercial/Institutional Nominees.

Buildings had to be completed and registered with the city of Toronto within 2007, be located within the former city of Toronto, and have an area greater than 50,000 SQ FT

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www.pugawards.com
Tim Robertson

 

[alklay]

Innocent fun. Thanks for pointing it out for this year.

A sliding scale would be much better than 'love or hate.' I find that there are too many buildings that warrent a 6 or 7 out of 10...but I really don't 'love' them.

 

[grey]

The Pugs are broken. I think too many people are voting based purely on the photographs, many of which do not capture the best/worst of any building.

I think that's the only explanation for buildings like MoZo scoring more than 20% lower than French Quarter.

 

[junctionist]

Spire should be popular. I'm curious how the ROM will do. Odds are that it will be popular too, but I could see a lot of people venting their frustration with the cladding.

 

[pugawards]

It's definitely hard to give the full context of the building with just a few images - and admittedly in the past these have been rather small images. We're hoping giving the ability to the user to zoom in and pan within the pictures can at least give a better feeling on context.

Although in an ideal world people would be interested enough to go visit a site before voting (but that's wishful thinking)

 

[TKTKTK]

I think the awards are much better organized this year than last. The three photos offered actually do a pretty good job of representing the buildings in question.

Having said that, I wish we had a sliding scale to work with as well. eg. I had to tank 22 Wellesley because its ground floor is so, so, so brutal - but it really only deserves a 5/10.

 

[alklay]

Thats funny because I too voted 'hate' for 22 Wellesley although I think the tower is fantastic (the base is just too terrible for 'I Love")

 

[TKTKTK]

Maybe, to keep the simplicity of Love/Hate, there should just be an additional 'Meh' option

 

[junctionist]

I like the Broadview lofts with the black frames windows which reflect the building's industrial past. I've seen loft conversions with regular condo windows which detract from the industrial character. The watertower on the roof is interesting, but like the crooked Tip Top Tailors sign on that conversion on Lake Shore, it's a gimmick.

I dislike Battery Park, and I'm confident there's a consensus on that. I'm also curious on how ROCP will do.

 

[marcus_a_j]

I voted against 22 Wellesley and ROCP for the same reason, they would have been favourable but the finishes at the ground level pushed them over the edge. I really like Broadview lofts, 535 Richmond and One City Hall. Windermere by the Lake got the thumbs down because of the adjacent townhouses.

 

[grey]

^^ exact same exact reasons for me. 22 Wellesley base is crap, and Windermere base and townhouses are ugly as hell even though the tower looks great.

But I voted against ROCP because I think it's 100% crap bottom to top (especially top).

 

[Ziggy]

There was an interesting program about the Pugs on TVO.

It was a panel discussion with Christopher Hume, Lisa Rochon, Adam Vaughan, and a few architecture profs.

You can watch it ontline here: http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779219&ts=2008-05-26%2020:00:45.0

I found the discussion of the ROM crystal interesting, I was surprised by the strong negative reactions of some of the panelists.

I was also surprised at how reasonable Hume seemed, I pretty much agreed with all of his comments.

 

[MetroMan]

Thanks for that Ziggy. Very entertaining.

Adam Vaughn hits the nail on the head regarding the finishings and workmanship of the ROM Crystal.

Now that it's been completed and open for a year now, the ROM has no excuse for its many misgivings:

1 - Stair of Wonders - It's a wonder how empty and desolate this place is. This is supposed to be the grand stair, the major vertical link between the galleries. Yet, it is reminiscent of a utility stair.
The the aluminum siding was poorly assembled – misaligned, scraped instead of polished – and even the rivets are broken and crushed. The trail on each side of each stair is usually full of dirt and is truly an eyesore. Its an embarassment for a building costing that much.

2 - Exterior - No matter how William Thorsell tries to spin it, the barn siding didn't work out as intended. The slats are mismatched in a manner obvious to having been screwed up rather than being an artful intention.
From the minute I saw one side clad in that "extruded brushed aluminum", I knew that it was a mistake. I still think that it should have been clad in 100% glass, using opaque glass where the metal slats are. I understand that the building needs to function as a museum space to light sensitive artifacts, and I do understand that the building needs to be realistic in a way that deflects rain, ice and snow.
Hey, if glass isn't impressive enough, tint it red:

While I don't think this building will be "torn down in 20 years" like Lisa Rochon says, at some point after the entire museum's "Renaissance" is complete, they should go back to the Crystal and edit some of the problem areas.

 

[MetroMan]

To complete my post above, I do have to say that I disagree with some points made:

1 - The ROM is a poor gallery space. I don't agree at all. While I think that the second floor was a poor choice for the dino gallery, the space is used well and the artifacts do pop out, despite the loud architecture its placed in. That said, the dino gallery should have been at the top floor with its vaulted ceilings. This exhibit is no doubt the most popular with most visitors so it is always full. There is little room to move around because of that, specially in the mammal exhibit in the next room.
Also, you'd think that they would want to move people to the top to view this, creating traffic in the galleries along the way.

2 - It was said that the reason things didn't turn out is that this is a first, that its a daring experiment and that things are bound to go wrong and that they can be corrected. Its a first for Toronto, but the architect responsible has plenty of experience putting these structures together. He has several clones of the ROM crystal the world over.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Thanks Ziggy, good discussion in that piece.

Re: ROM comments, I think for $270M we should have been delivered more than a "daring experiment". Mostly, I'm a fan of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition. It's some of the materials that make me crazy, not the design or workmanship.

Back to the Pugs, I really hope Spire, Quantum 1, Met and One City Hall top the list under Best Residential, ROM will obviously top out the Commercial/Institutional category.