Toronto Backstage On The Esplanade | 116.73m | 36s | Cityzen | P + S / IBI

BobBob said:
Am I the only one who things this building looks a little cheezy?
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You are not alone Bob, just in the minority...along with me.
The only time this building even started to look good to me was from an airplane. The further back you get, the better. So, I won't get the flatiron look of this building if the GO tower goes up? I can live with that..no problem. This sucker is the saddest 'way too big' chunk of cheese I've ever seen. Thank God the architect had the sense to jam that archway thingy into the side. It creates about the only visual interest this poor behemoth has got going for it. Have you seen the other end!? What is that huge hump anyway? Aluminum siding?

I'm betting that a very few who are living up there at the 'nose' of this thing are realizing they are about to lose their view. They must be wailing like scalded cats. Well..boo hoo. Like the old saying goes "Thats your luck in the big city." The landscape keeps changing and thats just the way it is.
 
NIMBYs in the nose are not going to lose their view - it's just going to be modified somewhat. City dwellers should realize that city views are full of buildings, some close, some far. So now these guys on the lower floors will have a neighbour taking up some of their southern view. Big deal - they'll still get views to the financial core, and will soon have amazing views of the L Tower.

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Complaining about "losing your view" is the same as complaining about losing the emptiness around you, just reworded. Unless you own that emptiness, there is really no room for complaining.
 
interchange42 said:
NIMBYs in the nose are not going to lose their view - it's just going to be modified somewhat. City dwellers should realize that city views are full of buildings, some close, some far. So now these guys on the lower floors will have a neighbour taking up some of their southern view. Big deal - they'll still get views to the financial core, and will soon have amazing views of the L Tower.

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Hmm. a view of the Ltower...
Yes I suppose they will.. right smack in front of their faces. LOL!
How do you spell 'Schadenfrude' by the way.
 
I was close!
A cookie for Jaborandi!
 
299 bloor call control. said:
Hopefully ProjectEnd got some photos if he ended up going
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I did go. Alas, there were no 'models' to photograph. I can however, offer some juicy details for your consideration.

The tower (by Page & Steele) will feature a 15,000 sq/ft footplate and will top out at 19 stories. Heights are 72m to the top floor and 80 to the top of mechanical. The tower itself will sit atop 9 floors of parking - 6 underground (for L Tower residents) and 3 above ground in the rear of the podium section.

The 'Tall Building' guidelines, drawn up by HOK Architects awhile ago, state that there should be a minimum of 25m between buildings with rectilinear footplates. The GO Tower will have a semi-circular shape facing front street and a square one facing the water. For further articulation, the glass on the rear portion is set at an angle (a.la Ritz) so that it cantilevers over the tracks a little. Because of this shape, the developers are not respecting the guidelines (which are more flexible concerning shapelier buildings) and are positioning their building 16m (at minimum) from 25 Esp. This point raised considerable debate among concerned citizens, probably residents of that building, who didn't want their "views" ruined. One resident even questioned the height which seems ridiculous considering the structural context and the fact that this is technically still the CBD.

GO will be pursuing a LEED certification in their tower and will feature green roofs on both the podium and tower sections. The tower's roof will feature only a small system of low-maintenance grasses and shrubs. The podium however, will be much more complex with two reflective pools, a wooden 'shade structure,' and trees, all to the east of the tower section. On Yonge Street, the podium will also feature a 2-3000 sq/ft, 'Interpretive Center,' but little was said as to its program.

Finally...since I wasn't able to bring you more shots of 'models,' I threw together a couple of quick massing studies in Sketchup. These sketches are based on quick drawings I did of the renders and the notes I made from the presentation.

Enjoy.

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Interesting... This development would look a lot better if the pedestrian overpass were under the street. I believe that this is still an option (although no doubt more expensive). And yes, the two buildings end up really close to each other at points.
 
Thanks for going to all that work ProjectEnd - this is going to be a very interesting project to follow.

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Mongo said:
Interesting... This development would look a lot better if the pedestrian overpass were under the street. I believe that this is still an option (although no doubt more expensive). And yes, the two buildings end up really close to each other at points.
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Sure, but the problem is that an underground tunnel would be a private affair for Car-driving residents of the L-Tower only. A +15-style bridge on the other hand, would remain public. Both of these things were assured by Councilor McConnell (sp?) last night.

Having a public bridge increases the possibility of the Sony Center/L Tower etc. being opened up to the PATH, alongside the GO Tower itself.
 
These renderings are great!
Attaboy Project. Two cookies for you!
I like it. I thought it would be taller, but thats ok. I still like it.
I would never have believed that property could hold a building like this.
I really like the pedestrian overpass. Imagine how interesting it will make that street feel as you enter Esplanade from Yonge.
 
Project End, thanks very much for the rendering, this will indeed be interesting to watch. In a sense, a building of this scale in this unlikely location speaks to me in some ways more of the densification of our town than taller buildings elsewhere - that's pretty intense land development.
 
I like the look of it too. Should make for an interesting intersection of different shaped, mid-sized buildings...positively 'european'.
 
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