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

Hopefully the cloud podium doesn't end up looking like this cloud:

http://gothamist.com/2011/12/11/architects_sorry_people_think_twin.php#photo-6

2011_11_nkt1.jpg

The Cloud Buildings MVRDV
 
urbandreamer said:
^That's hot. That's the sort of design I'd love to see at Pinnacle's Yonge Street site--would tie in nicely with Pier 27.
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you must be aware of the controversy over this Libeskind proposal, in its resemblance to 9/11??????????

Sometimes I think you just say ridiculous things to get a rise out of people..
 
urbandreamer said:
I'm pro-development but I'm anti-block busting. This proposal is today's version of the HBC.
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Why do people keep calling this blockbusting? Blockbusting refers to specific tactics used in earlier decades to scare white people into selling at a huge discount through a threat of black people moving nearby.

Replacing one block of buildings with bigger buildings isn't blockbusting.
 
adma said:
Four decades ago, the "this" you might be speaking of is the Spadina Expressway, and the "megalomaniac councillor Vaughan" you might be speaking of is Adam's father Colin. Just warning you.
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Well, conveniently, he wasn't talking about the Spadina Expressway. Just because it fits your vague argument of likening everything to the Spadina Expressway doesn't mean Mirvish-Gehry is Spadina.

That Toronto already has soo many examples of similar warehouses or heritage structures being demolished for more contemporary buildings and yet you felt the need to compare to Spadina is weird.
 
^yyzer, I could care less about resemblances. The fact is that's a beautiful building proposal. You could argue many modern designs resemble car crash sites, religious symbols, arms of war and other "sensitive" events/objects.

Blockbusting? I love this proposal. But is it necessary to knock down what works already?

What doesn't work: the square across the street. Other than a few hours during office breaks (smokers mostly) it's an empty ugly waste of space. Build it here using Vancouver-style density transfer in exchange for restoring these old warehouses to their original state.
 
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urbandreamer said:
I love this proposal. But is it necessary to knock down what works already?
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We agree on point #1.....but not on point #2.....Mirvish/Gehry will be a defining moment for the city imo, and in this case, the sacrifice needs to be made.....it's a special case...
 
urbandreamer said:
Blockbusting? I love this proposal. But is it necessary to knock down what works already?
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That aside, just throwing around terms like blockbusting just confuses the discussion. 'Blockbusting' is strongly associated with urban destruction, so when people start using terms like that inappropriately it goes a bit beyond weighing the tradeoffs of heritage preservation vs. new development.
 
yyzer: "Defining moments" are for suburbanites. :p Seriously, the CN Tower is Toronto's landmark feature. These buildings are being proposed by old white men who grew up during the '50s-'60s when knocking down old buildings was "progress." Hey I'm agreeing with Adma here? #nuts

re: blockbusting. Indeed, destroying the very soul of what makes downtown Toronto great--historic red brick buildings with creative mixed-uses--is what I'd call blockbusting.
 
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Yes, the CN Tower is Toronto's landmark feature, but that doesn't mean we can't have a few other, secondary landmarks..

I don't know if I would equate adding an architectural marvel like Mirvish/Gehry as 'progress', in the 50's sense of the word...you wouldn't use the word 'progress' if the Art Gallery were to add an important new painting to its collection, would you?

I like historic buildings as much as anyone btw...and I have deep misgivings about highrise modernism's effect on the pedestrian realm, but you can't paint all projects with the same brush.....#mixing metaphors
 
urbandreamer said:
re: blockbusting. Indeed, destroying the very soul of what makes downtown Toronto great--historic red brick buildings with creative mixed-uses--is what I'd call blockbusting.
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And yet it's not actually blockbusting.

Toronto's lost, what, dozens or hundreds of these warehouses over the decades? And yet the city goes on since cities are about people and communities.

Actual blockbusting was so destructive specifically because it uprooted entire communities and fostered ethnic distrust.

It would be far simpler if you could actually illustrate how these buildings are "the very soul of what makes downtown Toronto great" (they house a freaking Philthy McNastys...) and why the MG proposal would be worse rather than abusing terminology to make a point.
 
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