I note that I agree w/two seemingly competing view points above.
If some find
@isaidso 's tone a tad harsh, I certainly agree w/his architectural critique here. It's worth adding, I detest brutalism and wasn't a particular fan of the underlying building as many are, here.
But this is patently sub-par in every sense. You don't have to like the original building to think so.
It doesn't exactly contrast the original, at least in a complimentary way, as much as looking like an ill-conceived, disjointed and mismeasured add-on.
I could deal w/mostly glass w/o that being much of a problem, but the absence of any proper framing, or alternatively going w/much larger plates and using some texture in the glass itself is annoyingly bland and pedestrian.
But I'm more irked by both the corner/Birks and by the new Bloor entrance, the former just feels completely wrong to me giving the positioning of both the intersection and the tower, and it's a real missed opportunity for a statement for Birks Flagship space in town, while the latter is understated in an equally banal way.
It's certainly not the end of the world; and the good news is, the street-level of this complex was atrocious before, so they didn't really do that much harm.........but it is a missed opportunity to do materially better here.
I still agree with
@condovo though in as much as this City has so much going for it, in so many ways, we largely brush past these missed opportunities and remain very competitive on the global stage.
But like the new HR facade across the way, the passive acceptance of mediocrity does disappoint here.
Come to think of it, I'm marginally amused, HR is really missing some glazing, both to allow natural light into its upper levels and to showcase a nice interior as a showpiece to passersby on Bloor, it's using quality materials, just not as well as it should; while Manulife's got too much unfettered glazing, and not enough quality material and sense of proportion.