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

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The balconies definitely help though - the contrast is pretty significant, thank God. Went from being hideous to Toronto Classic - just plain old uninspired.
 
I'm not saying I'm a fan ... but I'll say this as a positive about the towers, at least they are thin. Compared to the two towers attached to Loblaws to the west, which are big giant cube globs ... these feel like they will be less offensive once the area has filled in. Still cheap. Still not deserving of a space on the lake. But better than the Concord globs.
 
You certainly dug deep to scrounge up something nice to say. I tried to do the same thing but couldn't get there. It's next to impossible to defend criticisms that Toronto looks cheap when there are 100+ buildings built in the last 10 years that prove their point.
 
The towers are garbage. Let's call them for what they are and stop making excuses and squinting our eyes (and intellects) to find a rational for why they are not hideous. The two towers being built across from Maple Leaf Gardens, on Carlton, demonstrate that even moderately priced condo development can be aesthetically pleasing and creative. These towers are neither. It is a shame.
 
alklay said:
The towers are garbage. Let's call them for what they are and stop making excuses and squinting our eyes (and intellects) to find a rational for why they are not hideous. The two towers being built across from Maple Leaf Gardens, on Carlton, demonstrate that even moderately priced condo development can be aesthetically pleasing and creative. These towers are neither. It is a shame.
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Agreed. They SUCK! The new waterfront is really shaping up to look like crap as I feared.
 
Well it's not as if we didn't know this was coming. Think back to the interview with the developer and the architect discussing where the limited design resources would go for this project, namely to the lowest street levels. I felt badly for the architect having to sit through that discussion, while the developer knew exactly what he was doing.
 
old boy said:
Well it's not as if we didn't know this was coming. Think back to the interview with the developer and the architect discussing where the limited design resources would go for this project, namely to the lowest street levels. I felt badly for the architect having to sit through that discussion, while the developer knew exactly what he was doing.
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Not like the architect didn't know what was coming either - so I won't be sympathetic to that.

AoD
 
Jonathan Carruthers said:
This is just about the worst advertisement for Daniels. Even Wallman was smart enough to put their offices in one of their best buildings (Tableau). Daniels on the other hand, preferring to save their best projects for places like Erin Mills, decides to include their head office in a project whose residential towers could very well be one of the worst (if not THE worst) waterfront builds of this cycle.

It's visibility screams to all Torontonians, all visitors, all potential clients, "We are completely out of ideas, but if you have one, we will value engineer the life out of it so that it resembles a flimsy cardboard box!"

All the waterfront buildings are like calling cards. Safdie/Great Gulf"s Monde says, "We build quality." Pinnacle hiring HP on One Younge indicates they are about to do the same. Daniels is well on it's way towards accomplishing the opposite. I am open to the possibility that the circular frit pattern may redeem the design somewhat under certain lighting conditions, but I am equally open to the possibility that standing beside Monde and One Younge it will come off as a cheap, well worn slight of hand that fools nobody.
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Amare said:
Heck you dont even have to travel that far to see a better waterfront district. Vancouver, San Francisco, and a whole bunch of other North American cities handle their waterfronts with much more aptitude than Toronto does. Waterfront Toronto was created in part to avoid the mistakes that were done on Queens Quay West, but yet their allowing for even more clunkers to come online.

I've said it before and i'll say it again, our waterfront is a joke.
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TheKingEast said:
It's actually embarrassing what the waterfront looks like at this point. Aside from Monde and Pier 21, everything is bland crap. This is what I feared.

Can you think of any major city "new" waterfront that looks like this?

I don't want to see anything from Tridel or Daniels along the waterfront. I get that they're big boys and self financed but they are bland and unimaginative as can be.

I want to see Freed, Mod, Urban Capital, I'll even take CityzenFernbrook (not the greatest builder but they at least have balls to build something different), Great Gulf, Lanterra, Cresford, etc. You know, builders who actually have some pride and have a track record of building well designed buildings.

Yes, I'm simplifying things here but this is inexcusable.
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A lot of BS negativity in this thread. The waterfront looks fine. These towers are not architectural marvels but the situation is nowhere near as bad as depicted above.

And from my experience visitors have been nothing but impressed with the scale and modernity of Toronto's growing skyline. Oslo, Vancouver, San Francisco are not comparable.
 
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