Toronto Spectra at Concord CityPlace | 123.13m | 39s | Concord Adex | RAW Design

[egotrippin]

As the cladding progresses, it's clear that the colour does little to break up the mess of spandrel plaguing this building. It has that plasticky look of 300 Front, haphazard and cheap. Considering the immensity in size and cost of the overall CityPlace development, would it have really killed them to use better glass and cladding materials? The general tower designs have improved with each successive phase, but the overall fit and finish seem to be declining at the same time. I guess we'll have to cut our losses and hope that in 20-25 years when all these window wall systems need to be replaced, they'll be replaced with far better materials.

 

[kram74]

 

[gengji]

Thank you for the picture.

 

[maestro]

They'll be patched and repaired like the condos built in the 1970s.

As the cladding progresses, it's clear that the colour does little to break up the mess of spandrel plaguing this building. It has that plasticky look of 300 Front, haphazard and cheap. Considering the immensity in size and cost of the overall CityPlace development, would it have really killed them to use better glass and cladding materials? The general tower designs have improved with each successive phase, but the overall fit and finish seem to be declining at the same time. I guess we'll have to cut our losses and hope that in 20-25 years when all these window wall systems need to be replaced, they'll be replaced with far better materials.

 

[urbandreamer]

1 March 2014: battery died just as I was getting into good angles Can't wait for the Galaxy Camera 2!

Btw, any reason they don't salt the concrete hill in the park? Very dangerous--I could've slipped and sued the city Oh and CP needs a skating rink--great for community in winter.

 

[Logan]

That's a great idea.
I think these are the worst Cityplace buildings so far. I just can't get to like them. They already look dated and super cheap.

 

[urbandreamer]

I wish the entire tower had shared the podium's material/design--ie fibreC panels I believe. I'd just extend the black to the top of the tower(s) and insert some colourful spandrel panels around the windows.

You can see where RAW ran into Concord's value engineers--resulting in a very cool podium (well the black cladding design) mixed with a terrible Concord Pacific-style tower--think of those god awful Spectrum towers near GM Place.

 

[NBGtect]

The podium looks very decent. But again, the towers look far better in nicer lighting. This is not flattering light. We like that Quartz and Spectra frame the park now. And the colour inserts are welcome.

"Value-engineering" is only used by people that didn't really understand how to interpret the renderings to begin with. They look the same as the renderings. This is CityPlace! Why on earth would Concord be using expensive materials?

 

[urbandreamer]

By value engineering I mean during the initial design stage when the architects have this great vision that gets chopped down into reality. I understand it, but at the same time, I think a 50% glass/50% fibreC-clad tower would be just as economical as what we get here. It comes down to developer initiative--CP is a very cautious developer.

Renderings are just marketing tools. I am talking about the conversation between developer, consultants and architects.

Expensive materials have nothing to do with good design!

 

[NBGtect]

The last part is very true, but I find it very difficult to believe that RAW had some great vision that was chopped down. Architects work for developers. They rarely get unlimited budgets to go grand. This is CityPlace. It's become a relatively affordable place for residents and investors. There is no bait and switch here. Quartz and Spectra appear to be executed exactly as expected.

 

[urbandreamer]

Of course. What I mean is the window dressing/window wall vision glass/glass spandrel could've been more like Peter Street Condos and less like the CP (low) standard.

Picture colourful spandrel glass like at Spectra here:

Remove the clumsy mullions etc and you'd get something better.

 

[CITY_LOVER]

The Spectra tower looks worse than most of the other buildings at Cityplace because of its excessive use of cheap looking spandrels despite the increased use of color. This Spectra tower looks like one of the (ugly) Liberty Village condo towers!

 

[modernizt]

Spectra's issue is that it is an extruded floorplate, with little articulation along its height. This causes the "stripes" of spandrel panels to really jump out. The facades are flat surfaces without articulation or variation of any sort.

 

[interchange42]

I'm with UD on this, mostly.

There is Value Engineering at play on the CityPlace buildings, as there is everywhere, including at Peter Street Condos. The question is what degree of value is being sought, or at what cost to the developer do compromises regarding the final look stop being accepted.

NBGtect: Of course the architects must be concerned with a budget all the way through, but the concept design progresses long before the budget is finalized, and long before every component of the building is costed. I know of projects in this city where everything has been specced, the units are sold, and as the working drawings are about the get underway the developer has come back to the architects and said "I need it for $3 less per square foot".

In this case, RAW's colour concept for the exteriors here would have been formulated before every detail of the mullions were determined. If you look at the renderings more closely, yes, you will see all of the mullions there, but they tread more lightly on the design scheme as shown than they have proven to do on the finished exterior. It can be partly chalked up to their width, and to a greater degree to their colour; the brightness of the white certainly makes them stand out more than they do in the renderings.

You're right that the appearance will change with the colour of sky that the windows are reflecting, and the amount and the direction of light at the particular time of day the pics were taken. This time next year the building will have a lot of white blinds behind the window glass too, so the lived-in look will change it again. It's a lot of subtle strokes that add up to a perceptibly different final look and feel.

42

 

[Red Mars]

Pic taken Mar 11, 2014