Toronto Corus Quay | ?m | 8s | Waterfront Toronto | Diamond Schmitt

[SD2]

I don't think interesting means it has to be gimmicky.

Wasn't this spot designated for a "landmark" building? If so I don't see what's wrong with expecting more than this.

 

[mark simpson]

Wasn't this spot designated for a "landmark" building?

no. just a landmark ornamental structure (i.e. lighthouse or whatever it was called on page one)



surprised Canwest hasn't being brought up considering about a year ago they were looking at the waterfront

 

[FutureMayor]

Public outrage over this proposal is warranted. If we can’t get the first significant waterfront building right, it sets a dangerous design precedent for the rest of the district.

It signals to future developers that you can build any mediocre office building without much worry because the city of Toronto doesn’t really care. If a city owned and operated agency can’t even enforce some sort of design excellence on a prime piece of land it owns where else could it work?

This agency and by extension the city of Toronto is also rushing and by-passing the public consultation process. Up to this point, development issues on the waterfront has been through extensive, carfeul and meaningful public dialogue. This whole secretive process flies in the face of years of public consultation with citizens.

People who are making excuses on behalf of a silent Davild Miller and City Council should be shot.

Christopher Hume in his column yesterday quoted it best:

As urban planner Joe Berridge notes in Toronto: We could, of course, decide not to compete, keep on cutting capital budgets and trimming services, and make no big or bold moves. Many once-great cities have declined to purely local regional stature: Liverpool, Bordeaux, Detroit, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Montreal. The social and cultural cost to Toronto would be enormous. Our children will choose not to live here.

With this one very PUBLIC building project (YES, the city owns the land) Toronto has decided it doesn't want to compete on the world stage. It is reducing itself to one of those regional cities.

 

[andreapalladio]

If the building is already leased, what is there to compete for?

 

[jayomatic]

There is no need to compete but the building will be owned by someone. Shouldn't they want to provide a building which would attract business and attention? Wouldn't a landmark building attract more commercial clients?

 

[building babel]

One would hope that a nicely proportioned building like this - which directly addresses the lake, with plenty of windows, balconies that employees can use in the nice weather, set back at the upper levels, and with a large sunny atrium would be a desirable location for businesses. There aren't many such workplaces on our waterfront, unfortunately.

 

[spmarshall]

Careful, you are defending the building, therefore defending Miller, meaning you might get shot.

 

[building babel]

I'll defend anything I find visually attractive and approprite for context, even this thing based on one fuzzy rendering. Miller isn't an architect - other than one of his own eventual downfall perhaps - so he must defend himself.

 

[marcusaj]

Ideally something similar to More London would be nice. Office buildings that are not overwhelming in size, open public space, works well with waterfront trail. The buildings look great, not as iconic as City Hall, but much better than TEDCO's. I think they are also LEED certified (assuming because the master plan is developed by Foster's). Unfortunately we're not London

 

[alklay]

The more I look at this bulky mess, the more I realize that it looks like a squat version of Ultima condos in North York.

 

[andreapalladio]

There is no need to compete but the building will be owned by someone. Shouldn't they want to provide a building which would attract business and attention? Wouldn't a landmark building attract more commercial clients?

They've already attracted business - it's fully leased to whomever the mystery client is. And in today's business world, no one goes looking for a landmark - business goes looking for the cheapest space to fill their needs. Shareholders tend not to like buildings that look too expensive/inefficient/attention getting.

 

[tudararms]

^Depends on the industry in question. For some, image and appearance are very important and a lot of money is spent on them.

 

[Brighter Hell]

Ideally something similar to More London would be nice. Office buildings that are not overwhelming in size, open public space, works well with waterfront trail. The buildings look great, not as iconic as City Hall, but much better than TEDCO's. I think they are also LEED certified (assuming because the master plan is developed by Foster's). Unfortunately we're not London

You mean this building?

It's a nice building but I don't see how it's any better than the Symphony building. It's a well-designed green glass office building with some cuts and curves, but it's nothing you couldn't find in a suburban office park.

 

[alklay]

And it largely depends on the context too. How important is the site? Is it anchoring a district or simply adding to an already developed area? Will it set a benchmark in an area?

Context is key. Most of the critiques would be moot if this indeed was being built in Markham, as opposed to a site which planners have deemed to be significant, both physically and psychologically.

 

[jeicow]

You mean this building?

I think he might have been refering to the complex as a whole which includes four office buildings (two of which are shown in your pic), London City Hall and a Hilton. I wouldn't mind a complex kind of thing, but I don't think there's the space for something on the scale of More London (it's a considerably larger site if I remember correctly from my last visit). Also, considering the comments the current proposal is getting, unless it was developed by Foster himself, anything similar to More London complex kind of development would get shot down as being too suburban.

Just a question- wasn't Queen's Quay Terminal suppose to be the landmark building of waterfront revitalization? Just nothing has happened to the waterfront since it was built.