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

The rendering looks promising, there's some decent floorplans in there too.
 
There is still no hint to the pedestrian bridge to parking for the LTower residents. Tunnel perhaps?

It was stated somewhere earlier in this thread that the pedestrian bridge had been moved underground. I, for one, am happy about the change.
 
Pretty nice, though conservative - I was expecting something with a bit more wow factor from Cityzen, who have been on a roll lately. I do love how it's shoe-horned into that tiny site though!
 
It seems about right. That is to say, it seems to compliment much of the reserved, if not bland condo-fare coming out of Toronto. The roof element is slightly ridiculous and it reminds me of the atrocious wings and fins of the concrete stubbies located along Lakeshore. The tower itself has an awkward relation to the podium which will likely be clad in cheap brick to "honour" its historic surroundings. Because parking lots and the Spaghetti Factory are quintessentially historic.

There are some good things about this building. The tower itself is elegant. Its curves add some variation to the skyline and remind me of the RBC tower located near Front and John. Moreover, this project is very economical in its use of space. It replaces an empty lot, polishes The Esplanade, and gives value to the rail (waste)land. I must say, the density devoloping south of the traditional core is staggering.
 
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Given the unusual shape of the tower, the floorplans are nicely laid out. Interestly, of the few balconies that are offered, the larger balconies are on the smaller units.
The general look of the exterior is okay, it's nice but nothing remarkable. The boring slablike south facade is very disappointing given how it's so prominant from the Gardiner.

Given the tight clustering of the surrounding buildings, I would only consider units facing south (preferably the southwest corner).
The people who bought the south-facing units of the L-Tower will be greatly screwed -- instead of lakeviews they will be getting neighbor views.

I would like to see more details of the podium, looks like it abutts the bridge with tower even straddling it. It's a difficult site to build on, but should prove interesting.
Looks like pricing should be more reasonably priced, similar to The Post House.
 
The architecture seems formulaic and dated based on these renders. I just hope this is pulled well back from 25 Esplanade's bullnose.
 
Backstage was redesigned a couple of times in order to preserve more of the view of the 25 Esplanade bullnose from Yonge and the Esplanade and other over-Union-Station points west.

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Renderings are released:

Backstage_render1.jpg
Based on this image, I'm concerned this building may attract zombies.
 
HAHAHA!!! LMAO on that one.
Far better than the line I was thinking of.

"Build it and they will come"

Gotta admit. That is a kind of weird and funny picture.. It's like a spaceship is about to land on the roof or something.
 
Renderings are released:

I must say I do find the curved front/north side of Backstage quite attractive, however the back/south side doesn't seem to relate at all with its flat slab design and appears awkward and unattractive IMO, unfortunately the south side is also where this tower is most visible ~
 
Will the south side of this building have any impact on the skyline or be visible from the lake? It looks pretty bland from the rendering on here. This close to the harbour, I think that needs to be addressed.
 

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