Toronto PJ Condos | 156.96m | 48s | Pinnacle | Hariri Pontarini

Aug 5, 2019


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On brochure PJ Condo looks like a slick new condo in downtown Toronto, but as I walk past this condo daily and see what they are doing I feel bad for those who purchased into this condo. Unless you look carefully at the floor plans, you would not know otherwise that all views facing east and west are obstructed. 50 percent of the view is being built over with concrete slab or brick inlay. It's the brick inlay that is particularly troubling. The builder and architect in their ingeniousness decided that to make the outside of the building look good they would brick over what would otherwise be window space. Modern condo dwellers like panoramic views and not views obstructed by repeated 3-4 feet of brick or concrete. In other words, the condo dweller when looking east or west will never get a panoramic view. This style of architecture is reminiscent of what was built in the 1980s where smaller window spaces was thought to be just fine. You can go to websites which shows what the building looks like to date and you will see what I mean.
 
bmw007 said:
There are too many "brick" walls (11 in total) on the west side of the main building. I can understand the width of the brick wall would need to match/cover the six main concrete pillars, but it is quite disappointed to see that the other five "brick" walls are so wide that these "artificial" walls are blocking the sunlight and visibility in the condo units. I guess PJ architects may be trying to match the other old buildings (322 King St. West?) with lots of bricks and small windows, but they don't seem to follow the architectural approach in the other buildings (100 Adelaide tower, King Blue condo, ) to keep the old façade only for the lower floors with large windows and modern look for the higher floors.
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happy pedestrian said:
On brochure PJ Condo looks like a slick new condo in downtown Toronto, but as I walk past this condo daily and see what they are doing I feel bad for those who purchased into this condo. Unless you look carefully at the floor plans, you would not know otherwise that all views facing east and west are obstructed. 50 percent of the view is being built over with concrete slab or brick inlay. It's the brick inlay that is particularly troubling. The builder and architect in their ingeniousness decided that to make the outside of the building look good they would brick over what would otherwise be window space. Modern condo dwellers like panoramic views and not views obstructed by repeated 3-4 feet of brick or concrete. In other words, the condo dweller when looking east or west will never get a panoramic view. This style of architecture is reminiscent of what was built in the 1980s where smaller window spaces was thought to be just fine. You can go to websites which shows what the building looks like to date and you will see what I mean.
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This thing you are doing... it is weird.
 
happy pedestrian said:
On brochure PJ Condo looks like a slick new condo in downtown Toronto, but as I walk past this condo daily and see what they are doing I feel bad for those who purchased into this condo. Unless you look carefully at the floor plans, you would not know otherwise that all views facing east and west are obstructed. 50 percent of the view is being built over with concrete slab or brick inlay. It's the brick inlay that is particularly troubling. The builder and architect in their ingeniousness decided that to make the outside of the building look good they would brick over what would otherwise be window space. Modern condo dwellers like panoramic views and not views obstructed by repeated 3-4 feet of brick or concrete. In other words, the condo dweller when looking east or west will never get a panoramic view. This style of architecture is reminiscent of what was built in the 1980s where smaller window spaces was thought to be just fine. You can go to websites which shows what the building looks like to date and you will see what I mean.
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Smaller windows are preferable IMO — I think I would feel exposed living in the usual panoramic-style unit and clearly other people do too because so often you see window walls covered haphazardly with curtains. Smaller windows can give interesting unique vantage points and experiences of being in the space: creating framing in the scene outside or making for interesting interior spaces in response to the geometry of the window. Creating dynamic beautiful ways for the light to come in or being little nooks to nestle in and look out from. Sometimes it's nice to be in a comfortable small space than widescreen Views all the time. People have different preferences, and some may even value the outside of their home looking good too.

The homogenization of what homes should be to a checklist of features that customers like and thus that all buildings must have and then to 'if it is not this exact building type buyers should be aggrieved', is a really sad effect of our market housing frenzy situation and is responsible for a lot of the wasteland of quality in Toronto architecture. Even if not perfectly done, I'd be much happier to live in a building like this that tries to be interesting and also brings in more thoughtful human-textured elements (the curve, the warm colour, the relative intricacy of the brick) instead of living in a generic tasteless spandrel box designed to maximize the specs to make it perfect irresistible chum to feed the shark tank that is the housing market.
 
My entire corner unit is floor to ceiling/ wall to wall glass and while it’s nice to look at sometimes, I prefer smaller windows for privacy, energy efficiency and not having to live in constant sun. There should be a happy medium.
 
Sounds like people would like to see more First Canadian Place, TD (black) towers, Brookfield Place than CIBC Square, 160 Front (new TD tower), Union Park, Commerce Court 3.. When do you think it will happen ? Curious to see if the builder can find a major anchor tenant for the nineteen seventy building design :)

I do find that the slanted design of PJ tower to recover space in the upper floors is quite innovative, but just disappoint to see small windows on the west side... hope for nice surprise if there will be high quality and shiny glass to make the building look modern.
 
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