Tewder
Senior Member
I imagine that the area will feel much more vibrant once the trees and greenery mature... and of course once there are people here!
Toronto Canary Park Condominiums | 54.25m | 16s | DundeeKilmer | KPMB
- Thread starter RiverCity1
- Start date
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Tewder:
Our city lacks foliage about 50% of the year (unless you are planting evergreens).
AoD
Our city lacks foliage about 50% of the year (unless you are planting evergreens).
AoD
TheKingEast
Senior Member
Grey will always be a dreary color. It will never change. There's no amount of foliage or lipstick to liven up an entire community of grey.
Tuscani01
Senior Member
Personally, I love grey! (I've painted my last two places various shades of grey). I do hope, though, that balconies are wrapped in colour for the Pan Am Games, similar to the renderings we had seen.
junctionist
Senior Member
The grey brick gives the community a somewhat dour look. There's nothing like the orange and red bricks the Victorians loved. The Victorians accentuated facades with different coloured brick as well. (The most common style was orange/red brick with yellow brick accents around windows.) They realized that in the 1970s when they built all the infill in the St. Lawrence neighbourhood. As much as I love Modernism, there's so much material style that can be used in modern architecture that's in our vernacular but apparently forgotten in contemporary brick buildings: polychromatic brickwork, clinker brick and terracotta, for instance.
Hipster Duck
Senior Member
Agreed. There is something about grey brick that's just not viscerally appealing when it's applied ad nauseam.
On the other hand, I never tire of red brick. Entire neighbourhoods that are built in red brick are still appealing to me, even when the sidewalks are made of the same red brick. Red brick goes well with every season. It's as beautiful in the snow as it is on a sunny summer day. It even looks great on a dreary, grey day. It even looks good when the buildings come right up to the street, not softened by anything else, like trees, flowers and interesting pavement.
someMidTowner
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Marcanadian
Moderator
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
Corktown Common by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
West Don Lands by Marcanadian, on Flickr
Underpass Park by Marcanadian, on Flickr
Roundabout
Senior Member
Ryan_T
Senior Member
This will be a wonderful neighbourhood, despite the grey. I'd live there.
MafaldaBoy
Senior Member
TheKingEast
Senior Member
If you told me this was TCHC, an office building or school dorm, I'd believe you. Unfortunately, people paid market prices for this mess. The only thing I like is the all brick construction. Other than that, it's a disappointment along with this entire development at this point. I know I sound like a broken record but this city's aversion to color is baffling.
And those pale blue/green cylinders on the top are uggg.
Right down the street TCHC looking like a much better deal.
And those pale blue/green cylinders on the top are uggg.
Right down the street TCHC looking like a much better deal.
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Parkdalian
Senior Member
Grey brick is being over-used, definitely. And like any style that is overused, it has become irritating to look at. But once we've moved onto a different obsessive material choice, and once grey brick has accumulated some history and memories (it will become associated with the early 2010s in people's memories, for instance), it will become a source of nostalgia and romance, just as red brick has. Red brick was often despised in Victorian England for its oppressive ubiquity (and for class reasons - it being associated with working class or the middle class) - but since the oppressiveness is no longer an issue for us, we view it positively.
We also despise grey brick not for its actual appearance, but for what it says about Torontonians and the developments made for them (obsessed with trends, nervous about the new, nostalgic for a working-class past, budget-conscious, not showy). Torontonians are terrified of mistakes (a lot of the complaints on this board are about supposed mistakes in our urban fabric), and so they err on the side of doing what everyone else is doing (hence the obsessive need for Torontonians to have what other cities have). We don't have the same culture of showing off which has developed in New York; it's very un-Toronto to show off. Hence why grey brick is so popular (and why red brick before it was so popular): if there is a material that makes no claims about striving above your station, it is brick.
We also despise grey brick not for its actual appearance, but for what it says about Torontonians and the developments made for them (obsessed with trends, nervous about the new, nostalgic for a working-class past, budget-conscious, not showy). Torontonians are terrified of mistakes (a lot of the complaints on this board are about supposed mistakes in our urban fabric), and so they err on the side of doing what everyone else is doing (hence the obsessive need for Torontonians to have what other cities have). We don't have the same culture of showing off which has developed in New York; it's very un-Toronto to show off. Hence why grey brick is so popular (and why red brick before it was so popular): if there is a material that makes no claims about striving above your station, it is brick.
Hamiltonian
Active Member
^ +1