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

That's a little bit ridiculous. McDonald's should change their posters of big macs to represent the half-assed, sloppy, quasi-burgers they actually are too? Now significant changes to design, sure, commission the artist for revisions if it's not too late into the sales cycle.

In any event, I think 300 will look strikingly-close to the renders once tenants move in and (presumably) white blinds go up. I give kudos to the artist.
 
I dont think it's all that ridiculous. A difference of opinion maybe. Food artists take great lengths to make gross things look palatable - but at the end of the day when you look at those photos, a tomato is represented as a tomato and the meatlike substance is represented as such as well. Here we have a big difference between the artists idea of the materials used compared to the developer and architects views. It's not as big of a difference as a lot of other projects, but considering it's very visible location, it becomes a point of argument. I'm sure there is the possibility that the original plan was to use the materials depicted in the render - but my main point is that with the amount of information developers have to submit to get approval (and all the amendments made as a result), you would think that somewhere along the way the city would want to know what materials a building will be clad in.
 
cassius said:
That's a little bit ridiculous. McDonald's should change their posters of big macs to represent the half-assed, sloppy, quasi-burgers they actually are too? Now significant changes to design, sure, commission the artist for revisions if it's not too late into the sales cycle.

In any event, I think 300 will look strikingly-close to the renders once tenants move in and (presumably) white blinds go up. I give kudos to the artist.
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The big difference is, when you get your hamburger and it looks nothing like advertised, you can refuse to pay for it. Try doing that with your condo, after the building is finished and looks nothing like you expected. I think renderings should reflect the real finished look of a condo. Some people care very much what their condo looks like on the outside, including shape and colour. False advertising should not be allowed. If developers want to change the design or look of a condo, the purchasers should be allowed to back out of the sale. It's as simple as that.
 
Torontovibe said:
If developers want to change the design or look of a condo, the purchasers should be allowed to back out of the sale. It's as simple as that.
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The Condominium Act provides that if a change, or series of changes, occurs to the condominium project or to any of the information set forth in the disclosure statement, then the purchaser has a right to rescind the contract within 10 days of the later of:

  • the date on which the purchaser received a revised disclosure statement reflecting a material change, or notice from the declarant confirming a material change has occurred; and
  • the date on which the purchaser became aware of the material change

Upon receiving notice of rescission from the unit purchaser, the declarant is obliged to promptly refund all money received from the purchaser and credited towards the purchase price, together with interest thereon calculated at the prescribed rate, accruing from the date such monies were received, to and until the date that the declarant has refunded same.

"A material change" is expressly defined in the New Condominium Act as a change, or a series of changes, that a reasonable purchaser, on an objective basis, would collectively regard as sufficiently important to the decision to acquire the unit, that it is likely that such purchaser would not have entered into the contract, or would have exercised the right to rescind same, if the disclosure statement had originally contained said change or series of changes....

I would think a purchaser would have a hard time arguing that the shade of the spandrel would constitute a material change - as for the amount of spandrel vs clear vision glass, the floor plans would fairly accurately depict where windows are vs where walls are located - I don't know the exact details regarding this project, but I would be surprised if this particular developer suddenly replaced a large percentage of windows with solid walls - that would constitute a material change for which purchasers could back out of the contract.... especially given that the rendering is not included in the purchase and sale agreement and is not legally binding, it is an "artistic" rendering, not a legal document - however floor plans are included in the p&s agreement and are part of the contract.
 
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cassius said:
That's a little bit ridiculous. McDonald's should change their posters of big macs to represent the half-assed, sloppy, quasi-burgers they actually are too? Now significant changes to design, sure, commission the artist for revisions if it's not too late into the sales cycle.

In any event, I think 300 will look strikingly-close to the renders once tenants move in and (presumably) white blinds go up. I give kudos to the artist.
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Well, to be fair.
 
someMidTowner said:
Here we have a big difference between the artists idea of the materials used compared to the developer and architects views. It's not as big of a difference as a lot of other projects, but considering it's very visible location, it becomes a point of argument. I'm sure there is the possibility that the original plan was to use the materials depicted in the render - but my main point is that with the amount of information developers have to submit to get approval (and all the amendments made as a result), you would think that somewhere along the way the city would want to know what materials a building will be clad in.
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There's certainly a lot of renderings where the artist has seemingly taken more artistic-license than 300 has. But to your main point, I would think that if anything the materials should be known, or knowable, to the purchasers. Not so sure it should or even can be something City necessarily needs to know prior to approval.

As an architecture rendering artist myself, (though not doing contracts these days), even with a fully complete understanding of the materials, and the need to beautify the final composition (rendering), you can be sure that the way some people view aspects of your work will be interpreted differently. Probably a bad example but: nowhereiswater. "now here is water" vs "nowhere is water"?
 
cassius said:
Probably a bad example but: nowhereiswater. "now here is water" vs "nowhere is water"?
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A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.
'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.'

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'
 
By me from September 1st

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I sort of like this building. It is what it is: a rental building for young professionals. I was just surprised how the tower portion is really just a slab--I thought it would be square floor plates.

As for renderings--well they're "art" and open to interpretation. That's part of the fun in the condo marketing biz.
 
Thanks TWM for addressing this. I was hoping since Tridel has UT members, this would be addressed someday.

LEED accreditation is important to many buyers. The durability of the many all glass condos going up is the great unknown and some buyers will avoid them.
 
Tridelwebmaster, despite the fact that you have corrected us as to the price and quality/durability of spandrel, I think the bitter taste left in the mouths of some is the overall aesthetic of the spandrel. Either way thanks for the information. Good to know someone working at Tridel is reading these posts
 
Tridelwebmaster said:
Reviewing the comments about our use of spandrel in some of our buildings, our project managers and architects would like to clear up some misconceptions that Interchange42 already alluded to in an earlier post.

1. Spandrel is considered a premium finishing material that adds to the cost of the building in two ways: spandrel ranges in price from expensive to very expensive (double layer with film in between) and there are certainly more inexpensive materials or designs/processes that can be utilized to bring down construction costs. Aside from material costs, you have increased labour costs for installation.

2. Tridel and Deltera have the largest number of building projects underway in Canada with a commitment to achieving LEED certification. The use of spandrel allows us to achieve a higher LEED rating because we can insulate behind the spandrel. Architecturally, the sleek glass look can be maintained.

If you consider the increased cost of the material, labour and LEED accreditation, spandrel leads to a better high performance building and should not be construed as a sign of a 'cheap', poorly designed or constructed building or an expedient way to cut corners as this is completely false. Our use of spandrel is intended to provide our purchasers with a superior condominium home.

In the construction of our buildings, a large number of our own design build team and Toronto's top professionals collaborate on bringing the best building they can to the market. Beyond aesthetics, a great deal of attention is given to the suite layouts for efficiency and making the best use of living spaces; amenities and common areas are planned and designed with rigourous attention to detail, with interior design by award winning designers; building performance is carefully computer modelled and audited on completion; and we provide the best customer care and condominium property management.
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Is there some reason the spandrel is almost always grey? Why do developers have to use drab grey spandrel so often? Are buyers demanding it or is there some other reason why the vast majority of developers use it? Is there a discount if the spandrel is grey? I'm very curious because I find all this grey spandrel, just very disappointing. I'm sure in the future, people will start referring to this city as "Fifty Shades Of Grey."
 
Thanks for all the information, to both Mike and Tridelwebmaster.

In the end, despite spandrel being LEED accredited, durable etc... it still looks like crap. I had to say it! (it's my urbandreamer moment).
 
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