Toronto Couture The Condominium | ?m | 42s | Philmor | Graziani + Corazza

really confused as to why the mech cladding looks like rubbish... it looks all over the place?

I got a funny look from a group of people after zooming in with my camera and saying aloud "what the #$&^...are those garbage bags?" of course nobody else nearby had a zoom lens to see what I was referring to, so to them I looked like another psychotic vagrant standing in the middle of the road on Hayden St.
 
Sept 5th:

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16 September 2012: It's interesting comparing this to X next door. It's like comparing an iphone to a c.2004 Blackberry. One is a work of art the other is just a utilitarian box occupied by people who just want an appliance. Before the usual crowd starts hissing & moaning I urge you to spend 30 minutes walking around both buildings, examing every detail, joint & assembly in detail. Ignore the form--both are essentially middle of the road boxes for the middle class--and style but do look at the details. Do you see fine tailored craftsmanship here or economical assembly line-calibre detailing?

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(Ever watched German engineers at a car show? They measure every little detail of the competition--the width of the A pillars for example. Think of the corners on these two towers as the A pillar on a car--which looks like the better "pillar?")
 
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Leave it to G+C to allow (I can't bring myself to say design) a facade / corner that pitiful. It's positively Star of Downtown!
 
UD is correct with some of the detailing, there's some sloppy workmanship if one looks closely but to my eyes I still think we got a pretty decent looking building here.
 
Ugh I really don't know why people on this forum like this building. This one reminds me a lot of the apartment buildings in Flemo park (Don Mills) except for the colour and the glass. It has that typical two sides with an elevator running through the middle design. Well, I just hope it looks better as time goes on and hope even more that others don't try and copy this one.
 
Images of the east facade taken this afternoon. For what it's worth, I'm actually starting to like the way this one is turning out, particularly the dark black vertical portion. The gaps in the cladding are almost all filled in, so it's coming together.

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I like the way it incorporates the mechanical box into the architecture by having one monolithic black core which transitions seamlessly to the mechanical box, with what appear to be two silver wings. (Though if I'm not mistaken, it's just a visual effect achieved through cladding, and there are no wings). The positive treatment of the mechanical box on Couture also helps X Condo look less like a botched Mies and more like a variation on the black tower theme.
 
There are a couple of odd moves on this building, but overall I think that this is G+C's strongest design. The H plan is simply defined by gray cladding on the projecting wings (if that's the best name for them junctionist, yes they are wings), and the every-sixth-floor stripes (which we are still waiting to see completed after they get the balcony treatments applied) are a restrained articulation of an otherwise monolithic face. I do like the monolithic treatment of the central portion: yes, the incorporated mechanical box is a triumph where X has its single failure. I'd say that X is still, undoubtedly, the superior of the two designs, but Couture is a worthy neighbour for it. The two look like good friends standing next to each other.
 
wow! they really did clean this one up! looks really cool!

on a side note, what's up with buildings these days and horizontal strips every 5 or so floors? Aura is doing it, Hullmark Centre, etc.. nothing wrong with it, but kinda a funny trend
 
wow! they really did clean this one up! looks really cool!

on a side note, what's up with buildings these days and horizontal strips every 5 or so floors? Aura is doing it, Hullmark Centre, etc.. nothing wrong with it, but kinda a funny trend

With X2 close to ground level in a year or so this is going to be one fine looking strip. If only Toronto Hydro could do something to beautify that horrific property of theirs just west of where X2 will stand Charles E. will be one fine street between Jarvis & Yonge in two or three years.
 

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