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

The glass looks great.

In fact, it's so sharp-looking that it makes the stained precast wall look even worse than before.
 
by me: caltrane74

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UD, you might want to see someone about that split personality disorder: you always trumpet modernist design, yet here you are going all Victoriana on us! (Plus you're accusing a KPMB design of being clumsy when it's nowhere near finished, so I declare your accusation clumsy! Your move...)

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^I love modernist designs, but it's all about context. In a redbrick row like this strip of King West, I believe a red brick building like Rezen or Mozo is more appropriate.

On the Harbourfront or brownfield sites, or Bay Street--modern is great, but not the Law.:)

KPMB is a product of their age group: boomers who grew up appreciating conservative modernism c.1965. aA pushes the envelope further, but there's even better talent found in Canada, like S+P or Nomade.... An architect friend of mine says KPMB is really in the league of Diamond: conservative, quality product (but boring!) built for a conservative client. Daniels is surely one of the most conservative developers in Toronto! A Market Wharf (base only) aA interpretation would've suited this site much better. Instead, it looks like Toronto is getting another HBC...with glass.:(

ps: I love Toronto's Victorian architecture! Overall, it still hasn't been surpassed for absolute beauty, details, and street presence/urbanity.
 
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Well, an HBC with glass wouldn't be the HBC we know today at all. There are lots of big glass podiums in the world and they just don't have the oppressive presence that the concrete HBCs of the world do. Once this place is done and prettified you'll have lots of warmth from the glow of lights within, plus some sleek cladding on the cinema walls (still publicly undisclosed materials) and a far bit of hustle and bustle with this place that will humanize it substantially. I just think you're kind of early with your critique.

In regards to KPMB, yes they are more conservative than S+P, and more in line with Diamond, and that's not bad company to be in, in my books. Sure Diamond has shown a lack of imagination in some of his recent designs, but KPMB is on par with his best stuff, and there's lots of Diamond to admire. KPMB has done great work in this city at the National Ballet School, at the Woodsworth College, at the Gardiner Museum... and there are more examples I can cite. This one looks to me like it will fit it's context well in terms of counterpoint to what's across the street, while looking like a film festival's headquarters. The windows are reminiscent of ribbons of celluloid, the bulk and heaviness of some elements will speak to the festival's importance, the sophisticated combination of all the elements scream 'show business', it's all gonna work, you'll see! (I sound like a shill for them now, I know, I just believe in this building.)

That said, I wish the film fest HQs was going up where Cruptal Blown are, but, what can you do?

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I was told by a friend at TIFF that come hell or high water, they will be using Bell Lightbox for the film festival in September of 2010. Looking at the latest photos and given that there are 15 months between now and then, the condo tower should be topped off and possibly even enclosed. That also leaves a reasonable amount of time to complete the film centre so it seems very doable.

"Slated to serve TIFF36 in the fall of 2011, the project is still $49-million short of the $196-million pegged as the goal of its capital/endowment campaign. Private-sector funding, it seems, has dried up along with the economy."

Source

I'm not sure what to believe now...
 
KPMB is a product of their age group: boomers who grew up appreciating conservative modernism c.1965.

More like, they grew up reacting to conservative modernism c.1965. That's what motivated Diamond & Myers' successes in the 70s, after all. (And you must remember, KPMB's AGO deliberately effaced such modernism.)

It's the next generations that came to "appreciate" it--and indeed, to motivate KPMB back on side...
 

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