Toronto Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto | 207.86m | 53s | Graywood | Kohn Pedersen Fox

Interesting tid-bit about the curtain wall system to be used on the Ritz. I love this use of completely transparent glass on a number of projects.


....glass will go on rather quickly – I think we can do a floor a day."

The Ritz is working with Sota Glass in Brampton. The company, owned by Juan Speck, designs and exports the Canadian-designed curtain walls to large-scale projects worldwide. Most of the customers are builders of large office towers, but already in other cities developers are finding that the market for high-end condos will bear the added cost of the curtain wall.

"There isn't (an) off-the-rack curtain wall. They have to be custom-built to take into account (the shape and slope of the building)" Tucker says. "We will, of course, order extras in case of breakage."

Earlier reports said the Ritz-Carlton would use a tinted glass. That apparently is not the case; the hotel and condo is going au natural.

"Tinted windows are so very much a look of the '90s," Tucker says. "Even a slight colour clouds the view. The Ritz-Carlton will be installing haze-free, crystal-clear glass."

Living hundreds of feet above the city with only two sheets of glass between you and the pavement, does one have to worry about accidentally banging into a window and falling out?

"This is tough glass, similar to what is already in place at the new Four Seasons (Centre for the Performing Arts) opera house. It might be transparent, but it is double-paned and industrial strength. (It is built to withstand gale-force winds.)," Tucker says.

Of greater concern for many, likely, will be getting used to living in a glass home. Standing in front of a window that doesn't even appear to be there, 40 storeys above a city that never sleeps, may make condo owners feel on display. But that is why designers invented curtains in the first place.
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Crystal clear..... it will be the most beautiful tower in the country. Imagine 4 Seasons glass run nearly 700 feet up in the air (trimmed with lovely bits 'o horizontal silver on the way up). Yummy. People who live in glass houses... can afford it.
 
Clear glass eh? I hope all the different coloured curtains that people put up don't make it look messy, like every building in City Place.
 
Sota is also using clear/tinted glass at Bay-Adelaide, so I suppose the Bay-Adelaide mockup should give an idea what to expect at the Ritz.
 
Koz said:
Clear glass eh? I hope all the different coloured curtains that people put up don't make it look messy, like every building in City Place.
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You mean like every residential building in every city? CityPlace is no different than anywhere else when it comes to curtains in each unit being different from the next.
 
Jdot said:
You mean like every residential building in every city? CityPlace is no different than anywhere else when it comes to curtains in each unit being different from the next.
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Of course. It's just that we haven't had residential buildings in this city that are as tall as these ones so the effect is really pronounced. Certain shades of glass would limit the effect I'm sure.
 
There are many buildings in the city (mine included) that have restrictions on the curtain colour visible from outside the building, such as colours limited to white or off-white (pretty much indistinguishable from a distance behind a pane of glass).

Of course, white curtains are not always necessarily compatible with individual decor schemes, nor do they block out the sunlight very effectively. Solution? Double-up your curtains (white on the outside, colour of your choice on the inside)
 
ProjectEnd said:
Sorry to quote myself, but...
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I'm confused. You'd prefer a transparent glass building composed of a medley of burgundy, chocolate brown, fuscia, bright green and argyle curtains with some tin foil thrown in (okay, maybe the latter is more amenable to subsidized housing, not the Ritz), rather than something that maybe clashes a little less? Or maybe I'm misconstruing what you're saying.
 
Spoonman said:
I'm confused. You'd prefer a transparent glass building composed of a medley of burgundy, chocolate brown, fuscia, bright green and argyle curtains with some tin foil thrown in (okay, maybe the latter is more amenable to subsidized housing, not the Ritz), rather than something that maybe clashes a little less? Or maybe I'm misconstruing what you're saying.
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Depends on the building really. However, I think what you described could look kind of cool in a 'random' sort of way.

For example - that layout on Stern's 1 Charles? Probably pretty hideous.
But on something bland like 18 Yorkville (I actually kind of like that place) it could break the monotony of 35 stories of straight glass.
 
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