S
SD2
Guest
So a building can only be interesting if there's something interesting going on inside? Who decides what's "exciting"?
Toronto Corus Quay | ?m | 8s | Waterfront Toronto | Diamond Schmitt
So a building can only be interesting if there's something interesting going on inside? Who decides what's "exciting"?
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michaelpfox
Guest
I think this is a great addition to the waterfront. I'm not looking for iconic - in fact I think we should run away from "iconic" structures at this stage. I want the waterfront to be a working normal place, not a fantasyland of one-off buildings. This is a much better pattern to repeat than the awful stuff out on the Etobicoke lakefront.
Call me a contrarian, but I just like the feel of this building.
Call me a contrarian, but I just like the feel of this building.
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SD2
Guest
I've never understood why things have to be so black & white - it can be both, can't it?
C
cassiusa
Guest
I realize, from the architects and developers point of view, that what you've just said is exactly correct. I disagree, though. It also serves the purpose of being the first to locate to the new neighbourhood and should be a bit more iconic considering that and that it's on the waterfront.
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interchange42
Guest
ap: All we know for sure is that it is a 'knowledge industry' employer with 1,100 employees, many of them young (and therefore bursting with idealism, snappy haircuts, and tight-ish jeans). Pam McConnell stated that it was the city's goal to have a vibrant public space surrounding this building. Best guesses are that this building will house Bell Globemedia or CanWest Global, so newspaper and tv types.
With it being the potential new HQ of one of the country's largest media congloms, it could be, and should be, much more interesting. It just needs to show a little imagination.
blue-in-the-face 42
With it being the potential new HQ of one of the country's largest media congloms, it could be, and should be, much more interesting. It just needs to show a little imagination.
blue-in-the-face 42
B
building babel
Guest
interchange:
I'm disappointed that much of the Gardiner expansion was given over to empty lobby space and a restaurant; we got a fine new travelling exhibition space on the top floor, a small contemporary ceramics gallery on the main floor, a small expansion of the second floor gallery, and rooms in the basement where the general public can go to squeeze mud and bake it in ovens, but I think we could have done better. Though the exterior is beautifully proportioned and austere, the much admired limestone looks to my eyes just as unappealing in rainy weather as the concrete on the St Lawrence Centre. N-Blox hasn't been built yet so it is difficult to know how well it will work - but it is a beautiful looking building based on the crisp renderings we've seen.
The Gardiner is a cultural institution, N-Blox is a condo with large glass windows for exhibitionists who want to be on-show ... and Project Symphony is an office building with yet another set of requirements for a different set of users.
I could see myself scudding past this building in a racy little sailboat, waving to ap. as his stately barge is rowed in the opposite direction, and being very pleased with it - especially if there are more such buildings lining our harbour. Our local contextual style takes some beating in my opinion.
I'm disappointed that much of the Gardiner expansion was given over to empty lobby space and a restaurant; we got a fine new travelling exhibition space on the top floor, a small contemporary ceramics gallery on the main floor, a small expansion of the second floor gallery, and rooms in the basement where the general public can go to squeeze mud and bake it in ovens, but I think we could have done better. Though the exterior is beautifully proportioned and austere, the much admired limestone looks to my eyes just as unappealing in rainy weather as the concrete on the St Lawrence Centre. N-Blox hasn't been built yet so it is difficult to know how well it will work - but it is a beautiful looking building based on the crisp renderings we've seen.
The Gardiner is a cultural institution, N-Blox is a condo with large glass windows for exhibitionists who want to be on-show ... and Project Symphony is an office building with yet another set of requirements for a different set of users.
I could see myself scudding past this building in a racy little sailboat, waving to ap. as his stately barge is rowed in the opposite direction, and being very pleased with it - especially if there are more such buildings lining our harbour. Our local contextual style takes some beating in my opinion.
B
borgos
Guest
I have a feeling that you wouldn't be such an admirer of this building if it was designed by Varacalli.
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Archivistower
Guest
borgos, I do feel that a bit of namedropping is going on here, and if this were a Varacalli or an EI Richmond or something like that, then the reaction of those supporting the building might be different. I love Diamond's work, but I think this is very, really, boring. Not tragic, just dull. And yes, I do want something more for the waterfront.
J
jayomatic
Guest
I'm sure insurance must be the most exciting career to be in if it requires an exciting building like this
If this sort of land was available in any other waterfront in the world it would surely be part of some design competition or they would at least try to design a building that would inspire people.
I just think it goes to show the cheapness of Toronto commercial developers meanwhile other commerical developments around the world are pushing the envelope.
