The external stonework is being repaired, the canopy has been reroofed and they are supposed to upgrade the canopy lighting. (The stone on West side above new Plaza wil be fixed next and along The Esplanade will be done by summer.) They also built a covered walkway on West side of main doors. Of course, this is really nothing to do with L Tower. EDIT: This explains all: "The 2015 Building Condition Assessment discovered safety concerns with the limestone cladding. Reparation of the cladding was originally planned as a three year project however cost savings in Year 1 (2016) of the project allowed for this project to be completed in two years. Work on the west side limestone must commence mid-March of 2017 and be completed by the end of May. This timeline will ensure that the new public plaza is available for major corporate events and programming scheduled in June, as well as allow the space to be open for the public’s enjoyment. The remaining cladding work to be done on the south side, fly tower and loading dock is anticipated to be completed by end of summer 2017." From: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2017/hb/bgrd/backgroundfile-101227.pdf
Toronto | Ontario by William Self, on Flickr
The mention of 'summer 2017' is to do with the repair of the stonework facade of Sony Centre - this - not surprisingly - is totally unconnected to the L-Tower crane which appears to be a permanent part of our skyline. If you want to read about it and the (frequently changed) dates for its removal read the previous 459 pages of this thread.
yippee more fake art
section 37 is such a boondoggle--the number of serious, um, real works of art that have been commissioned and installed in Toronto is in the single digits.
these cheap shiny banal baubles join the tilted primary colour leaning sticks at that Mies pastiche building, the paint splattered glass panels that looming meaninglessly over that restaurant space in Burano, and the really heavy handed metal slabs with words on them that now befoul 5 St Joseph St. these things are to art what Graziani + Corazza is to architecture: that is they are crap. they "look" like art to people who know know anything about art. Reason being that the grifters in line for these commissions are not serious artists.
the city should just ditch this whole public art thing altogether and grant the height and density increases solely on the basis of developers making meaningful material and design improvements to the buildings they are proposing. that's what should be rewarded.
things like ditching cheap window wall systems for curtain wall should be the trigger that allows the developer to go to the city for a sweeter deal. the plopping into public space of some kitschy immediately dated fake art thing created by an absolute nobody should not be rewarded. its just more of the mediocre clutter that the city is drowning in.
either that or have real competitions that are peer juried by fully accredited art professionals so that the parochial hacks and opportunists are kept out of the system.
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