fanoftoronto
Active Member
Not just College Park, the recent highrise boom in Toronto is mostly only condos. Very few office towers were constructed (BA centre comes to mind as on of them)
Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza
adma
Superstar
Er...Jack Diamond's Central Y?!? Are you out of your bleeding head?
khris
Senior Member
Lots of places - London, Berlin included - have design review panels, and more cities are creating them all the time.
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E.B.
Active Member
Are the design review panels from international or local firms? I could understand if city council wanted local designers opinions, but having to go international strikes me as a lack of confidence in Canadian designers, by our city councilors.
Automation Gallery
Superstar
Hey you may be right...look around here and look around the world and you might get the hint of why we are going international.
prettyflamingo
New Member
KA1
Senior Member
Could you, please, re-phrase your comments in simple understandable words?
urbandreamer
recession proof
Adma: Yes, the Y is ugly, bad urban planning and I don't care who designed it. JD isn't god you know.
Aura was the first project to go before a design review panel here, and as such the City sought some guidance from Vancouver, which has had a DRP for years now. There were 5 firms on the DRP in this case, 3 Canadian ones, and 2 American ones. Since that time the process has been normalized and Toronto's DRP is now made up of local architects.
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Oliver Tweed
Active Member
His is an interesting take on the building. I like it, though, and have since I first saw the design.
It would be nice to have more public space, but if they could spruce up the little park that's there it would be an improvement.
They are going to spruce up Barbara Ann Scott park there, to the tune of a couple million bucks, as required by the City's Section 37 benefits clause.
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Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Given what passes for "making a substantial contribution to the skyline" ( as JBM puts it ) from architects of G+C's calibre ( Kirkor's bell tower atop the original Ritz-Carlton design comes to mind ... ) we can be thankful that Graziani doesn't reach for the "iconic" topknot ... and that the design review panel held him to his decision.
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
For some reason, the "really tall" (200m/650ft +) buildings that have been proposed for Toronto in the last 10 years have all been duds: BA, Trump, Sapphire, 1 Bloor East (all versions except the latest), Aura, Ice. With the exception of BA, which is just bland, the rest of these are all kitschy - maybe not on the level of Dubai or Chongqing tackiness, but certainly below the elegance of the Bay street bank towers that used to have exclusivity at this height.
The really good stuff seems to be in the 500 ft category: Casa, X, 300 Front St. W, L tower, etc.
The really good stuff seems to be in the 500 ft category: Casa, X, 300 Front St. W, L tower, etc.
3Dementia
Senior Member
The design review had nothing to do with the top o' tower which is nicely resolved and has only been slightly compromised since the 2006 version was submitted... just enough cheapening to entertain urban urbantoronto experts. If the curtainwall is delivered as promised then (much maligned) G + C will have provided a soon to be celebrated curvy monolith that anchors no man's land (Yonge and Gerrard/College) in impressive fashion.