I get the swooping canopy at ground level, but the staggered window patterning on the podium is unnecessary and inelegant, giving the podium a fussy and fat boxy feel… but worst is the the swooping parapet atop the podium which screams "look, all the lines match now, this isn't a box, it's not a box, stop looking at how boxy the podium is, stop, quit it, stop!" Just looking at the one element is making me seasick and it should be eliminated.
Would look much better without that podium. Keep the height, just lose that squished box... although the swooping canopy is a nice touch on otherwise strange design.
Honestly haven't seen a single design from Arquitectonica in this development cycle that I've been able to fully get behind. What's the point of bringing in an international architect if they're going to give you a mediocre Kirkor-esque design?
An executed box would be an amazing turnabout to this. The massing is boorish. There's nothing positive about it. It should never ever be used. We as a group obsess too much over boxes and not boxes. Tacky is tacky in all shapes.
The podium and the tower do not interact at all. If the podium integrated more curved elements, as opposed to sharp angles, it would probably look better. It was fine when it was 1/3rd of the height it is now. I do like the tower though. It's a lot different than most of Toronto's towers.
It's a shame that the podium got altered because of North York's office space requests.