Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza

From the spit, Saturday.

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Armour said:
Additionally, I wonder the rounded portion of the building wasn't carried throughout the entire design. It would have made the building much more attractive. Those rectangular portions on the east and west sides are horrid. Lastly, the roof would have looked better if it was identical on both sides. The overlapping effect that is visible from the west looks really bad The lighting also looks odd from the west, as there a is a large break in the rhythm of the light fixtures where the roof shifts in opposite directions.
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I think some of it has to do with costs both from the construction and sales perspective. Constructing a curved form is slightly more complex in addition, I'd imagine they spent more money and time fabricating and installing the curtain wall for the upper portion than they did on the spandrel window-wall lower portion. Curving the building also means less real-estate with much-harder to design floorplans that don't maximize the site to it's fullest potential. They managed to cram in a lot more suites into the lower half than they would have if they continued the curved form throughout. Aside from being a visually much nicer form, the only advantage I see curving the top half is for easing with wind loads.

Personally, I couldn't imagine a curved Aura being uniform from top to bottom. I think it would look a bit awkward, especially when handling how a form like that would meet the street. The setbacks help ease this, and while quite off, it points to neighbouring buildings. I think the overlapping effect looks great, and I think the roof is fantastic (except for the 'gap'). It's pretty iconic and works wonders on the skyline. I was surprised by how many people know of this building, and the lighting is definitely making a huge impact.

The design they settled is fine and is a step above most other condominium projects in the city IMO - but far from perfect. There are many awkward angles as you have mentioned, and also details such as the mismatched floor-heights in the lower-half of the tower and the vent coverings at the top of the eastern setback and one near the top of the tower.

*Also, great photos everyone. The shots from the Leslie Spit are the true waterfront views of the city that people should be appreciating IMO. Where you can see the skyline in its entirety from the Lake - not that post-card that shows the CN tower front and centre.
 
AndreaPalladio said:
The lights looked cool last night in the rain with the low clouds.
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I saw the lights for the first time and loved it!

I don't think there is much to complain about. You live in the city centre, there will be distracting lights and noise. It is expected. A curtain will do. My bedroom faces a parking structure where the light was extremely bright at night (not nearly as the Aura light, but much closer and brighter) beaming straight into my eyes, what I am supposed to do? I installed a light-blocking curtain and everything solved. Really don't get all the trivial whining about this and that.
 
Benito said:
I think that is below the penthouse level no?
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Correct. You can rent one of the penthouse suites for 10k per month.

You can find the listing on that site as well.
 
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Leaving Kensington Market a few hours ago:

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