Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Is that only one storey of below-grade parking I see in the rendering?
Toronto Corus Quay | ?m | 8s | Waterfront Toronto | Diamond Schmitt
Jdot
Active Member
It looks like 1 level of below-grade offices to me. Likely there will be no below-ground parking
astroturf
New Member
^ Unless you can park your car right next to your desk, looks like it is indeed a 1 level car garage.
Jdot
Active Member
Ahhh, yes. I took a look at it again (this time the clearer rendering) and those are definitly cars. The previous pic wasnt very clear.
Silly me.
Silly me.
alklay
Senior Member
An editorial from Canadian Architect, May 2007:
Viewpoint
By Ian Chodikoff
If everyone agreed about what constitutes good urban design, and how the design of buildings contributes to the formation of urban communities, then we wouldn't need design review.--Bruce Kuwabara
The era of the uncontested architect foisting lacklustre designs onto our cities is hopefully coming to an end. Although several Canadian cities have already instituted design review panels many years--if not decades--ago, Toronto has been slow to adapt. The role of a design review panel is to mitigate the politics of a planning process through objective, professional advice on the design components of development proposals. However, the introduction of such a system takes time to evolve. It took Vancouver five years before it could guarantee safe passage for their design review panel and protection from heavy political interference. In mid-April, a shipwreck was narrowly averted at the foot of Toronto's Jarvis Quay when Project Symphony, a commercial project steered by Jack Diamond of Diamond and Schmitt Architects was conditionally given the go-ahead by the recently appointed harbourmaster of architectural good taste--Bruce Kuwabara.
The latest storm to hit the waterfront began shortly after the spring of 2005, when the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC) created a design review panel with Kuwabara as its first chair. Project Symphony is a harbinger of more transparent discussions that will increasingly and objectively question the ubiquitous buff 'n' tan "modernist" buildings that constitute "the Toronto urban fabric." In addition to being the first significant project for the TWRC's design review panel, Project Symphony will be the first major building to be constructed on Toronto's East Bayfront, a new community and destination neighbourhood following the recently approved 90-acre master plan by Boston-based Koetter Kim & Associates.
The TWRC's misguided decision to modify the original Koetter plan and allow the Jarvis Quay site to be developed as a commercial building may be the reason behind all this trouble in the first place. A commercial building is much easier to finance and operate. The TWRC should have adhered to a vision of a cultural building of international importance on such a high-profile site at the edge of Lake Ontario, heeding the design review panel's recommendations to hold a competition for a precedent-setting example of high-calibre architecture. So as to not fully absolve Jack Diamond, we might also ask what influential voice helped convince the TWRC to change their minds some 18 months ago.
During the first two presentations of Project Symphony, Diamond sent partner David Dow on the firm's behalf. The secret client (a publicly traded media company) undoubtedly imposed its own budget and time constraints upon the architect team, who then produced a scheme in short order. For the third public presentation, Diamond finally appeared. Convinced of his own status as being the great Canadian architectural iconoclast of our time, he was surprised that the nine- member design review panel was tepid in its response. Despite the criticisms, the project will proceed, provided the elevations and detailing will be refined before the project receives its development permit.
As Kuwabara commented to CA, "There will always be politics surrounding any development or building project, but the intention of design review is to focus on design excellence from the largest to the smallest scale of design. Design review works well when there is an approved master plan or precinct plan that forms the basis for the review of specific buildings and landscapes."
The goal of design review panels is that the planning process will evolve with greater transparency while becoming increasingly distant from political pressures. And with practice, the design review process may indeed become perfect.
