VicTO
New Member
For starters, I had hard feelings about this project mainly because of the site it occupies. As stated in the article, this address was until recently occupied by a Canada post office. What the article fails to mention is that it was one of the only remaining original civic/commercial buildings in Don Mills dating from the mid 1950's. Its architect was John B. Parkin, who was an integral component of giving Don Mills its mid century modern identity. I actually think Parkin was one of the most important architects in this city in the 20th century, but sadly, many of his modernist buildings have succumbed to the wrecking ball (Bata headquarters, original Don Mills Centre, Parkin headquarters). The post office in question was typical Parkin: a rectilinear silhouette with simple clean white accent lines gave the building a restrained elegance. While it may have not looked like much to the average passer by, it displayed many of the architectural elements used throughout the design of Don Mills. It really is a shame that it, and many other architecturally significant buildings in the area are disappearing due to lack of foresight and virtually no heritage conservation.
While these preliminary renderings don't show much in terms of what the towers will actually look like, i'm quite disappointed with the general silhouettes– especially the wrap-around balcony corrugation. I think this design trend has been seen too often in this city with recent condo constructions, and gives a choppy appearance to these types of structures. Not to mention, it does nothing in terms of fitting into the architectural context of this neighbourhood. I really wish this had at least been another medium-height project like Flaire, which I think has a more appropriate scale for this area. While i'm not usually a stickler for height when it comes to condo projects, I am in this case because of its location. What set Don Mills apart from other mid century suburbs is that it incorporated medium height density housing with single family homes. Flaire and Reflections pays homage to this neighbourhood design principle, while this project completely disregards it. At the moment, the only silver lining is that Hariri Pontarini are at the healm of this project so hopefully the finishings/materials are of better quality....As for the overall design, I invite the architects to take a tour of Don Mills and draw inspiration from the forms and motifs of the neighbourhood's built architecture.
While these preliminary renderings don't show much in terms of what the towers will actually look like, i'm quite disappointed with the general silhouettes– especially the wrap-around balcony corrugation. I think this design trend has been seen too often in this city with recent condo constructions, and gives a choppy appearance to these types of structures. Not to mention, it does nothing in terms of fitting into the architectural context of this neighbourhood. I really wish this had at least been another medium-height project like Flaire, which I think has a more appropriate scale for this area. While i'm not usually a stickler for height when it comes to condo projects, I am in this case because of its location. What set Don Mills apart from other mid century suburbs is that it incorporated medium height density housing with single family homes. Flaire and Reflections pays homage to this neighbourhood design principle, while this project completely disregards it. At the moment, the only silver lining is that Hariri Pontarini are at the healm of this project so hopefully the finishings/materials are of better quality....As for the overall design, I invite the architects to take a tour of Don Mills and draw inspiration from the forms and motifs of the neighbourhood's built architecture.
