Toronto 50 Bloor Street West | 230.11m | 70s | Morguard Corporation | Pellow + Associates

I'm thinking beyond Europe and at finalists that lost in other competitions.
 
My take: it is kind of crass. But it's a free country, so say what you will - and let the chips fall where they will. We make our own allies and enemies as we go along anyway.

And while we're on the topic: "vertically challenged" at least offers the advantage of humour. Or will we be dispensing with that entirely in our rush to be politically correct in our shrill anti-political correctness?

Back to 50 Bloor West... I just hope that whatever's coming is a strong departure from the previous designs. They had the same kind of unfortunate clumsiness that plagues the bottom two thirds of Aura.
 
The proposal that's coming is entirely different, not influenced by the earlier design at all… and with the consolidation of ownership, doesn't respect the current lots.

42
 
Please tell me if I have this correct. A range of proposals consolidate into a single KingSett plan which following an international contest, now concluded, will be announced in early 2017.
My question - are these the properties?
  • 50 Bloor (Holts)
  • Cumberland Terrace (south side of Cumberland)
  • 27-37 Yorkville immediately south of the Four Seasons
So the plan covers 2 blocks?
Quite a Christmas present!
 
We don't know when we'll hear about it, and we don't know how much we will hear about when it's submitted. Declaring a winner in a design competition and submitting a proposal are two different things. The competition is there to establish a vision—with some details certainly—but these concepts are then subjected to more scrutiny in terms of just what by-laws and other planning regulations would have to change, and all of the market forces at play. KingSett may have a concept that they are happy with now, but that doesn't mean that they will be springing it on us in a month. They may, but it may also be a year away.

BTW, it's more properties than you've identified above @buildup, and yes, it's more than one tower @Urban-Affair!

42
 
Interchange I'm excited about your comments. Most of the dramatic multi-tower proposals have been on the core's periphery - Mirvish/Gehry, 1 Yonge, etc. Whereas Bloor has seen a few single tower proposals. But this KingSett project has the potential to cement Bloor/Yorkville's future, and there won't be another similar opportunity. Glad it's in KingSett's hands.
 
Wow, this is really a large assembly when I look at what they own in this area. It's practically all the land from Bloor to Yorkville, and from Yonge to Bay minus the two towers planned along Yonge across from the reference library. Here I was thinking 2 towers, really we are talking about potentially many towers. Colour me intrigued!
 
Urban-Affair said:
Wow, this is really a large assembly when I look at what they own in this area. It's practically all the land from Bloor to Yorkville, and from Yonge to Bay minus the two towers planned along Yonge across from the reference library. Here I was thinking 2 towers, really we are talking about potentially many towers. Colour me intrigued!
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Not just towers. I imagine it will involve structures of different heights and floor plate sizes. I'm mostly hoping for a strong street wall and inviting architecture at ground level. The towers are a bonus if they are well designed, but I don't much care about how tall they are.
 
Perhaps we'll be seeing BIG or Nouvel - those two have yet to do anything in Toronto as far as I know.

Edit: just thinking we've het to see Herzog de Meuron or Renzo Piano either. Honestly any of those four would be fantastic.
 
Contra said:
Perhaps we'll be seeing BIG or Nouvel - those two have yet to do anything in Toronto as far as I know.

Edit: just thinking we've het to see Herzog de Meuron or Renzo Piano either. Honestly any of those four would be fantastic.
Click to expand...

Worth repeating...
interchange42 said:
It's not quite that famous a name. Most readers won't recognize them as "starchitects"… which will make it that much more difficult to guess, so I'm trying to be a well-intentioned wet blanket here: I'm afraid that when this is revealed that people will be disappointed…
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