Toronto 88 Scott Street | 203.9m | 58s | Concert | P + S / IBI

Looks like it is going to come down to the precast. I'm not usually a fan of precast, so I'm really hoping to be surprised here. Those party rooms look pretty cool.
 
Considering the design, there is little opportunity for vast, continuous swathes of precast from top to bottom, nor that awkward thickening at the corners in 88 Scott - so even if the material is less than satisfactory, the impact won't be nearly as serious as what happened at Uptown. In all likelihood, it's going to look more Jazz or the Concert Kipling developments than Pemberton.

AoD
 
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i genuinely hope you are right alvin. Even if it is precast, i guess theres going to be a lot more glass than uptown.
 
There should be a list of common replies for each project so that people can just click +1 to such insightful nuggets as "it all depends on the cladding" or "this thing is taking forever" or "imagine what this area will look like in 5 years."
That would save the rest of us so much time.
 
Great videos - but I like this one even better.


Does anyone know if it is going to connect to the PATH?

That video has been around for a long time - even before 88 Scott existed. It looks like the developer (with or without the consent of the film's creator) just slapped some logos and slogans on it.
 
Interesting that Uptown is compared to this building. Watching the video that AG put up on the top of the page I noticed that the bottom portion of the tower has black window frames, then as it moves up the window frames turn white. Part of where Uptown went wrong (IMO) was using grey window frames when black would have stood out and given the building a bit of art deco inspiration.
 
That is from the Toronto Tempo timelapse video by Ryan Emond. The same footage was used for the luminato commercials. Im sure he was compensated for the luminato commercial but this seems like it could have been swiped without consent....
 
Good things noticed: Black spandrel/framing.

Elements of this building remind me of Water Park Place.
 
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What is it with bad Toronto architects and their fetish for the ziggaraut step shape? Was this thing designed by Rumpelstiltskin? It looks like it was drawn up in 1987.

Is there a city in the western world with more bad 80’s retreads? 1 King West, Trump, now this dated pile. It is really embarrassing.

The step pyramid shape might have been 'ok' in its time (it wasn’t) but HELLO it’s 2012….

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i dig those 2 storey glass skylobby/unit things. Those are great features in any skyscraper imo. (like Shangri-la).
 
The step pyramid shape might have been 'ok' in its time (it wasn’t) but HELLO it’s 2012….

To me the "step pyramid" or ziggurat, as you have called it, is very symbolic of New York city skyscrapers (due to the light and shadow ordinance of 1906) and, maybe for that reason, I associate positively with it. I feel it's natural for a skyscraper to have a stepped back design the same way that I think it's natural for a rock band to have a drummer, a bass guitarist and a lead singer - there's nothing that says it has to be that way, it's just the classic way tha skyscrapers were designed in the city that defined the skyscraper.

I don't think it's a "tired" design at all. Some of my favourite skyscrapers in the world, whether they were built in NY or not, have something resembling a step pyramid shape: the Messeturm, Chrysler Tower, International Finance Centre in HK, Jin Mao, etc. It was also natural for almost every pre-WW2 skyscraper to have in every city unless it was one of those Beaux Arts piles that was one solid mass twenty stories up (think Commerce Court North).

It's true that Toronto's best highrises didn't utilize this design, although the Canada Trust tower at Brookfield place (or whatever it's called now) makes a good effort.
 
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