Toronto Festival Tower and tiff Bell Lightbox | 156.96m | 42s | Daniels | KPMB

Some would call it overwhelming, but something about this massive podium makes the street feel very cozy to me, as though it's being shielded from the rest of the city. The only other place I've ever felt so hemmed in by a streetwall was in New York.
 
gei said:
I don't see what everyone finds so great about "massive" podiums. I find this thing very intrusive. Then again it's mostly just a hulking mass of concrete at the moment... perhaps it will grow on me.
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It all depends on what you're accustomed to and comfortable with. Other people are simply more drawn to large scale than you are. I instinctually find monumental and imposing structures more agreeable on a number of levels probably due to my upbringing in central London.

You may find this amount of scale overwhelms you, but I find that structures of lesser scale underwhelm me. I'm far less comfortable as soon as I venture north of Dundas Street. I'm naturally drawn to areas like Yonge and King or sandwiched between the Royal York and Union Station. Monumentality gives a place a feeling of permanence and solidity. I've craved this type of scale and reassurance from the built form ever since I left London. I find podiums the size of the Lightbox or Maple Leaf Square extremely inviting and I welcome the proliferation of such scale in Toronto enthusiastically.

I guess you wouldn't like Park Avenue much either?
 
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isaidso said:
It all depends on what you're accustomed to and comfortable with. Other people are simply more drawn to large scale than you are. I instinctually find monumental and imposing structures more agreeable on a number of levels probably due to my upbringing in central London.
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Yet the threat of "monumental and imposing" has led to many a campaign to save beloved London districts such as Bloomsbury for decades now...
 
King West battles Yorkville for Luxury Supremacy!!1

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Tower clearly rising now above the podium .... very nice

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Some More!!!

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Added one more...due to boredom...

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adma said:
Yet the threat of "monumental and imposing" has led to many a campaign to save beloved London districts such as Bloomsbury for decades now...
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You are twisting things around. Oxford Street, Regents Street, and most of central London is of the scale I've discussed. I prefer that to more modest scale. I don't think it is a fair argument to turn this into a case of destroying old districts. This is a preference for scale over less scale. Maple Leaf Square was a vacant lot as was the lot this building is going up on. Nothing is being destroyed.

Most of Toronto's built form is of modest scale. Most of Bloor, most of Yonge, most of Bathurst, most of St. Clair, most of Queen, most of King, most of College, etc. I don't see how increased scale here and there is problematic. Toronto should not be a city that suits the tastes of just one segment of the population. Some people like buildings like the Royal York and the TD Centre.
 
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All I know is sitting out on those patios on King st across from this thing definitely isn't as pleasant of an experience as it was before.
 
gei said:
All I know is sitting out on those patios on King st across from this thing definitely isn't as pleasant of an experience as it was before.
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I hope you'll find that sitting on a King Street patio is better than it ever was once the project is finished. Right now you have hoarding and rough, unfinished construction to look at across the street. Once it's all done you'll have sleek finishes and the glow of lights across the street. Before all of this started, you had a parking lot to look at.

If in the end you don't like the finished conditions better than the old parking lot view, then maybe I can suggest that some suburban strip anywhere on the continent, let's say Erie PA for argument's sake, may be more your speed gei.

42
 
Saw the new glass cladding in person the other night. Looks better than in photos. No criticism of the talented photographers here. Just difficult to capture with the glare.
 
condovo said:
Saw the new glass cladding in person the other night. Looks better than in photos. No criticism of the talented photographers here. Just difficult to capture with the glare.
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Well caltrane is using a video camera for taking pictures as far as I know, which is definitely not the best for taking good photos.

As for the glare, it's because they're taking the photos with the light source(the sun) in front of them, instead of behind. Best time to take photos of this building from King St., would be in the morning while the sun is to the east.
 
khristopher said:
Well caltrane is using a video camera for taking pictures as far as I know, which is definitely not the best for taking good photos.

As for the glare, it's because they're taking the photos with the light source(the sun) in front of them, instead of behind. Best time to take photos of this building from King St., would be in the morning while the sun is to the east.
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Yes condovo, I'm using a video camera to take pictures..not a real camera. The guy that sold it to me told me it's probably better for making porn, than doing urban landscape photos.....
 
caltrane74's photos look pretty good to me ! (definitely no less than any other digital camera)
 
That new glass is now completely enclosing the corner of the podium on the third level...

This project is getting very exciting for me now... as things are really, really speeding up here. (i.e cladding going up faster, and tower rising off the podium a lil' faster)
 
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