ICHODIKOFF@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM
Viewpoint
By Ian Chodikoff
If everyone agreed about what constitutes good urban design, and how the design of buildings contributes to the formation of urban communities, then we wouldn't need design review.--Bruce Kuwabara
The era of the uncontested architect foisting lacklustre designs onto our cities is hopefully coming to an end. Although several Canadian cities have already instituted design review panels many years--if not decades--ago, Toronto has been slow to adapt. The role of a design review panel is to mitigate the politics of a planning process through objective, professional advice on the design components of development proposals. However, the introduction of such a system takes time to evolve. It took Vancouver five years before it could guarantee safe passage for their design review panel and protection from heavy political interference. In mid-April, a shipwreck was narrowly averted at the foot of Toronto's Jarvis Quay when Project Symphony, a commercial project steered by Jack Diamond of Diamond and Schmitt Architects was conditionally given the go-ahead by the recently appointed harbourmaster of architectural good taste--Bruce Kuwabara.
The latest storm to hit the waterfront began shortly after the spring of 2005, when the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation (TWRC) created a design review panel with Kuwabara as its first chair. Project Symphony is a harbinger of more transparent discussions that will increasingly and objectively question the ubiquitous buff 'n' tan "modernist" buildings that constitute "the Toronto urban fabric." In addition to being the first significant project for the TWRC's design review panel, Project Symphony will be the first major building to be constructed on Toronto's East Bayfront, a new community and destination neighbourhood following the recently approved 90-acre master plan by Boston-based Koetter Kim & Associates.
The TWRC's misguided decision to modify the original Koetter plan and allow the Jarvis Quay site to be developed as a commercial building may be the reason behind all this trouble in the first place. A commercial building is much easier to finance and operate. The TWRC should have adhered to a vision of a cultural building of international importance on such a high-profile site at the edge of Lake Ontario, heeding the design review panel's recommendations to hold a competition for a precedent-setting example of high-calibre architecture. So as to not fully absolve Jack Diamond, we might also ask what influential voice helped convince the TWRC to change their minds some 18 months ago.
During the first two presentations of Project Symphony, Diamond sent partner David Dow on the firm's behalf. The secret client (a publicly traded media company) undoubtedly imposed its own budget and time constraints upon the architect team, who then produced a scheme in short order. For the third public presentation, Diamond finally appeared. Convinced of his own status as being the great Canadian architectural iconoclast of our time, he was surprised that the nine- member design review panel was tepid in its response. Despite the criticisms, the project will proceed, provided the elevations and detailing will be refined before the project receives its development permit.
As Kuwabara commented to CA, "There will always be politics surrounding any development or building project, but the intention of design review is to focus on design excellence from the largest to the smallest scale of design. Design review works well when there is an approved master plan or precinct plan that forms the basis for the review of specific buildings and landscapes."
The goal of design review panels is that the planning process will evolve with greater transparency while becoming increasingly distant from political pressures. And with practice, the design review process may indeed become perfect.
ICHODIKOFF@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM
maestro
Senior Member
lots of proposed museums out there but not much to fill them - maybe a history and collective works of pre-cast concrete would do well
H
Hydrogen
Guest
I was making reference to the hit against Liberty Village.
p5connex
Active Member
What is the point of placing the "Chicago Bean" ripoff inside-? they should put it on the roof or let it stick out the side of the building, so as to reflect the city..this way it does nothing but amuse a few Corus employees, who in chorus say, "cool"...(on the roof statement is meant half jokingly)..
p5
p5
Filip
Senior Member
I heard they were planning to move out anyway, this saved it from at least being sent out in the boonies.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
I love Chodikoff's comment, "The TWRC should have adhered to a vision of a cultural building of international importance on such a high profile site at the edge of Lake Ontario" as if cultural institutions are clawing and scratching at one-another to build one there - or anywhere else locally for that matter, but were thwarted. What cultural building? Tired old Metrognome? A Crystal lite for the ROM wasn't proposed. A second AGO wasn't proposed. Like the annual Great Big Aquarium announcement, these grand planning visions calling for iconic, camera-friendly, sight-bite structures to be scattered hither and thither shouldn't be taken too seriously; dozens of them clutter up the graveyard of Toronto's forgotten dreams.
