Toronto Manulife Centre Podium and Streetscape Renewal | 9.75m | 2s | Manulife Real Estate | MdeAS Architects

UtakataNoAnnex said:
...it's very apparent that the owners/developers of this tower are embarrassed of this tower's legacy as we are of alterations they've made in attempt to cover that up. /sigh
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I don’t feel it was ever an outstanding example of commercial brutalism, but its brutalist legacy was sullied long, long ago. Even before the new facade, they got rid of the POPS courtyard on Bay (now I believe where Indigo lives). From the pictures I’ve seen, it was quite remarkable, and certainly made the building fit better at street level with the rest of it.
 
Northern Light said:
I appreciate your keen analysis of Manulife's likely behavior....

I would, however, suggest, that in the unlikely event you are wrong, eating a ballcap would likely cause more gastrointestinal issues than it would solve.

Besides, you'd have to go buy one first as it doesn't fit your dapper aesthetic.
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Turner is getting close to completion. They are now installing fins on the black-painted underground garage pavilion. The fins are slender wooden boxes (probably made from MDF) with glued-on wood grain formica!!! What do you think is the failure rate of glued formica in outdoor wet, freeze-thaw conditions? I thought they might use anodized gold soft-textured aluminum. The black paint is suspect, but the Formica-clad boxes won't stand a chance...
 
Torontosbest said:
Turner is getting close to completion. They are now installing fins on the black-painted underground garage pavilion. The fins are slender wooden boxes (probably made from MDF) with glued-on wood grain formica!!! What do you think is the failure rate of glued formica in outdoor wet, freeze-thaw conditions? I thought they might use anodized gold soft-textured aluminum. The black paint is suspect, but the Formica-clad boxes won't stand a chance...
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We were told the project would be completed by mid-December and they are now working 6 days a week on it. Looking forward to it; the residential tower entrance has been entirely closed for six months, which wasn't originally planned.
 
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Yesterday.
 
There should be a large "44" above the street name according to the renderings, but there doesn't appear to be enough space now... unless they intend to display it using the LED panels.
 
UtakataNoAnnex said:
...are they planning or re-cladding the whole building? Might as well at this point to go along with those clown shoes. /sigh
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So for me, I always think of this project in comparison to the renovation of the Sheppard Centre, given they're a pair of concrete brutalist malls with towers that had overlapping renovations for a bit. And I'd argue the Sheppard Centre recladding it's towers is part of why it looks more cohesive than this mess. They at least had a unified aesthetic for the entire project and committed to it (for better or worse. I personally like it, but I get why others might not). But oh god if they did the entire tower here in this black with gold trim aesthetic... yikessssss.

Also regarding the Manulife Centre, we got a retail expansion with no geometric or material relation to the towers above, and now an apartment podium reclad that has a geometric relationship to the tower, but the materials used don't match the tower or the retail podium! If the retail section had also been black and gold, and the towers were clad in black, it probably would have looked tacky AF, but you could be like "oh i get the idea (even if I hate it)". Instead this feels like every part of this reno was designed separately by people who weren't allowed to speak to each other.
 
TossYourJacket said:
So for me, I always think of this project in comparison to the renovation of the Sheppard Centre, given they're a pair of concrete brutalist malls with towers that had overlapping renovations for a bit. And I'd argue the Sheppard Centre recladding it's towers is part of why it looks more cohesive than this mess. They at least had a unified aesthetic for the entire project and committed to it (for better or worse. I personally like it, but I get why others might not). But oh god if they did the entire tower here in this black with gold trim aesthetic... yikessssss.

Also regarding the Manulife Centre, we got a retail expansion with no geometric or material relation to the towers above, and now an apartment podium reclad that has a geometric relationship to the tower, but the materials used don't match the tower or the retail podium! If the retail section had also been black and gold, and the towers were clad in black, it probably would have looked tacky AF, but you could be like "oh i get the idea (even if I hate it)". Instead this feels like every part of this reno was designed separately by people who weren't allowed to speak to each other.
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I get that. But if they could of used that style and texture of this building as a template, I think it would of looked out of this world in a good way. Sure, it would be grey...but since that this city's default colour these days, I'm not sure it would matter much here...

...but their hodgepodge approach in materials, colours and shapes makes the tale really wag the dog here. And it looks terrible, IMO. Might as well go all out and get it all over with. >.<
 
TossYourJacket said:
So for me, I always think of this project in comparison to the renovation of the Sheppard Centre, given they're a pair of concrete brutalist malls with towers that had overlapping renovations for a bit. And I'd argue the Sheppard Centre recladding it's towers is part of why it looks more cohesive than this mess. They at least had a unified aesthetic for the entire project and committed to it (for better or worse. I personally like it, but I get why others might not). But oh god if they did the entire tower here in this black with gold trim aesthetic... yikessssss.

Also regarding the Manulife Centre, we got a retail expansion with no geometric or material relation to the towers above, and now an apartment podium reclad that has a geometric relationship to the tower, but the materials used don't match the tower or the retail podium! If the retail section had also been black and gold, and the towers were clad in black, it probably would have looked tacky AF, but you could be like "oh i get the idea (even if I hate it)". Instead this feels like every part of this reno was designed separately by people who weren't allowed to speak to each other.
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Cladding this brutalist concrete tower with any cladding at all would be an improvement - it would look less like it’s about to eat your soul. The awful mass of concrete looks like it's already undergoing renovation, with the original cladding stripped away...
 
...except that they are cladding with materials and a style that will eat your soul. Either tear the building down and start again or work with original design to build upon it. The compromise is just shite here, IMO.
 
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