Toronto Forma | 308m | 84s | Great Gulf | Gehry Partners

This is likely a ten year project which will take a year or two just to get through the approvals process. It seems that it's still quite preliminary. Perhaps they are manoeuvring to get this project ready to be the first out of the gate on the other side of the real estate cycle.
 
Ramako said:
This is likely a ten year project which will take a year or two just to get through the approvals process. It seems that it's still quite preliminary. Perhaps they are manoeuvring to get this project ready to be the first out of the gate on the other side of the real estate cycle.
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I think you are right on the money....by the time the first tower comes to market, they will probably be just in time to catch the next upturn...
 
tomms said:
The drawings at the presser today stated

Tower 1 - 82 story 271.5m / 890.7ft
Tower 2 - 86 story 284.0m / 931.8ft
Tower 3 - 84 story 278.1m / 912.4ft

All three buildings will have mechanical penthouses at the top, which are not included in the height.
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Looking at the photo, it appears that there will be a wall surrounding the mechanical floors, that looks to be about 7m tall for towers 1 and 3, and a bit taller, maybe 9m, for tower 2.

This would give a total height of about 279m for Tower 1, 293m for Tower 2 and 285m for Tower 3. So close, and yet so far!
 
“In Bilbao, Spain, they wanted to shoot me when they saw the (Guggenheim Museum design) and now they get $500 million a year in revenue to the city." - Frank Gehry

This thing better get built.
 
Another interesting tidbit to note - Gehry (or his firm) is licensed to practice in Ontario - which is why you don't see them partnering with local firms.

AoD
 
Oliver Tweed said:
“In Bilbao, Spain, they wanted to shoot me when they saw the (Guggenheim Museum design) and now they get $500 million a year in revenue to the city." - Frank Gehry

This thing better get built.
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The myth of the Bilbao Effect. *shakes head*
 
SP!RE said:
The myth of the Bilbao Effect. *shakes head*
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The Bilbao Effect is not a myth in Bilbao…

but then the Guggenheim is something else, and Bilbao was completely transformed by it and what followed it.

This complex would add to an already vibrant Toronto the way 8 Spruce is adding to an already vibrant New York. Would we see a commensurate turnaround like Bilbao? No, and we don't need something so extraordinary to happen, but Mirvish+Gehry would add significantly to this city nevertheless.

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SP!RE said:
The myth of the Bilbao Effect. *shakes head*
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The Bilbao Effect is not a myth in Bilbao…

…and you're right that other places have not seen quite the same results from new landmark architecture…

but then the Guggenheim is something else, and Bilbao was completely transformed by it and what followed it.

This complex would add to an already vibrant Toronto the way 8 Spruce is adding to an already vibrant New York. Would we see a commensurate turnaround like Bilbao? No, and we don't need something so extraordinary to happen, but Mirvish+Gehry would add significantly to this city nevertheless.

42
 
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I'd be more than willing to sacrifice a few buildings + a theatre, if this complex elevates the cities design conscious - even just a notch or two. That in itself would be the greatest legacy bestowed by both gehry & mirv to a city sadly stuck with polite gestures of design.
 
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Personally, I can't stand Gehry.

Like most geniuses, he is one dimensional. I believe he saw a shape in a dream as a child and has spent the rest of his life trying to manifest it in reality. Everything is just a variation on the same theme. The same goes for Libeskind, Calatrava and the like.

I dislike reading all the "Me Too" posts of the members who just want a Gehry so they can feel like they have joined the exclusive country club of the World-cities with a Gehry of their own. I think that makes us sound even more small-townish than not having one at all.

Besides... Even Springfield has a Gerhy and their town is still a crap-hole.

Gehry 001.jpg
 

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interchange42 said:
The Bilbao Effect is not a myth in Bilbao…

but then the Guggenheim is something else, and Bilbao was completely transformed by it and what followed it.
42
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The Guggenheim and its architecture is not the reason for the city's turnaround. It was one piece of it, but there were numerous(!) big changes made in turning the city around, lots of cultural interventions and other improvements to its infrastructure, etc.
 
I disliked the strips of crumpled paper on the podium as being so iconically Gehry that it almost looked like a caricature of his own work and it seems many people feel the same way. So much so, that Gehry himself had to address the critics:

Those details were quickly mocked online after the project's designs were first revealed, with many uncharitably describing them as resembling strands of used toilet paper.

Gehry noted that the podium's design in particular is just an early tease of what could be built. The rings in the prototype design were in fact constructed of torn paper, which is just an approximation of the idea, he said.

"Somebody in one of the blogs referred to them as garbage. Trust me, they're not garbage," he said, while also swatting away suggestions that his unconventional designs might be difficult to construct.

"It's not a final design, if you look at my work I do about 50 models. So it'll evolve but it'll have this character."
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Excerpt from an article in the Winnipeg Free Press found Here
 
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any theatre in the project? I know they are going to keep the Alexander theatre.. but they will still run the threatre business after the new buildings are built? how about princess of wales? any new theathre in the project to replace it?
 
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