If this sort of land was available in any other waterfront in the world it would surely be part of some design competition or they would at least try to design a building that would inspire people.
I just think it goes to show the cheapness of Toronto commercial developers meanwhile other commerical developments around the world are pushing the envelope.
B
building babel
Guest
... and on a side note, as we sail towards the Western Gap and our handsome new better-than-Venetian eastern waterfront recedes from view ... I see that HtO is just about finished:
The grassy little Teletubby hills with their willows are done, the winding paths between the little hills are done, every yellow beach umbrella is in place, and every grain of sand is in place. I'm a little surprised, however, to see what appears to be a low chain link fence separating the sand area from the Teletubby landscape, and I'm a little surprised that the park beyond the sand area doesn't descend in steps into the lake as I recall the renderings showing: it is fronted with a low metal rail like the rest of the waterfront boardwalk. But all in all it looks ... okay.
The grassy little Teletubby hills with their willows are done, the winding paths between the little hills are done, every yellow beach umbrella is in place, and every grain of sand is in place. I'm a little surprised, however, to see what appears to be a low chain link fence separating the sand area from the Teletubby landscape, and I'm a little surprised that the park beyond the sand area doesn't descend in steps into the lake as I recall the renderings showing: it is fronted with a low metal rail like the rest of the waterfront boardwalk. But all in all it looks ... okay.
B
building babel
Guest
A beautiful and innovative tower like the 42 floor Swiss Re would be as grotesquely out of place right next to our harbour as would the equally fine 61 floor Museum Plaza. Both would fit very nicely where Trump and Bay Adelaide are going however. Context is important.
A
alklay
Guest
Yes, HtO looks promising and it will be fun to see how it works this summer. I was under the impression that the parking lot north of the site would become a park too but I am satisfied with half a piece of cake at this point.
Jayomatic, you provided an excellent example of office space that is not conventional and there are plenty of examples of such in Europe, and Le Defence in Paris particularly (although I am usually the last to say that the Europeans are always doing everything better than we are...but design-wise they tend to push the envelope a little more sometimes).
"we need a really cool Toronto style building here, like KPMB's Gardiner, or Quad's N-Blox"
More myth making: the N-Box is apparently a copy of a New York building and I have yet to hear what design elements in KPMB's architecture are particular to the city, as opposed to the firm itself or new modernism as practiced all over. Its funny because even the book "Design City Toronto" falls into this trap by causually stating there is a Toronto style and failing to provide any particulars - and when they do provide particulars, they can easily be dissected (such as 'context,' as if the Munro condos could not be anywhere, and as if other architects in other cities do not take 'context' into account when they build new modernism (or even far out stuff. heck, even Libeskind took 'context' into account in Denver as he designed his cubes/shards)). It comes across as laughable and, well, provincial. I guess if the elites keep saying it and nobody thinks about it critically (hey, I saw it in a book....it must be right), people are going to believe it. And my apologies as that was quite the diversion.
Jayomatic, you provided an excellent example of office space that is not conventional and there are plenty of examples of such in Europe, and Le Defence in Paris particularly (although I am usually the last to say that the Europeans are always doing everything better than we are...but design-wise they tend to push the envelope a little more sometimes).
"we need a really cool Toronto style building here, like KPMB's Gardiner, or Quad's N-Blox"
More myth making: the N-Box is apparently a copy of a New York building and I have yet to hear what design elements in KPMB's architecture are particular to the city, as opposed to the firm itself or new modernism as practiced all over. Its funny because even the book "Design City Toronto" falls into this trap by causually stating there is a Toronto style and failing to provide any particulars - and when they do provide particulars, they can easily be dissected (such as 'context,' as if the Munro condos could not be anywhere, and as if other architects in other cities do not take 'context' into account when they build new modernism (or even far out stuff. heck, even Libeskind took 'context' into account in Denver as he designed his cubes/shards)). It comes across as laughable and, well, provincial. I guess if the elites keep saying it and nobody thinks about it critically (hey, I saw it in a book....it must be right), people are going to believe it. And my apologies as that was quite the diversion.
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interchange42
Guest
bb: I didn't take jayomatic's SwissRe post to mean he is advocating for height at this spot on the waterfront. Similarly, neither did I cite Museum Plaza to advocate for height here. I would just like to see something that shows some imagination. Why pay Jack Diamond to design something that could have been selected from a suburban commercial developer's catalogue?
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42
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andreapalladio
Guest
When was the last time there was anything exciting or creative about Global Television?
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building babel
Guest
alklay: YELLOW CARD! I'll have you excommunicated if you do that brackets-within-brackets thing again.