Toronto 351 Queen East | 96.55m | 28s | ONE Properties | Kirkor Architects

What I find problematic is how overwhelmingly busy the podium is, which results in this looking like a visual mess. The hulking scale and massing doesn't help either. Kirkor needs to shift towards taking a less-is-more approach.
 
The problem isn't the architecture so much as the scale.
This is what we get for having land values that force developers to cram every inch of floor plate they can get within the envelopes that angular planes force on them: buildings that often look bloated, and in shapes that no architect would give them to make them look good. Here, architects are left with having to try to make something that's just an oddly shaped mass into looking like they "meant to do that"… so apply a scattered, alternating, heavily lined exterior over the lump in an attempt to harmonize with the oddly articulated lump.

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Looking at this fresh, I’m struck by how chunky the massing is. Both this and the adjacent Home would have been much better as tower-and-podiums. Squashing the density down into these irregular stepped podiums doesn’t make it feel less obtrusive; it makes it feel more obtrusive.

The urban design idea of limiting heights in this area is going to seem silly within a decade.

Needless to say the articulation, the design of the ground level, and the landscape are all likely to be subpar.
 
Site Plan Approval submitted:

161 PARLIAMENT ST
Ward 13: Toronto Centre


Site Plan Approval for a27-storey mized-use building having a non-residential gross floor area of 3600 square metres, and a residential gross floor area of 31,300 square metres. A total of 453 residential dwelling units are proposed, of which, 8 are rental replacement units.
 
folks, it's not great


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Raise a glass to ONE Properties' contributions to Queen Street East with Kirkor here, and Graziani + Corazza’s masterpiece at 245 Queen East (I’m usually a glass half-full fella but… geez).

Do they own any other property nearby? 😨
 
Raise a glass to ONE Properties' contributions to Queen Street East with Kirkor here, and Graziani + Corazza’s masterpiece at 245 Queen East (I’m usually a glass half-full fella but… geez).

Do they own any other property nearby? 😨

A bit northwest of here, but ONE Properties also own the project at Church & Wellesley which has been trending downward design wise.

 

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