Toronto St Regis Toronto Hotel and Residences | 281.93m | 58s | JFC Capital | Zeidler

Given our relentless street grid, how can the buildings not line up?

Maybe I'm misinterpreting you here, but I wouldn't call Toronto's grid 'relentless.' Maybe you just mean that Toronto is a city of mostly square blocks, which I grant. But if you mean each block is just ('relentlessly') loaded with density, I disagree.
 
Yes, I meant the square blocks - from a distance, without actually seeing the streets, you sense where they are, and how regularly they're spaced, by the way the towers snap to the invisible grid that the streetscape forms. You can look at our downtown skyline at a 45 degree angle to the street grid ( from across the Don Valley, for instance ) and you still know you're looking at it from a 45 degree angle. It's quite a different experience from being in many foreign cities, where the buildings are aligned any-which-way as a result of there not being a strong grid. When there are no 'rules' - when there is no 'right' and 'wrong' way to look at a skyline because there is no grid - there's less of an opportunity to be startled by seeing it differently. Even curvaceous and circular buildings snap to our grid, because they have no choice.
 
August 21st:

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Wouldn't it be better if the nest is kept at the very top of the spear ?
 
Sunset reflecting off Trump. It would be interesting to see what that dome would look like if it were lit up at night.

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interior lighting isn't really what is needed for the dome, but some sorta exterior LED strips that go along the curve of the dome, then back down to where the base of the dome starts, that way, it'll accent it and go alongside the LED lit spire.

as for exterior work, looks like we still need to see the north-west side of the spire covered up. the LED's have been installed for a while, but the skeleton is still visible.

and oh man, i really don't like how the west side of the mech box looks, near the right, we have those seemingly randomly placed zig-zag vents :( i wish they coulda made this less obvious by extending the material throughout the length of at least the west side.


but ya, with whatever it's flaws. this is still the most iconic/stand out building built in the last while. the way the dome+spire combo sits on the skyline and makes its mark, can never be achieved by a Shangri-la, Four Seasons, or One Bloor,
 
Took these 2 photos today only because i noticed a feature that i hadn't noticed before (or can't remember) going up on the north-west cornerish area, leading up to the dome. (seen on the right in these photos).

It looks like some sorta lighting frame/texture that i think is a real nice touch to a building that already had so much texture in its facade.

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One thing?
This is a building that is best seen photographed, and not in person. The only redeeming thing about this is that some good materials were used on the building but the exterior design is a flat out mega-disaster.
 

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