Toronto Clear Spirit | 131.36m | 40s | Cityscape | a—A

No; these buildings are part of the Distillery District.

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interchange42 said:
Otherwise, what's wrong with them?
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To my eye, they seem informed by a completely different aesthetic than the rest of the building. The black diagonal stripe which is so emphasized echoes nothing from the rest of the building, and the plain box form doesn't sit well with the subtle angles of the main tower portion. The bright surface and height calls excessive attention to the hat, making it a focal point that overwhelms a building whose primary approach seems understatement. They look like miniature versions of the bland glass corporate mid rises that dot the city periphery, rather than a considered element informed by the rest of the design.

I'm not against hats in principle, but these seem like a distracting afterthought to me.
 
Yesterday:

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Tulse said:
To my eye, they seem informed by a completely different aesthetic than the rest of the building. The black diagonal stripe which is so emphasized echoes nothing from the rest of the building, and the plain box form doesn't sit well with the subtle angles of the main tower portion. The bright surface and height calls excessive attention to the hat, making it a focal point that overwhelms a building whose primary approach seems understatement. They look like miniature versions of the bland glass corporate mid rises that dot the city periphery, rather than a considered element informed by the rest of the design.
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In fairness, the diagonal stripes echo the canted columns at ground level and actually also line up with the creases in the building's facade (look closely, the stripe is in a different location on all four sides, and it always lines up with the transition between clear and fritted glass on the balconies). It is a little box-ish for my taste, but I've been inside it and can assure you it's packed with mechanical systems and uses the internal space fairly well. I would have liked it more if the box had a more trapezoidal shape, but it would have been crazy complicated to build and wouldn't have lent itself to as efficient a use of space.
 
whatever said:
In fairness, the diagonal stripes echo the canted columns at ground level and actually also line up with the creases in the building's facade (look closely, the stripe is in a different location on all four sides, and it always lines up with the transition between clear and fritted glass on the balconies).
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But the stripe doesn't line up to the angle of the transition, at least not in the above photo (it is more vertical than the actual balcony transition).

More to the point, though, the main bulk of the building is about texture and shading and rhythm of angles, and its virtues are largely subtle. The mechanical box, by contrast is a big white shape with a big black slash. It doesn't support the overall aesthetic, and certainly in the distance shots its relatively height and high contrast dominates attention. To me, at least, it seems like a very different beast from the rest of the structure.
 
I love these buildings!

August 12

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Agreed. The pictures at ground level are appreciated. We don't get enough of those sometimes.
 
Tulse said:
To my eye, they seem informed by a completely different aesthetic than the rest of the building. The black diagonal stripe which is so emphasized echoes nothing from the rest of the building, and the plain box form doesn't sit well with the subtle angles of the main tower portion. The bright surface and height calls excessive attention to the hat, making it a focal point that overwhelms a building whose primary approach seems understatement. They look like miniature versions of the bland glass corporate mid rises that dot the city periphery, rather than a considered element informed by the rest of the design.

I'm not against hats in principle, but these seem like a distracting afterthought to me.
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Agreed. I can think of at least a few "hats" that would've looked far better on these buildings. Your garden shed analogy was perfect.

I can recall debating these towers for years, and now that they're near complete my position hasn't really changed - decent towers, but absurd in context.
 
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