someMidTowner
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hmm, pretty interesting. Thanks for the update.
Toronto Bay Adelaide Centre | 217.92m | 51s | Brookfield | KPMB
- Thread starter yyzer
- Start date
am29
Active Member
Are they going to put glass windows in that dummy facade?
ptbotrmpfn
Senior Member
To bad they didnt make the false windows into video screen that interact with eachother.
Hamiltonian
Active Member
What is the point of the dummy facade?
Snapped this shot of the dummy facade earlier:
I'm strangely intrigued by it.
The dummy facade extends the relocated heritage facade, replicating it without pretending to be old itself. It's a solution that will not satisfy everyone, but I believe it's meant to be a conversation starter about heritage retention and aping architecture styles of the past in the first place. In this case the frontage was made from moulds made of the "original" facade to the north. (The facade originally faced Adelaide Street, not Yonge.)
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maestro
Senior Member
Gimme me a break. Sounds more like Kuwabara justifying his continued crusade for building the prefect glass box while leaving most of us bored. (I do like Southcore)
Hamiltonian
Active Member
So... The point of the dummy facade was to be a conversation starter? ...Really? Haha.
ToroTO
Active Member
Actually the facade facing Yonge has always faced Yonge, the original Adelaide Street side now faces Temperance St.
I don't like the fake extended facade, it looks strange being just one colour right beside a multicoloured original. I think it would have looked better with glass in the window openings, even though they would be just as unusable as on the historic facade which are only there for looks and have machinery directly behind.
taal
Senior Member
Even the original renderings show this (and without glass), but I agree glass would have helped.
Sure. You're always making choices when designing, and this is definitely a novel approach… bound to make people, like us, question it.
I sit corrected - thanks! Checked it out on Google Street View history. I was under the impression earlier that the facades had been rotated 90° when they were moved, but in fact you are right, and the old south wall is now the north wall, east wall is still the east wall.
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88drums
Active Member
I'm into the dummy facade. It mocks facadism in a way, and looks nice on its own merits IMO. It's a pretty unique heritage strategy for Toronto, in any case. And if the other options are empty space and more monolithic glass, I'll take it any day of the week.
Light
Active Member
"Molting" building
It reminds me of the skins that cicadas leave behind after they've molted. It's as if the old brick building had transformed into the new futuristic glass skyscraper. Considering that the lifecycles of some species of cicadas are ~17 years, the duration parallels the length of time it took for this site to finally "mature".
The facade is certainly interesting. I can't wait to see it in person when next I visit Toronto! Folks in Toronto are so fortunate to have so many different and interesting buildings going up all the time. It's amazing to watch Toronto from afar.
It reminds me of the skins that cicadas leave behind after they've molted. It's as if the old brick building had transformed into the new futuristic glass skyscraper. Considering that the lifecycles of some species of cicadas are ~17 years, the duration parallels the length of time it took for this site to finally "mature".
The facade is certainly interesting. I can't wait to see it in person when next I visit Toronto! Folks in Toronto are so fortunate to have so many different and interesting buildings going up all the time. It's amazing to watch Toronto from afar.
Mr.Tang
Active Member
Should probably wait until I have seen it in person to render judgement - but I think it may have been more successful if it was in a less plain colour. It will leave some people wondering if it is finished, or is a very lazy alternative. If it had been a bright colour it might have been a more successful conversation piece.
Razz
Senior Member
I have to agree with the remarks above. I have to reserve judgement until I see it for myself, but based on the earlier photo, this is a major disappointment for me. I get the "facdectomy statement" it's trying to make, but long term (5 to 10 years), this will look awful, and I would prefer if they would have "falsely" mimicked the real facade to the north, or do a flat wall with a pseudo painted false elevation not unlike the rear wall of the Flatiron building. That whimsical facade has stood the test of time and never fails to impress...
Below is a shot of the now completed glazing atop BAC (east elevation), taken today, May 2, 2015:
Below is a shot of the now completed glazing atop BAC (east elevation), taken today, May 2, 2015:
Bayer
Senior Member
The differences been the two parts of the façade are jarring to say the least. Knowing that it is some kind of architectural statement really doesn't help. I find it irritating to look at at this point.