Toronto Globe and Mail Headquarters: Never-Built | ?m | 18s | The Globe and Mail | KPMB

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I'd rather a proper midrise than this stumpy and unintentionally-awkward looking design, I've concluded for now. And all glass? Really? AGAIN?!
 
This city is becoming so overloaded with all glass buildings. (especially the boxy variety) Is this really the kind of city most people want?
 
Lots of people at UT can't see past glass... but the general population (go to any community consultation meeting) wants and demands more interesting massing, better materials, and more creativity.
 
Automation Gallery said:
Wow, this building is not good enough to many..im puzzled:confused:
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For those 100+ people in the room last night listening to KPMB talk about the design of the building for the first 45 minutes, I am certain that all of us walked away with the feeling that this is a great design. The cellphone pic rendering does not do it justice and as some have said, KMPB knows how to have this building interact with the public. That part is excellent with the media wall, spanish steps, the interior glass shell theatre for nearly 300 people that will be available for outside groups that will be high tech wired ie. TED talks, restaurant, public mid-block connection to green space, the cobblestone roadway with trees in behind all the way from Front to Spadina, possible projection wall on the east face of the 19 storey tower, LEEDS gold, 250 commercial parking spaces etc.etc.

They set back the building off of Front to give everyone some breathing room and to set a precedent on Front for future development. Kudos have to go to the Globe for building the 19 storey office portion for unknown future tenants - who does that these days? They are hoping to attract media and design businesses in this space that can sometimes work with Globe staffers. They believe this might be the start of a Front Street West media concentration corridor.

I really think we should cut them some slack until all of the details come out and more renderings are available. The massing of the building makes sense to the owner (the 6 storey Globe building and the 19 storey tenant building), and what they use for an exterior shell I am sure will be more than OK. We really need to applaud the buildings interaction with the public and the extra money they are spending in doing so. They could of just moved it all to Newmarket and saved lots of money.

As I will be living on Wellington across the street, it is real shot in the arm in the neighbourhood. I applaud it.
 
SP!RE said:
Lots of people at UT can't see past glass... but the general population (go to any community consultation meeting) wants and demands more interesting massing, better materials, and more creativity.
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Ohh OK, I see how that so-called general population of this city has made a huge difference on how buildings have been designed in the past say, 10 years.
 
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Automation Gallery said:
Ohh OK, I see how that so-called general population of this city has made a huge difference on how buildings have been designed in the past say, 10 years.
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They haven't, unfortunately. The general population has very little sway because at the end of the day, they aren't democratically voting on how buildings look. And they aren't listened to. So, Automation Gallery, I don't understand your point or logic. You think that people outside of UrbanToronto are really thrilled with glass boxism? I like them most of the time, but I know hundreds more that don't like them almost ever.

I also don't understand the defensiveness people have against any sort criticisms of the over-use of glass. I love glass... I love neo-modernism. Hell, I almost always love aA designs (proof in itself of being a glass neo-modernism)! Stop being so defensive.
 
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Based on the KPMB renderings for Southcore (Southpark?) and how bland the curtain wall turned out on 3 York Street, I am not willing to cut them any slack. This will turn out to be a big glass bore of a building, at a very prominent intersection. A missed opportunity and nothing that will distinguish the Globe from any other office tenant. (And am I really suppose to be impressed that they will have parking spots, a restaurant and room that can be rented out?!)
 
ProjectEnd said:
It's from a Blackberry or iPhone. Make fun all you want but at least he got us a picture, you didn't.
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Automation Gallery said:
yeah, plus a lot of the pics must be taken without the developers consent...so more power to him to sneak around and have some pics for us.:cool:
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I should clarify. It is only Blacktower's propensity to blow things up beyond their pixel-for-pixel resolution which I think is funny - - - well, that and the huge watermarks on his stuff. I appreciate the images, but when they are invariably blurry because of the over-enlargement, why not post them smaller? That's all.

Meanwhile, thank you to Johnny Kay for getting us a clearer image and to Atlantic for blowing it up (appropriately!) for us.

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The promised public amenity at the corner seems to be a significant sheltered outdoor space. Is the idea that they will programme it? And just how big is it? Time to whip out the measuring tape.

Overall design-wise, the rendering looks quite preliminary - proportions within the urban context don't seem quite right yet. Is every wall canted? Looking forward to more.
 
My first impression was that it looks like 1/3rd of Beijing's CCTV Headquarters.

It looks alright. Nothing extraordinary but it is a decent design and meets my realistic expectations for this site. I'm fine with the tower but the podium section (facing Front and Spadina) is rather generic and bland. There should have been a greater effort to make the podium more interesting (ie. use of different materials instead of just a plain curtainwall). I do find this overall to be an great improvement and should greatly benefit the intersection and area.

The current location provides such exciting redevelopment opportunities. This section overall needs a lot of work. I wouldn't mind high-rises on Front Street but massing like Minto/Freed's project would be perfect. I would rather have mid-rises on the Wellington side, which is quickly becoming a charming side street. I'd love to see something like the Lanes @ Context King West providing a corridor between these two streets.
 
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400WellingtonGuy said:
They set back the building off of Front to give everyone some breathing room and to set a precedent on Front for future development. Kudos have to go to the Globe for building the 19 storey office portion for unknown future tenants - who does that these days? They are hoping to attract media and design businesses in this space that can sometimes work with Globe staffers. They believe this might be the start of a Front Street West media concentration corridor.
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This part is promising. As someone in the local media/advertising industry, I've heard about good space being really hard to find down here. It would be fantastic to see the Globe sell off the remaining property to someone with commercial aspirations as opposed to residential ones. It would be great to further establish the area as a media/design/culture hub. Right now Ubisoft is up at Bloor and Landsdowne... it would be great to get them down here with their own huge custom space.
 
Interesting that Rem wasn't fond of Henning Larsen's new Der Spiegel HQ in Hamburg, or the new Hafencity district in which it was constructed. He's hardly a soothsayer and I often disagree with his overly-dense-criticism (showy academia?), not on the grounds that he doesn't know what he's talking about but because OMA's buildings often don't achieve the standard he sets when discussing others. Still, I wonder what he'd think of this?

Interview with Rem
 
It's not talking to me at all.....this corner needs something special - this design looks like it could be in an office park in Markham..
 
Automation Gallery said:
Ohh OK, I see how that so-called general population of this city has made a huge difference on how buildings have been designed in the past say, 10 years.
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So now you're trying to blame the population at large for the building designs you hate. This from a guy who only cares about height - regardless of design or impact.
 
400WellingtonGuy said:
For those 100+ people in the room last night listening to KPMB talk about the design of the building for the first 45 minutes, I am certain that all of us walked away with the feeling that this is a great design.
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Was anyone upset with the height of the building being 19 stories? I believe that is much less than what Freed Minto are trying on the bathurst front side.
 
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