Toronto 1540 Bloor West | 91.9m | 27s | Trinity Group | Arcadis

Unless they wanted to build a ROW, I can't envision any massive changes. It's already a pleasant urban street. A sidewalk widening would be nice, highly unlikely. Investment could go into burying overhead wires and improving the intersections where Ronc begins and ends.
 
The trouble with burying overhead wires is that unlike Dundas in the Junction, there's a streetcar running through here.

On the whole, though, wires don't seem all that unsightly here...
 
I may disagree with the merits of individual projects, but Urban Shocker is right. The design culture is definitely slowly infiltrating the realm of condo developers (though ironically seems to be receding from office developers) and quality is going up quite significantly as the boom goes on. We're definitely seeing a lot fewer old-style Tridel type condos and a lot more AA/Teeple/Hariri/etcetera buildings which tend to be much better executed. I would like to see more creativity in terms of forms, however, though I understand that developers may be reluctant to move too far away from the traditional rectangular structure and toward more expressive architecture that takes advantage of modern engineering techniques which is so popular around the world these days. Maybe that's a next step.
 
Besides at Ma's Absolute World and Libeskind's L Tower, yes, you're right, as discussed at length on this forum, the rectangle still reigns supreme in this city. (The Met and the coming Parade by Page and Steele and KPF respectively also break from the box at least partly, and fairly handsomely I think, but not to the degree that Ma and Libeskind are attempting. Concord has utilized the curve in several of their other buildings too.)

I'm glad that this burg's condo developers are more and more employing the aAs and Teeples and Hariris (and KPMBs and Cores and Quadrangles) to produce those box designs, as opposed to relying on the clumsier Burka Varacallis and Graziani + Corazzas so often now.

I would, however, love to see a little more international daring injected into local designs, and my arms would open wide to welcome the likes of Herzog + de Meuron, Meier, Nouvel, Botta, etc. were they to be hired to design condos here. And while it's great that we're getting Cheng's folded east facade on Shangri-La, and a boxy but interesting Starcke/YOO, we seem to have lost an Alsop in the King/Queen West area to something utterly banal. Can you imagine the sales frenzy if an affordable Gehry were to go on the market here? (And when I say affordable, I mean pretty high end of that, because those who could afford to pay would for a Gehry.)

Uh, so that's just a ramble to say that I agree with your previous post Unimaginative...

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Thanks!

You definitely made good points, too, interchange. I'd love to see more international firms represented locally, too, and it's quite shocking since there's no question that a Gehry condo would sell out spectacularly. Perhaps the success of the L Tower will lead other developers to that conclusion. Interestingly, Cityplace has also hired HOK, which is a big-name international firm, though not one better known for competence than for creativity.

That being said, I think that it's good that most condos are designed by local firms. A building boom of this size should create jobs for creative young Canadian architects. Look at the amazing stars that Spain has produced in its recent building boom

One of the biggest problems with condo projects locally, though, is with execution rather than design. Quite simply, precast is a pretty poor condo material. Glass or metal work much better and last longer. The quality of construction is also very poor, with chipped and stained concrete the norm across the city. The projects where the developer seems to have put in more effort to keep construction quality high, like 18 Yorkville, are invariably viewed as the most attractive and successful.
 
adma said:
The trouble with burying overhead wires is that unlike Dundas in the Junction, there's a streetcar running through here.

On the whole, though, wires don't seem all that unsightly here...
Click to expand...

True, but if the BIA wants to invest, then they might consider burying the non-streetcar wires which would make a great street better. The wire situation is worse on College and on Queen which still have overhead transformers in their western sections. It's the large hydro poles that diminish the impact of the facades lining the street.
 
junctionist said:
True, but if the BIA wants to invest, then they might consider burying the non-streetcar wires which would make a great street better. The wire situation is worse on College and on Queen which still have overhead transformers in their western sections. It's the large hydro poles that diminish the impact of the facades lining the street.
Click to expand...

The streetcar line thing is a poor excuse for not burying wires--look at Spadina, or, now, parts of St Clair.
 
Does anyone know the progress of this one? Is it actually going ahead?

shot_2.jpg
 
No, don't know what the situation is, but I hope that gets built.
 
allabootmatt said:
The streetcar line thing is a poor excuse for not burying wires--look at Spadina, or, now, parts of St Clair.
Click to expand...

I agree, the streetcar wires and infrastructure could be done much better and look more attractive.
 
It's got a bit of a different look to it doesn't it? I like the interesting shapes made by the balconies.
 
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