It does look a bit stubby, yes. Thank goodness that it's 4 floors higher than was originally planned.
Despite that stubbiness however, I do appreciate this building aesthetically because it does not conform to the proportions we are used to seeing in the typical point tower rising today: it's good to give my aesthetic sense a challenge I figure! Similarly I do not find the big black blob on top beautiful from most angles, but it's oddball nature on the skyline is pretty cool, and a reminder that black can still be the new black.
Down on the ground, I couldn't be happier that this weirdly shaped and awkwardly located plot of land has been built on. I never expected a condo to be erected on that spot, and I certainly never expected one to go in with so much panache. That strip of Lake Shore, whose south side is definitely the forgotten back alley of the buildings along Queens Quay, and whose north side is loomed over by the Gardiner, always felt unloved and unlovable. Panorama definitely puts happy face on the road there, and makes one practically yearn for news that the potential Loblaws redevelopment immediately to the west is finally going ahead. Underneath the Gardiner, if they succeed in turning the render above into a reality that looks half as funky, I will be very pleased.
...but to get back to your question regarding datedness: are elliptical towers only part of our past? I hope not. Monarch's Waterscapes will join the pack, as will a very unstubby pair at Ãce, and ever-taller and curvier Marilyn is certainly a great twist on the elliptical. So no, Panorama does not look dated to me.
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