Toronto L-Tower | 204.82m | 58s | Cityzen | Daniel Libeskind

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Waaaaaaaaaaaaah :(

#TheCheapening
 


... click on image to enlarge

beautiful. In this photo, I'd say the 3 best looking buildings are Scotia Plaza, Trump, and L tower. Trump is the standout imo. the onion dome looks too good.

#TheCheapening

the corner woulda looked cool if it remained curved :(
 
It would have. But it's not just the corner. The base has a different cladding. Sometimes I wish I didn't know about UrbanToronto so that I wouldn't be disappointed when projects get cheapened down from their original plans.
 
Water Tank Quiz

Picture taken by SkyJacked (thank you) from L Tower crane. Question: Which water tower did Rob capture here?

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It would have. But it's not just the corner. The base has a different cladding. Sometimes I wish I didn't know about UrbanToronto so that I wouldn't be disappointed when projects get cheapened down from their original plans.

Just so you get your story straight ... I think its a bit of a stretch to call this "cheapening" ... the original podium design took into account a very large space that was to be set a side for a cultural event space ... that was the original L tower plan ... the party involved with this aspect of the development pulled out ... so of course the base would be redesigned.
 
Just so you get your story straight ... I think its a bit of a stretch to call this "cheapening" ... the original podium design took into account a very large space that was to be set a side for a cultural event space ... that was the original L tower plan ... the party involved with this aspect of the development pulled out ... so of course the base would be redesigned.

I have my "story straight" -- in fact, my involvement on reporting this project goes so far back that I was the one who brought the first hi-res renderings to this forum. I'm well aware of the history of this project.

While the arts lab was dropped and that section axed from the building, the redesign originally retained the high quality details seen in this render. Then the cut corner went from the cathedral type arch to a shortened and straight angle cut that doesn't fit the curved theme of the rest of the building. Distinct cladding at the base was also dropped in favour of the cheaper window wall.

All buildings go through budget engineering that often -- but not always -- removes nice to have features to fit the available budget. That's precisely what "The Cheapening" is. And it happened here and so I'm mourning what we could have had.
 
Cathedral Arch

The photo taken October last year is a bit outdated, I know, but I thought it fits it to above's argument.

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I personally like the straight lines and uniform facade we now have better than the clutter of curves, lines and different cladding in the above render. I think this design reduction (for whatever reason it was done), helps to accentuate the curved north face with slanted (straight) roof line, which really is the main feature defining this beautiful building. Another thought that comes to my mind when looking at the above render is that the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts is nowhere to be seen. I wonder why we ever wanted to hide it. I like the way the old landmark and the new one came together now in a much more balanced approach.
 
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Maybe I'm one of the few, but I actually prefer what we got, and not the render. I agree with Udo that the straight lines fit with the view from street level, where no curves are visible. I was also not a fan of the "boot" and the transition of cladding in the render. I think what we got is much sharper and cleaner.
 
The base on the original render was worse, the circle element looked crap and the curved facade leading the the straight line up the tower was a bad design. the current design with straight lines leading up looks better and makes more sense.
 
I have my "story straight" -- in fact, my involvement on reporting this project goes so far back that I was the one who brought the first hi-res renderings to this forum. I'm well aware of the history of this project.

While the arts lab was dropped and that section axed from the building, the redesign originally retained the high quality details seen in this render. Then the cut corner went from the cathedral type arch to a shortened and straight angle cut that doesn't fit the curved theme of the rest of the building. Distinct cladding at the base was also dropped in favour of the cheaper window wall.

All buildings go through budget engineering that often -- but not always -- removes nice to have features to fit the available budget. That's precisely what "The Cheapening" is. And it happened here and so I'm mourning what we could have had.

I apologize I came off a little strong.

Are you sure they offically stated at some point they were going with the old design, just condos in the base ? I recall hearing they were converting the base to condos but did the switch as part of this.
 
I'm worried about how this meets the street in the render. Looks like what I would expect while passing a parking garage while walking on the intersection shown in the new render :/
The grand curved entrance doesn't do much to help.
 
I apologize I came off a little strong.

Are you sure they offically stated at some point they were going with the old design, just condos in the base ? I recall hearing they were converting the base to condos but did the switch as part of this.

No problem.

When the arts labs were cut, the entire base was removed in favour of the angled shapes but there was still a base of different cladding for several stories up (perhaps for the lobby and amenities floors) and the grand arch was still there. Then close to construction starting up, the arch went to a straight cut as was built and the base cladding disappeared. I remember reading in one construction magazine that the arch was "simplified" to a straight corner because it couldn't be built curved. Pardon my french but that's bullshit. I know of several examples of curved arches like that. It was dumped in favour of the cheaper straight angle. The angled shapes at the base have also gone through several iterations. I'm not quite sure which is being built.

The building is curved so I think that the counter curve on the back forming the cathedral arch was very fitting and quite beautiful. For the base cladding, I think that keeping the window wall all the way down is going to end abruptly with no discernible base which I don't think will do much good to improving street presence there where it is very much needed.
 
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