Toronto One Bloor East | 257.24m | 76s | Great Gulf | Hariri Pontarini

innsertnamehere said:
I'm sorry, but your wrong. this building here is an architectual masterpiece, even with the flat roof. lets take a look at innovative architecture that is happening in toronto right now.
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No, Aqua in Chicago is an innovative architectural masterpiece. One Bloor is a just tired derivative of it, and that was true before the cheapening of the design. Who knows what else they'll cut along the way?

With the exception of L Tower and Pier 27, all of the towers on your list are either just proposals or holes in the ground (or in Mississauga). We have no idea if these will actually be completed, and how they will inevitably be cheapened or altered if they are. I'm still waiting to see how they handle making space for L Tower's window-washing rig, as that will make or break the design at this point.

I'd love to see a list of innovative and exciting architecture that has actually been completed in Toronto in the last ten years. What's going to be on that list out of the countless, record-breaking number of towers that have gone up? Four Seasons? Shangri-La? Market Wharf? Montage? Sick Kids? X? Those are probably the very best examples and they're all just nice, but nothing particularly exciting or innovative, and they probably aren't turning any heads on the street outside of a few people on this forum. If the best we can show in ten years is a tiny handful of above-average designs among dozens upon dozens of boring and forgettable towers, that's just sad.


And it's not just condos. Here's a run down of all the office towers built or under construction in this city during this boom:


lineupm.jpg

From: dleung at SSP


I guess we can add Bay-Adelaide East to that list now. Pathetic.
 
and you don't think this happens in other cities as well? look at one world trade centre. the spire, what at one point was supposed to be the crowning feature of the building, has now been downgraded to a measly antennae. 3 world trade centre has lost its x bracing. there is a faux historic 900 foot building proposed right beside the beekman tower. The lower manhattan skyline is dominated by plain, boring boxes from the 60's to now. London's bishopgate tower is being redesigned to be cheaper. All of chicago's recent construction other than aqua can be qualified as meh. if you want to see bland, uninspiring architecture, take a look at almost every single residential structure to be built in china in the last 50 years. I consider us lucky to be receiving such good architecture that we are getting now. the unfortunate part of life is that for every ionic skyscraper, there must be 100 non-descipt buildings to make it stand out. if we have all ionic buildings, we end up with a city skyline that just looks silly. take a look at the middle eastern city of Doha, for example:

Doha%20skyline.gif

http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-12106-world-cup-may-change-doha-skyline-dramatically/

and a couple of other buildings I forgot to mention:

urbantoronto-4845-14722.jpg


note: building on the left:

urbantoronto-5907-18694.png


2011817-Exterior---Bremner-View.jpg


ROM_Crystal_C%20med.jpg


gehry_AGO_121008-009361.jpg


80108_1.jpg


original.jpg
 
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innsertnamehere said:
and you don't think this happens in other cities as well? look at one world trade centre. the spire, what at one point was supposed to be the crowning feature of the building, has now been downgraded to a measly antennae. 3 world trade centre has lost its x bracing. there is a faux historic 900 foot building proposed right beside the beekman tower. The lower manhattan skyline is dominated by plain, boring boxes from the 60's to now. London's bishopgate tower is being redesigned to be cheaper. All of chicago's recent construction other than aqua can be qualified as meh. if you want to see bland, uninspiring architecture, take a look at almost every single residential structure to be built in china in the last 50 years. I consider us lucky to be receiving such good architecture that we are getting now. the unfortunate part of life is that for every ionic skyscraper, there must be 100 non-descipt buildings to make it stand out. if we have all ionic buildings, we end up with a city skyline that just looks silly. take a look at the middle eastern city of Doha, for example:
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All good points. Give me just one uncompromised, beautiful, iconic tower, and I'll be satisfied. Give me just one Aqua, Beekman, Marilyn or Bow. It's been a quarter-century and counting since Scotia Plaza was built, we've gone through one of the biggest building booms in history... and we're still waiting.

I won't complain about the ROM, AGO, OCAD or Ryerson Student Centre. Our institutional stuff has been amazing. It's our office and condo towers that have fallen short.
 
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Don't lose faith, Ramako.....this forum (and SSP, SSC) needs the positive energy guys like yourself...it's the positive energy that makes it happen...

For sure, design-wise, Toronto could be aiming higher, but we're not at the stage yet where design excellence is expected, and demanded...

There are too many engineers and accountants, not enough artists...
 
as a reminder: beekman got the cheapening as well. One of it's sides is flat due to cost cutting measures.
 
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but you used it as an example of an ionic building that did not get the cheapening. the Marilyn towers got the cheapening on their base. the bow lost its atrium's. Aqua doesn't have painted balconies. buildings being cheapened is a part of life and almost every structure undergoes some form of it before it is completed.
 
innsertnamehere said:
but you used it as an example of an ionic building that did not get the cheapening. the Marilyn towers got the cheapening on their base. the bow lost its atrium's. Aqua doesn't have painted balconies. buildings being cheapened is a part of life and almost every structure undergoes some form of it before it is completed.
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The difference is that these designs were compromised, yet were ultimately still exciting, inspiring and innovative. We typically get designs that, even in their initial and most idealized state, are middling or above-average, but then are subsequently compromised into being totally forgettable and uninteresting. I guess I'm bothered by both the lack of creativity and the lack of execution.
 
Ramako:

re: Aqua vs. 1 Bloor East

Actually, other than the wavy balconies, there is nothing particularly innovative about Aqua - and certainly the use of curved glass in 1BE is in many ways a far more luxurious design element. As to the design change with 1BE - given the lack of renderings, the impact is unknown. I wouldn't label it as meaningful "cheapening" at this stage.

AoD
 
This is from July 31st. Every time I'm in the area, I take a look... still a pit, still seemingly slow as molasses. But it'll come along and I expect it'll be a handsome addition to the city's skyline.

OneBloorJuly31-12.png
 
i dont think ill ever see this one finnished im 32 now by this rate ill be long dead before its completed. lol
 
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