The hall of the Four Seasons Centre does contrast aesthetically as well as structurally with the rest of the rectilinear building that encloses it. It has curved walls and ceiling medallion, gently undulating balconies, rippling balcony fronts. It is the preciuous inner space where fine-tuned voices and instruments are heard. So the egg description is apt.
The hall of the Four Seasons Centre does contrast aesthetically as well as structurally with the rest of the rectilinear building that encloses it. It has curved walls and ceiling medallion, gently undulating balconies, rippling balcony fronts. It is the preciuous inner space where fine-tuned voices and instruments are heard. So the egg description is apt.
CapitalSeven
Senior Member
To pick up where Urban Shocker left off, I think we may have been too hasty to trash and thrash this proposal so soundly (speaking for myself, a few pages back). To give credit where credit is due, Diamond does let his projects evolve, always with the purpose of the building and its clients' wishes in mind. And he does give very good atrium. The city room, even before it was built, seems to have been the exemplar for several other glassy strutting places around the city in the past couple of years. The contrast between box containers and ovoid contents has been a constant. We demanded gewgaw, and he inserted an appropriate, functional gewgaw.
I was lucky enough to have to take a meeting in D&S's MFA building in Jerusalem a couple of years ago, and it would be a gorgeous place to work. The folk I met with loved the place.
I was lucky enough to have to take a meeting in D&S's MFA building in Jerusalem a couple of years ago, and it would be a gorgeous place to work. The folk I met with loved the place.
syn
Senior Member
$140 million for a completely new building? Why not? Gehry doesn't just do massive cultural projects. And with an architect like Gehry on board they probably could've raised some money in donations too.
syn
Senior Member
This new rendering is okay, but I think I'll reserve judgment until something more detailed is released. It seems to be an improvement on the last iteration though.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
The Four Seasons Centre had to be designed from the York Street side first, with priority given to accommodating deliveries: the City Room was the solution to what little space remained at the other side of the building to receive the public. Diamond made the best of a tight site and never lost sight of what his clients - the public who go to hear opera and see ballet, and the performers and orchestra - wanted. Computer technology was used where necessary - to tweak the interior design of the hall for acoustics and sightlines - not to create a shell that screams about the infinite capabilities of software to create novelty structures.
yyzer
Senior Member
Waterfront project design doesn't break new ground
TheStar.com - News - Waterfront project design doesn't break new ground
June 15, 2007
Christopher Hume
Close but no cigar – that's what the Waterfront Design Review Panel told Jack Diamond yesterday.
The Toronto architect was presenting his latest design for the first project on the revitalized harbour lands of Lake Ontario.
"It's getting closer," said panel chair Bruce Kuwabara. "There has been some movement, but there's still a lot of stuff to be determined."
The building, which will house Corus Entertainment and its 1,100 employees, will occupy an important site at the foot of Jarvis St. It also happens to be the first building to be constructed under the aegis of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. Because of this, the TWRC insists that scheme set a high standard for architecture and sustainability.
According to Diamond, the building will be LEED Gold, second only to LEED Platinum as an environmental rating.
That's the good news. The issue that remains is architectural excellence, which continues to elude Diamond. Though it's clear he has made huge improvements to the scheme, it's still a conventional low-rise office building that could be anywhere – as several panel members put it, "a glass box."
Of course, there are good glass boxes, bad glass boxes, even great glass boxes. Though few if any of the latter can be found in Toronto, one can always hope. But given the fact that the agency behind the project is TEDCO (the Toronto Economic Development Corp.), which has little interest in architecture, the waterfront, city or much beyond its own financial needs, it's hard to believe the building will be among the best.
And it was obvious yesterday that many questions, including about materials and design details, have yet to be answered. Panelists had good reason to sound skeptical.
On the other hand, as landscape architect Janet Rosenberg pointed out, "It's good to see that some of our comments were responded to."
