Toronto Daniels Waterfront - City of the Arts | 156.05m | 45s | Daniels | RAW Design

[Full Metal Junkie]

what's the relevance to this thread?

Discussing the pros and cons of spandrel overuse. These buildings are in the running for The Grossest Overuse of Spandrel of 2020 with the only true competition coming from the West Block towers by Concord at Barturst and Lake Shore

 

[ADRM]

These buildings are in the running for The Grossest Overuse of Spandrel of 2020 with the only true competition coming from the West Block towers by Concord at Barturst and Lake Shore

Design Haus would like a word...

 

[jxmith_]

have to wonder if folks decided- well, if we’re not going to take down the Gardiner as a barrier to the waterfront, let’s build a wall of towers.

holding out hope they can link events at the arbour, Sherbourne Commons, Sugar Beach, the innovation centre and the Daniels art centre some day, enliven the area year round.

 

[Katxaxa]

March 5

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

have to wonder if folks decided- well, if we’re not going to take down the Gardiner as a barrier to the waterfront, let’s build a wall of towers.

If they all looked like Monde, sure. If they all looked like this? No thanks.

AoD

 

[ushahid]

No snow? All gone? Wow. I'm moving to Toronto. lol

 

[Edward Skira]

 

[Lachlan Holmes]

Sunday.

I will repeat what I said a while back that the west facade of the west tower is actually pretty good, and if these were twin towers with 360 degree balconies (like Casa 2 and 3) they would've looked a lot better:

 

[Patch]

March 5, 2020

 

[Waterfront]

 

[Waterfront]

 

[Waterfront]

Design Haus would like a word...

View attachment 233406

View attachment 233407

I can actually appreciate the spandrels and glass colours on the westblock. AA did a good job at making the white boxes as clean as possible despite the challenges one often have with window wall ratio and louvers from exhaust and fancoils. Design haus on the other hand is truly what NOT to do. The over populated horizontal mullions and the lack of relationship with the heritage facade is why so many people on this forum have an allergic reaction to use of spandrels. It's not the material, but it is about how the material is taken into design considerations

 

[andrewjm3d]

Is it too late to tear them down and build something nice?

 

[interchange42]

I can actually appreciate the spandrels and glass colours on the westblock. AA did a good job at making the white boxes as clean as possible despite the challenges one often have with window wall ratio and louvers from exhaust and fancoils. Design haus on the other hand is truly what NOT to do. The over populated horizontal mullions and the lack of relationship with the heritage facade is why so many people on this forum have an allergic reaction to use of spandrels. It's not the material, but it is about how the material is taken into design considerations

aA are not responsible for the towers at West Block, those are by IBI Group. aA only designed the Commercial building. In regards to the material choices, sure it's the materials. Back-painted glass spandrels are typically the cheapest option for opaque walls, so they're normally paired with smaller, cheaper pieces of glass that are framed by that dense grid of mullions that make so many towers look cheap. (Powder-coated aluminum spandrels generally the second cheapest? Anyone know for sure?) Pretty much every other wall type costs more, so any developer choosing something else is doing us all an architecture favour, and earning varying degrees of gratitude from us.

42

 

[Waterfront]

aA are not responsible for the towers at West Block, those are by IBI Group. aA only designed the Commercial building. In regards to the material choices, sure it's the materials. Back-painted glass spandrels are typically the cheapest option for opaque walls, so they're normally paired with smaller, cheaper pieces of glass that are framed by that dense grid of mullions that make so many towers look cheap. (Powder-coated aluminum spandrels generally the second cheapest? Anyone know for sure?) Pretty much every other wall type costs more, so any developer choosing something else is doing us all an architecture favour, and earning varying degrees of gratitude from us.

42

I know for a fact that powder coated aluminum panels costs the same as back painted glass spandrels. It's still the same window wall system with an infill panel that is either in back painted glass or aluminum panels. They are both most economical. That said, with a metal panel you could either do a flushed system with the mullion or a top hat detail (covering the mullions with reveal seams) that would make the grid less busy.