alklay
Senior Member
In fact, I would argue that flashing billboards of advertising would make this intersection unfriendly to pedestrians.
Toronto One Bloor East | 257.24m | 76s | Great Gulf | Hariri Pontarini
- Thread starter iSlutsky
- Start date
TonyV
Senior Member
If wyliepoon's renderings are a depiction of the real thing, I'm worried.
It's not the fact that it's basically a block that bothers me so much, it's the scale and the proportioning. Can we persuade the architect and developer to put this sucker on a slimming diet? Think Atkins, baby, think skinny, think anorexia. And think taller.
Bloor-Yonge needs some dignity, not clumsiness.
aA?
It's not the fact that it's basically a block that bothers me so much, it's the scale and the proportioning. Can we persuade the architect and developer to put this sucker on a slimming diet? Think Atkins, baby, think skinny, think anorexia. And think taller.
Bloor-Yonge needs some dignity, not clumsiness.
aA?
caltrane74
Senior Member
LED signage doesnt have to be billboards. Billboards dont have to pedestrian unfriendly or clumsy. Ginza can outclass Yorkville, Fifth Avenue, and Rodeo drive all day. And Times Square, Ginza, Shinjuku, Picadilly Circus will get more raves for the way they interact with pedestrians than anything we'll ever be able to throw together at Yonge and Bloor. Rome was built in a day, start somewhere make it classy and glitzy and give a head start to the other new developments set to take shape in the area.
maestro
Senior Member
LED and classy is a contradiction in terms in my opinion. It looks downright inferior to the neon it's replacing as well. I don't know when you last saw Picadilly Circus but, there's hardly anything "ginza" left.
khris
Senior Member
I have a feeling his renders are way off.
Pretty sure he hasn't seen the real thing.
Traynor
Senior Member
I realize you envy Ginza Cal. You mention it as often as possible in this thread and anything related to Yonge and Dundas, but it is a matter of cultural differences that Japan can allow "Glitz" and "Class" in the same sentence. True, the Giza is a premier shopping district, with the best of the best retailers in the world, but in North America (outside of Las Vegas) "Neon" and "Class" (or high-end stores) do not equate.
I applaud your desire to raise Toronto's world standing as a shopping destination, but I suggest you constrain your efforts to the further development of Y&D and let Yorkville just be North American classy instead.
bleeepbluuup
Active Member
LEDs aren't unclassy in themselves... it depends on what you do with them. Neon has a cool nostalgia factor, but there are so many more possibilities with LEDs. Look at the Louis Vuitton store in Las Vegas:
[video=youtube;zBr1uohjDCM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBr1uohjDCM[/video]
or the Armani store in New York:
[video=youtube;mu_4qCaD-SY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu_4qCaD-SY[/video]
I like them blinkenlights.
[video=youtube;zBr1uohjDCM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBr1uohjDCM[/video]
or the Armani store in New York:
[video=youtube;mu_4qCaD-SY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu_4qCaD-SY[/video]
I like them blinkenlights.
SP!RE
°°°°°°
Yes, those are examples of it being used in a classy and tasteful sense by designer stores and such. Nobody said LEDs or Neon lights are inherently bad. That's not the argument here. The concern here is more with the idea of the same principles used at Yonge-Dundas being applied at this corner too.
ceaz40
Active Member
Help!...I searched the thread and can't find the renderings by Wylie you are talking about. Where are they?
Redroom Studios
Senior Member
an easy way to find them is on the homepage, second article from the top.
ceaz40
Active Member
Thanks for that, Redroom! I appreciate it. I like the basic idea of the building, but seeing it in the skyline rendering, I agree with a few others that it looks like an "incomplete" story being told. Sorry for waxing poetic. A couple of thoughts.....maybe they are looking to add floors that will "complete the story". If so, and even if not, I'd like to see the shape of box address the "swirl" forms as it progresses to the top. Additional floors would allow them to do this. If the building could only taper and twist only so slightly and perhaps have a crown that compliments it.....I'd be ecstatic. Also, I hope that the base somehow implements the swirl form so it doesn't look like a box that the tower has been just been set down on.
adma
Superstar
ceaz40
Active Member
I miss those neon lights at Yorkdale so much! I really wish they'd bring them back. I always remember arriving back into Toronto as a kid and seeing them and feeling like the city was "even more futuristic"!
Solaris
Senior Member
ceaz40 ... wyliepoon's renderings can be found page 50, post # 746
wylie, thanks for the great sketchup models, surely help with the visioning of the new 1BE ...
I think the biggest difference between Chicago's Aqua and the new 1BE is that Great Gulf's design will include glass balcony railings which will help to bring out (through reflection) the curves in the wavey balconies, as opposed to Aqua's metal balcony railings which did not help to define/enhance the irregular building shape
I did a quick Sketchup model of the building, assuming a height of ~220m. Here's how an Aqua-like N1B might look on the Toronto skyline of the future...
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
Thanks for re-posting those; Wylie's work really is remarkable.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. I like the strong, upward-moving, almost uplifting shapes the balconies make; it turns the building into a bit of a beacon. I'd be a bit worried about the mechanical at the top, if that's accurate. The building looks like it needs to borrow Casa's hat to cover up.
I'm cautiously optimistic about this. I like the strong, upward-moving, almost uplifting shapes the balconies make; it turns the building into a bit of a beacon. I'd be a bit worried about the mechanical at the top, if that's accurate. The building looks like it needs to borrow Casa's hat to cover up.