However, the big concern is still about the appropriateness of such a building – or any commercial building – on this site. Diamond has, as one booster put it, spiffed up the scheme since he showed last, most notably adding a huge polished "egg" to the atrium. It has clearly been taken from the "pods" in Norman Foster's Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building at College and University with a bit of Anish Kapoor's Chicago "Bean" added for good luck.
Diamond has also opened up the ground floor in deference to the public nature of the site. There's a large TV studio on the west side of the building – perhaps a stage for outdoor performances. And there's a nice green wall, room for a restaurant and retail outlets.
The fact remains, however, that in its form and approach, this is an unremarkable piece of architecture, generic, even anonymous. Though better than many such boxes, it isn't up to the task of launching waterfront revitalization. By contrast, the Pier 27 condo complex, designed by Peter Clewes for a site just west of Corus, is a much more engaging building.
How revealing that the latter will be built by private developers, whereas Corus is being promoted and paid for by the City of Toronto.
And not only will the tenant get a 20-year tax break, Toronto taxpayers will foot the bill, over $150 million.
In the end, Kuwabara asked for yet another meeting. God, they say, is in the details. So is the devil.
TheStar.com - News - Waterfront project design doesn't break new ground
June 15, 2007
Christopher Hume
Close but no cigar – that's what the Waterfront Design Review Panel told Jack Diamond yesterday.
The Toronto architect was presenting his latest design for the first project on the revitalized harbour lands of Lake Ontario.
"It's getting closer," said panel chair Bruce Kuwabara. "There has been some movement, but there's still a lot of stuff to be determined."
The building, which will house Corus Entertainment and its 1,100 employees, will occupy an important site at the foot of Jarvis St. It also happens to be the first building to be constructed under the aegis of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. Because of this, the TWRC insists that scheme set a high standard for architecture and sustainability.
According to Diamond, the building will be LEED Gold, second only to LEED Platinum as an environmental rating.
That's the good news. The issue that remains is architectural excellence, which continues to elude Diamond. Though it's clear he has made huge improvements to the scheme, it's still a conventional low-rise office building that could be anywhere – as several panel members put it, "a glass box."
Of course, there are good glass boxes, bad glass boxes, even great glass boxes. Though few if any of the latter can be found in Toronto, one can always hope. But given the fact that the agency behind the project is TEDCO (the Toronto Economic Development Corp.), which has little interest in architecture, the waterfront, city or much beyond its own financial needs, it's hard to believe the building will be among the best.
And it was obvious yesterday that many questions, including about materials and design details, have yet to be answered. Panelists had good reason to sound skeptical.
On the other hand, as landscape architect Janet Rosenberg pointed out, "It's good to see that some of our comments were responded to."
However, the big concern is still about the appropriateness of such a building – or any commercial building – on this site. Diamond has, as one booster put it, spiffed up the scheme since he showed last, most notably adding a huge polished "egg" to the atrium. It has clearly been taken from the "pods" in Norman Foster's Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building at College and University with a bit of Anish Kapoor's Chicago "Bean" added for good luck.
Diamond has also opened up the ground floor in deference to the public nature of the site. There's a large TV studio on the west side of the building – perhaps a stage for outdoor performances. And there's a nice green wall, room for a restaurant and retail outlets.
The fact remains, however, that in its form and approach, this is an unremarkable piece of architecture, generic, even anonymous. Though better than many such boxes, it isn't up to the task of launching waterfront revitalization. By contrast, the Pier 27 condo complex, designed by Peter Clewes for a site just west of Corus, is a much more engaging building.
How revealing that the latter will be built by private developers, whereas Corus is being promoted and paid for by the City of Toronto.
And not only will the tenant get a 20-year tax break, Toronto taxpayers will foot the bill, over $150 million.
In the end, Kuwabara asked for yet another meeting. God, they say, is in the details. So is the devil.