Toronto 300 Front Street West | 156.05m | 49s | Tridel | Wallman Architects

I could discuss shades of calm grey all day - and of course colour preference is a very personal thing, Miscreant - but I think that there's a certain daring to using such an unusually subtle, light grey. I've got a couple of sweaters, and shirts, and a few pairs of jeans in that shade, my own personal form of cladding, and when worn together they form what feels like a cloak of invisibility.
 
I'd like to see more colour, but grey is a good neutral, and this is a new grey. I always find the "Toronto is too grey" comments a bit strange when Toronto is more beigey and brown from it's bricks and concrete than it is grey. Sure, grey is more popular lately - many of the condos going up now use some form of grey - but that's really only a continuing reaction to the more cartoon-y colour choices of Postmodernism and the beige of the Brutalist period. (And it also reflects a changing use of material from stone/concrete/brick to glass/metal.)

And as has been noted, Toronto's colour palate really changes depending on the colour of the sky - something Wallman is probably playing with here. Those light grey panels will probably look indistinguishable from some of the windows when the windows are reflecting a light grey sky.
 
I saw the cladding on this building for the first time today. I'd describe the spandrel as more of a light or creamy powder blue. I guess you could call it grey, but it's definitely not a heavy shade of grey, and not the kind of grey you typically see around the city.

I was also impressed with the thick precast mullions that run vertically between every four window panes typically along where the internal load-bearing walls meet the facade. They look much more three dimensional in real life than they do in the photos and I think they'll add some visual interest and texture. You can see them in this photo by cruzin4u:


300-FRONT-18-04-2012-5.jpg
 
This is a beautiful building. The cladding is great. Some people just need something to complain about, but this is lovely. It looks awesome. Some of you may hate Toronto and anything here, but this is amazing!
 
coolcanadian said:
This is a beautiful building. The cladding is great. Some people just need something to complain about, but this is lovely. It looks awesome. Some of you may hate Toronto and anything here, but this is amazing!
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Woah woah woah. We just went from the window wall cladding on 300 Front Street West to Toronto as a whole?!
 
Because one finds the colour of this building disappointing, they hate Toronto? lol And what if we hate the colour of The horrible Toronto Life Building and it's dreadful cladding? What would that signify, a hatred of all Ontario? It might just mean we hate a building. And speaking of that ugly MoFo, when are the new owners going to invest some money in that thing so proud Torontonians won't have to lower their heads in shame, every time we walk past it. (with out of town guests)
 
Ramako said:
I saw the cladding on this building for the first time today. I'd describe the spandrel as more of a light or creamy powder blue. I guess you could call it grey, but it's definitely not a heavy shade of grey, and not the kind of grey you typically see around the city.
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Dove grey.
 
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