The Esplanade Assembly | Allied REIT

[UtakataNoAnnex]

Hmmmm let me think. I recall that when I attended university and something I designed did not sit well with my instructors what did they do? They shat upon me with the utmost zeal. Perhaps that wasn’t the best approach but I learned from it. Therefore should I have said ‘good, job great attempt’ rather than my opinion? That would be worse than being honest.

Furthermore, it's neither ghastly, ridiculous, and awful as you assert. It's problematic for a number of reasons, but the design aspect of it is far from being a write off. There's been much, much worse that has already been built.

 

[condovo]

Furthermore, it's neither ghastly, ridiculous, and awful as you assert. It's problematic for a number of reasons, but the design aspect of it is far from being a write off. There's been much, much worse that has already been built.

It's ghastly, ridiculous and awful.

 

[LUVIT!]

Ok let me know the proposal’s ‘problems’ as you see it.

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

It's ghastly, ridiculous and awful.

Just so you know, stating something repeatedly doesn't actually change my opinion of it. /shrug

Ok let me know the proposal’s ‘problems’ as you see it.

Err...why?

 

[Blixtein]

Absurd fantasy.

 

[WeirdFishes]

Absurd fantasy.

How so?

 

[3Dementia]

Something along the scale (maybe a bit taller) and quality of 7 St. Thomas would be perfect for this site - what's been proposed here looks crammy. Hopefully whatever proposed for this site eventually would block that awful IBI Berczy as well.
AoD

Save most of the depth of the Front Street heritage buildings and build behind... 7 St. Thomas-ish would make a decent podium but I'd add a tower on the western portion of the site (we're trading some shadowing for a masterpiece ;-).

Unfortunately Google's lame-ass algorithm for Calatrava won't serve up a pic of what I propose... specifically his (sadly never built) "Shard-esque" design for the Centre for Computing and Engineering at Ryerson Polytechnic University.

Voila. Heritage in front and tallish (and very transparent ;-) masterpiece behind. Sort of like a 1 Yorkville effect if the wiggly window-wall mistake was actually Calatrava curtain-wall.

 

[WislaHD]

I mean...bad is bad no matter who it's from. Judging by Page 13 of the PDF, there was little thought into concept development past neat pics on pinterest.

Hmmmm let me think. I recall that when I attended university and something I designed did not sit well with my instructors what did they do? They shat upon me with the utmost zeal. Perhaps that wasn’t the best approach but I learned from it. Therefore should I have said ‘good, job great attempt’ rather than my opinion? That would be worse than being honest.

It is what is but we can certainly voice our displeasure with that, especially since a common lamentation on this forum is that the culture of development in this city is regarded as nothing but an excercise in real estate investment. If we must refrain from hurting some young prefessional's feelings, one that will likely never read these comments, in lieu of expressnig that displeasure then so be it. But really they already won a competition, I'm sure they can look past our digs.

Okay, but these aren't junior architects or urban designers. They aren't designing shit. Neither was this a design competition.

This was a proposal put together for NAIOP - an organization of commercial real estate professionals. The young professionals involved are development, business, and planning background - not designers.

There's a pro-forma in the appendices and it made up a significant part of the presentation. I don't think architects even know what that is.

 

[WislaHD]

Well, with Allied REIT behind this assembly I am not going to worry about a whole bunch of nothing until an actual proposal is put together and submitted (not a student competition). Allied has a strong track record in Toronto with heritage buildings, it's not like Larco Investments picked this up. If anything this is great news as far as I am concerned because I didn't know who owned this block before and was always concerned that the buildings on this block would get developed piecemeal by more opportunistic players looking for a quick cash grab.

I fully understand the heritage concerns on this block and wholeheartedly agree about preservation (and more than just the building facades). However, preservation of the block in stasis in it's current state for all eternity seems arbitrary and a little unreasonable. I feel like it might be useful to point out the obvious in that buildings in Europe's old cities get redeveloped too. I just ask that it be done tastefully, and in a way that leaves the denizens of UrbanToronto responding with "wow" reactions.

Anyway, looking at the winning proposal in the competition, by far the biggest sin committed if you ask me is this image below. Replacing that fine strip of restaurants, bars, and patios, that directly catered to Toronto's tourist scene, with three below "retail" blobs does not sit well with me.

 

[AlexBozikovic]

but Anyway, looking at the winning proposal in the competition, by far the biggest sin committed if you ask me is this image below. Replacing that fine strip of restaurants, bars, and patios, that directly catered to Toronto's tourist scene, with three below "retail" blobs does not sit well with me.

View attachment 282937

But if you’re a young planner, providing a “mid-block connection” here seems right. City planning is obsessed with those.

A good illustration of how dubious policies and uninspired design give us bad projects. Checks all the boxes!