Toronto First Canadian Place Rejuvenation | 298.08m | 72s | Brookfield | MdeAS Architects

[Ramako]

I believe we're ahead of Chicago in terms of buildings over 20 storeys, though. Or is that 12 storeys?

According to the SSP database, Chicago has 658 towers over 65 metres to the roof (about 20 residential floors) and we have 668. However, unlike Chicago, all of our towers are not located in the core but spread around the inner suburbs. Imagine downtown Toronto if you took all the towers from St. Clair, Eglinton, North York, Scarborough City Centre and the Humber Shores and dropped them around the core.... that's Chicago, only with shorter towers and less pre-WWII architecture.

 

[Redroom Studios]

maybe in terms of absolute quality of materials, yes CCW may be somewhat lacking. But there is no denying that it consistently looks great in photos!

 

[taal]

According to the SSP database, Chicago has 658 towers over 65 metres to the roof (about 20 residential floors) and we have 668. However, unlike Chicago, all of our towers are not located in the core but spread around the inner suburbs. Imagine downtown Toronto if you took all the towers from St. Clair, Eglinton, North York, Scarborough City Centre and the Humber Shores and dropped them around the core.... that's Chicago, only with shorter towers and less pre-WWII architecture.

No this isn't really a good comparison ... Chicago has way less (magnitutes) of Condo's that we do - so if you were to do this i.e. combine all our condos and put them downtown it'd look massive (but short) compared to Chicago ... it already does look somewhat bigger but a lot shorter.

The point is they have a lot more like I said 150/200m+ towers - and those are all in the core (the majority if not all office buildings).

 

[Ramako]

No this isn't really a good comparison ... Chicago has way less (magnitutes) of Condo's that we do - so if you were to do this i.e. combine all our condos and put them downtown it'd look massive (but short) compared to Chicago ... it already does look somewhat bigger but a lot shorter.

The point is they have a lot more like I said 150/200m+ towers - and those are all in the core (the majority if not all office buildings).

That's exactly what I said:

that's Chicago, only with shorter towers

 

[Redroom Studios]

I think Ramako's comparison makes great sense. Chicago has no great shortage of condos... think of the Gold Coast alone which stretches for about 7 miles.

 

[egotrippin]

i actually don't mind the commerce court cladding as much as some of the smaller buildings such as the hudson bay centre at yonge and bloor, or some of the smaller ones in that area but if your reffering to buildings in the main "cluster" then i agree that commerce court could use a reclad, i also woudn't mind a recladding on brookfield place (td canada trust tower and the bay and wellington tower)

Why on Earth would you want to see Brookfield Place reclad? It's in as good as shape as the day it was built, and I don't really see what could be done with it; a different shade of granite?

CCW just needs to be properly cleaned and touched up. The stainless steel cladding is otherwise great.

 

[taal]

I think Ramako's comparison makes great sense. Chicago has no great shortage of condos... think of the Gold Coast alone which stretches for about 7 miles.

No, it really does in comparison ... some people really don't seem to realize just how many condos / rental building there on in Toronto / inner 905. That's why, again, I said that comparison doesn't really hold water - if you were to do that you'd see so many more buildings in Toronto (shorter ones).

This is a very unreiable site but anyway:

Toronto:
1,823 existing existing
275 planned planned
97 under construction under construction


Chicago:
1,118 existing existing
91 planned planned
20 under construction under construction

Here's the kicker, building#40 on the list (in terms of height for each city):

Toronto:
40. Palace Pier [The Palace Pier] 31 138 m 46 1978 existing

Chicago:
40. Chicago Place 29 185 m 49

If you compare - you'll see they have way more 150+ buildings but overall there are way more 12+ story building in Toronto. I don't think this includes our suburbs ... which will really make the # of 12+ story building a lot bigger for us (including all of Chicago's suburbs as well).

 

[Pfloyd]

I think it's a known fact the 416 area (if we include 905 the difference would be even bigger) has many more highrises (above 12 stories) than Chicago. As it has being mentioned, just check the SSP database. What Chicago has is in it's favour is more concentration of buildings in the urban core, a larger number of taller buildings, and way, way more iconic buildings from all architectural periods. I guess their corporations have always been more interested in spending more money on design than ours, and it truly shows.

 

[GrinTO]

I think Ramako's comparison makes great sense. Chicago has no great shortage of condos... think of the Gold Coast alone which stretches for about 7 miles.

Not so much, was in Chicago this summer, almost all their tall buildings are in the downtown core/gold coast, no way is it 7 miles of hirises. They are not very tall along the lake to the north. Great city though! wide streets, great parks

 

[GrinTO]

I think it's a known fact the 416 area (if we include 905 the difference would be even bigger) has many more highrises (above 12 stories) than Chicago. As it has being mentioned, just check the SSP database. What Chicago has is in it's favour is more concentration of buildings in the urban core, a larger number of taller buildings, and way, way more iconic buildings from all architectural periods. I guess their corporations have always been more interested in spending more money on design than ours, and it truly shows.

Chicago invented the skyscraper and has a powerful review board. It is like comparing apples and oranges. Toronto's growth is far more recent than Chicago's. And Chicago went through quite a slump before new towers like Trump, Aqua and some other new condo/hotel towers went up.
Anyhow totally off the FCP topic, sorry

 

[adma]

Come to think of it... the CIBC building could use a reclad too! It's not up to part with all the great high rises around it.

Given I.M. Pei's stature and all, a reclad of CCW is about as advisable as a reclad of CCN.

 

[Red October]

Chicago invented the skyscraper and has a powerful review board. It is like comparing apples and oranges. Toronto's growth is far more recent than Chicago's. And Chicago went through quite a slump before new towers like Trump, Aqua and some other new condo/hotel towers went up.
Anyhow totally off the FCP topic, sorry

I thought the Flatiron Building was the first skyscraper...

*EDIT: Nevermind just looked it up and it seems to be between the Equitable Life Assurance Building in NY and the Home Insurance Building in Chicago.
The ELAB is older though.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Turning back to the colour debate...

... FCP was absolutely brilliant white/ebony black on the east side as I walked up King from Yonge this morning. It looked gorgeous.

About 3/4 rows of windows showing now. They seemed to have picked up the pace now that they're into the regular routine.

I think this is going to look very cool when it's about 1/2 done, as the contrast between the pug-ugly stained marble and the new panels will be epic.

 

[junctionist]

Why on Earth would you want to see Brookfield Place reclad? It's in as good as shape as the day it was built, and I don't really see what could be done with it; a different shade of granite?

CCW just needs to be properly cleaned and touched up. The stainless steel cladding is otherwise great.

I have to agree. Stainless steel is hardly an unsophisticated cladding material. It's practical, too, so I don't see why some other material would be chosen over it. It was chosen to compliment and distinguish CCW from the T-D Centre across the street.

 

[sodapop]

a different shade of granite?

exactly my point, i've never particularly liked that green shade of those buildings