Toronto 401 Bay Street | 143.86m | 33s | Cadillac Fairview | WZMH

I change my vote, this is probably the worst re-clad project in North America. I dont even have to see the completion to make that decision, looking at the incoherent slapping around of materials throughout the updated building is enough to make the call.
 
Hate to say it, but they would have been better off ripping it down and redeveloping it. This looks horrible. I was willing to give it a chance in the past, but now that it's largely complete, it's turned out pretty awful.

It's just a total mess.
 
Overall I actually do like what they are doing to the facade. The strong vertical lines in white to me look very unique. The Simpson Tower always reminder me of ITV's The London Studios in the UK.
 
I agree Dustin.

It's definitely nowhere near as bad as some people like to make out. Based on the panic and hysteria in some posts, you'd think this was being reclad in mismatched plywood.
I think some posters feel the need to pile on once a project has proven to be out of favor.
 
Overall I know Toronto has a tendency to clad everything in glass, however the tint of the glass looks good here and they kept true to the original vertical lines of the tower....this is a success in my opinion!
 
Lyphe said:
I agree Dustin.

It's definitely nowhere near as bad as some people like to make out. Based on the panic and hysteria in some posts, you'd think this was being reclad in mismatched plywood.
I think some posters feel the need to pile on once a project has proven to be out of favor.
Click to expand...

It might also be that said people/posters are ,more comprehensively informed when it comes to architectural and urban history, including that of Toronto.
 
It also might be a not so delicate announcement of elitism and buffoonery.
Everybody is a critic and the whole world is a theatre..
:)
 
cogito ergo said:
It also might be a not so delicate announcement of elitism and buffoonery.
Everybody is a critic and the whole world is a theatre..
:)
Click to expand...

I don't know about "buffoonery"; but re "elitism", it might be nothing more than a natural consequence of those most qualified to judge accordingly.

In fact, "everybody is a critic" is the kind of tripwire-libertarian statement that leads to "do not read the comment threads" sentiment re newspaper articles and the like...
 
adma said:
I don't know about "buffoonery"; but re "elitism", it might be nothing more than a natural consequence of those most qualified to judge accordingly.

In fact, "everybody is a critic" is the kind of tripwire-libertarian statement that leads to "do not read the comment threads" sentiment re newspaper articles and the like...
Click to expand...
tripwire-libertarian.. lllove it!!
:)
I also find it amusing that elitism and expertise could so easily be interchangeable.
Experts can still entertain opposing opinions and competition of ideas.. a true elitist? ..not so much..
but what do I know?.. let the grand jury of 'most qualified' proceed.. ;)
 
I'd be happy to let the so-called experts rule the roost here, if they only agreed with one another. Alas, there would seem to be as broad a gulf in the range of their opinions as there are among the unwashed hordes.
 
I decided to wait for this project to be completed before I commented on it. Guess there’s no longer a need to wait. Unless the podium is so spectacular that it mitigates the general awfulness of the tower I think I can safely say that it’s ...awful. NPS is framed with some pretty nasty ugliness.
 
cogito ergo said:
tripwire-libertarian.. lllove it!!
:)
I also find it amusing that elitism and expertise could so easily be interchangeable.
Experts can still entertain opposing opinions and competition of ideas.. a true elitist? ..not so much..
but what do I know?.. let the grand jury of 'most qualified' proceed.. ;)
Click to expand...


The trouble is, comment threads *all over* these days have a reputation for being a magnet/outlet for Sunday-painter opinion-mongerers where the signal-to-noise is such that the "qualified" can wind up just shaking their heads and turning away.

And as for "so-called experts": from what I can tell (and even if this was "justified" through the structural degeneration of previous façade elements) there's pretty much consensus amongst them here that this is an irredeemable turkey. Or the only kinds of "experts" willing to claim otherwise would be absolute real-estate-and-development ninnies for whom the urban environment is a tabula rasa of "datedness" that constantly needs "refreshing"--kind of like mall architecture writ large, or neighbourhoods where everything of vintage is deemed expendable on behalf of McMansions...
 
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