Toronto 123 Wynford Drive | 176.95m | 52s | Originate | Moriyama Teshima Architects

[ProjectEnd]

I've had to keep this one quiet for awhile. It's been a tough, infuriating, thing. Dave LeBlanc seems ok with the idea but @AlexBozikovic rightly disagrees. This monumental piece of architecture *does not* need a condo crown. It brings the failures of Toronto's development / planning policy into clear focus.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1550454625190526979

 

[Northern Light]

A few things to add here.

First a link to the Globe and Mail story in question, which currently is not paywalled.

Monumental change for Moriyama’s modernist classic

Development group proposing two new towers for the 1963 Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre site

www.theglobeandmail.com

Second, from the above, we learn:

Proponents: Originate Developments with Westdale Properties and Cameron Stephens Equity Capital

Architecture Firm: Moriyama Teshima Architects

Tower heights 55 storeys and 48 storeys.

Columnist LeBlanc's take: "And, unbelievably, these twins don’t diminish the monumentality of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre."

"No, with a generous setback, a floating storey of glass over the JCCC, and then seven storeys of flared, pagoda-like, wrap-around balconies with smaller windows, the dignity of the original building remains intact."

A close-up of the Balconies:

 

[ProjectEnd]

I'm almost surprised LeBlanc got so rooked by the "what we're definitely going to do" garbage. They're not. AoR is Kirkor. Read from that what you will.

 

[Northern Light]

I'm almost surprised LeBlanc got so rooked by the "what we're definitely going to do" garbage. They're not. AoR is Kirkor. Read from that what you will.

So you're calling 'Bait and Switch' and/or severe cheapening here?

Question: If the above design fully delivered what it promises, would that suffice?

****

Different note, I simply this is a terrible place for this kind of density.

There really isn't much I like about Wynford Drive. The grade-separation with Eglinton speaks to its anti-urbanity, as does its relationship to the DVP.

 

[ProjectEnd]

So you're calling 'Bait and Switch' and/or severe cheapening here?

Question: If the above design fully delivered what it promises, would that suffice?

****

Different note, I simply this is a terrible place for this kind of density.

There really isn't much I like about Wynford Drive. The grade-separation with Eglinton speaks to its anti-urbanity, as does its relationship to the DVP.

You like Nobu? This is gonna be worse.

 

[Northern Light]

You like Nobu?

No I do not

This is gonna be worse.

I don't doubt you, I was just having you clarify. LOL Your clarifications are usually fun to read.

 

[AlbertC]

A crisper copy of these 2 renderings:

123 Wynford Drive - Originate Developments

In a rare opportunity for reinvention, Moriyama is collaborating with Originate, Kirkor, ERA and Plant to reimagine this site as a residential masterpiece. The world class design team will breathe new life into 123 Wynford Drive, while both maintaining and showcasing its cultural and natural...

originateinc.ca

 

[bilked]

I’m deeply sympathetic to the argument that the Centre is a masterpiece and shouldn’t be touched at all. Incidentally it’s only one of two Toronto entries in Phaidon’s Atlas of Brutalist Architecture (a gorgeous book if you can get your hands on one):

The proposal does raise interesting high level questions as to the purpose of architecture. Here’s the current status from Google Streetview:

Fenced off, invisible, inaccessible and unknown to all but a very small community.

With all that said, even if you support opening up the site and allowing some re-visioning of the centre, is this really the group that you want holding the reins:

164 Bathurst | UrbanToronto

164 Bathurst, Toronto by 1, Kirkor Architects Planners

urbantoronto.ca

Zero faith.

How about demonstrating the smallest modicum of interest in architecture on other projects before proposing to gut a Moriyama?

 

[ProjectEnd]

To be clear, I have *no* problem with the one tower, it's the butchering and evisceration of the original Moriyama complex to which I'm in staunch opposition.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

As always, nothing is sacred in this town other than the yellow belt.

AoD

 

[3Dementia]

Kinda suprised no-one has mentioned the elephant in the room... namely the design architects of the towers. Is this a poorly-disguised strategy by Originate to (effectively) "get permission" to mess with a landmark?

 

[Northern Light]

Kinda suprised no-one has mentioned the elephant in the room... namely the design architects of the towers.

Ummm, in post #2 I did say.....

Proponents: Originate Developments with Westdale Properties and Cameron Stephens Equity Capital

Architecture Firm: Moriyama Teshima Architects

Is this a poorly-disguised strategy by Originate to (effectively) "get permission" to mess with a landmark?

In post #3 Project End had this to say:

I'm almost surprised LeBlanc got so rooked by the "what we're definitely going to do" garbage. They're not. AoR is Kirkor. Read from that what you will.

 

[3Dementia]

Ummm, in post #2 I did say.....







In post #3 Project End had this to say:

Yes I read your post... and intelligent people would just scratch their heads quietly and say "Oh my, it's the same firm Moriyama co-founded doing this".

I just thought saying it out loud might invite discussion about the proponent and a poorly disguised strategy "to get permission".

 

[alklay]

Yes, it is tragic that the original Moriyama complex will be essentially destroyed (and we lost another modern masterpiece just a few hundred metres away when the Aga Khan Museum was built).

As for the proposals and renderings (and the plan to use "glass fiber reinforced concrete in a modular/precast way to create a sort of basket weave"), colour me skeptical as well. The proposed buildings are beautiful and would be a breakthrough for Toronto condo design, both materially and aesthetically. Heck, it would look better than 95% of the stuff being built south of Bloor.

(That being said, the Globe piece reads like it was written by the developers. And it provides a false choice: have the masterpiece building remain empty forever or build a condo on top. The piece loses all credibility with this reasoning.)

But this looks expensive to build. And this area is not going to support expensive. There is little doubt that it will be value engineered and half of what is being promised will be gone. And my guess is that the better half will be lost.

I hope for the best but I expect much less.

So we are probably going to get the destruction of a masterpiece worthy of keeping...and the replacement by buildings that are not worthy.

 

[cd concept]

Very creative cream looking towers overlooking the DVP seen in the photos up above!