saynotofaux
Active Member
... you do realize city planning recommended refusal and this was approved at the board, right?
For reference, you can read the OMB decision here.
Toronto CampusOne Student Residence (was University Place) | 79.85m | 25s | Knightstone | Diamond Schmitt
- Thread starter Observer Walt
- Start date
... you do realize city planning recommended refusal and this was approved at the board, right?
For reference, you can read the OMB decision here.
maestro
Senior Member
It's tall ... very tall ... for its surroundings. How tall it compares to the other taller parts of the 632 square kilometre city is irrelevant.
ADRM
Senior Member
Right - it's both tall and imposing given its immediate surroundings and, perhaps more importantly for the purposes of passing judgment, an unabridged omnishambles of a design.
I think the tenor of this thread would be quite different if the design were a few orders of magnitude more palatable.
I think the tenor of this thread would be quite different if the design were a few orders of magnitude more palatable.
Filip
Senior Member
Doesn't negate the point of my post at all. There are other avenues the city has to complicate things for the developer... As Mr. Mizrahi is quickly finding out.
saynotofaux
Active Member
Right, well I don't disagree with you that this building is a disaster, but I just wanted to point out that city staff were unequivocally against the proposal.
UrbanFervour
Active Member
Does he? I thought the huge disappointments of the 4Seasons Opera House and the Corus Centre would've been enough to reveal the emperor has no clothes.... Let alone the crap D&S produces like this. I actually don't think Jack Diamond has much to do with running D&S - just an old figurehead no?
Patch
Active Member
Ton of spandrel going in on the west side for this one 
No, not a figurehead, but neither does he design most of the buildings coming from the firm. Diamond is on most of their prestige jobs around the world.
He and Don Schmitt do need to sit down and have a long think about what they are letting their clients do. This design started out looking pretty great, (although it has always been too big for the site), but iteration after iteration was hit by value engineering—'cheapened'—until this is what we get. At a certain point, Diamond Schmitt needed to say 'no'. Tough thing to do when they have employees to pay, but they have to consider what their reputation is worth to their future.
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P23
Active Member
I don't understand the complaints about height. This is a major intersection served by 2 streetcar lines and right on the edge of downtown. I would expect this building to have plenty of neighbours of similar height in the future.
maestro
Senior Member
It's more about the massing combined with the height and the comment that it's not tall.
Personally, I do find it on the tall side for its surroundings. It would be more acceptable with setbacks leading to a small floor plate. No one knows what the future holds for the neighbourhood so I'm not willing to speculate on the plenty of "neighbours of similar height in the future". I do question the desire for every downtown intersection or every square inch of the vast downtown area to house 20+ floor high rises. I'd rather have solid street walls from 20 to 45 metres along arterials with the low rise side streets remaining relatively low rise.
Personally, I do find it on the tall side for its surroundings. It would be more acceptable with setbacks leading to a small floor plate. No one knows what the future holds for the neighbourhood so I'm not willing to speculate on the plenty of "neighbours of similar height in the future". I do question the desire for every downtown intersection or every square inch of the vast downtown area to house 20+ floor high rises. I'd rather have solid street walls from 20 to 45 metres along arterials with the low rise side streets remaining relatively low rise.
stjames2queenwest
Senior Member
From this afternoon
someMidTowner
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Some lovely shots of a building that deserves nothing other than contempt. Still gotta hit "Like" for the quality of the photos, but anyone involved with the project should be embarrassed.
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someMidTowner
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks. I tried to frame all the shots in a way that emphasizes the ridiculousness of the context, though that wasn't exactly a challenge.
