Toronto Sugar Wharf Condominiums (Phase 1) | 231m | 70s | Menkes | a—A

[ProjectEnd]

At the end of the day, it's less about the size of the building and more about the pedestrian experience. The easiest way to ensure liveliness is to chop up the retail into as fine a grain as possible. This is why the best retail is most-often condoized, a la the old Tridel stuff at Yonge and Northtown Way in North York.

If leasing is the motive, the spaces will stay as big and flexible as possible since luring a larger tenant like a bank or drugstore is key to success. Terrible for pedestrians, but very good for the bottom line.

 

[LoMein]

Neither the Harbour Street extension nor Queens Quay East, when they are both done/re-done, are being built as "heavy traffic, high speed roads." They should be pleasant for pedestrians once complete. (Only the Lake Shore and Gardiner will qualify as high speed in the area.) That said, aA's strong point historically has not been the sidewalk experience, and yes, these are as megasized as anything they've ever designed, (possibly their largest ever?), so it'll be a pleasant surprise if Harbour ends up being surprisingly pleasant to stroll along.

42

Queens Quay E and Lake Shore are what I was referring to. I'm not sure how they are designed, I'm talking about driver behaviour. People rip down these roads and always will.

 

[interchange42]

Queens Quay E and Lake Shore are what I was referring to. I'm not sure how they are designed, I'm talking about driver behaviour. People rip down these roads and always will.

Drivers respond to road design. Queens Quay, when rebuilt, will be narrower, and people tend to drive more slowly the narrower a road gets.

42

 

[LoMein]

!remindme 10 years

 

[mburrrrr]

One transfer floor completed another one started. ~2 months.
View attachment 294076

View attachment 294080

View attachment 294077

View attachment 294078

View attachment 294081

Another two months, another transfer slab completed. Two pumps and one crane started pouring at or before 6am.

 

[mburrrrr]

I corrected the tungsten - white balance setting on my camera from my last post. Rookie mistake.

The structural budget for this building must be huge compared to Pinnacle. ~12 hour pour last weekend. Do you remember the 10’ thick base pad?

This building will finally start to climb quicker this summer.

Fake windows but they look good so far.

Perfect staging to be able to see both towers from this angle.

 

[condovo]

So far, this is impressing me a lot more than The Well.

 

[ushahid]

Quality is way better than well. Well has much better Realm.

 

[condovo]

^^^ We'll see.

 

[interchange42]

The size of the people in mburrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's shots beside the transfer levels? Woah! The plans say those are 4.5 metres thick beams making up that level in both towers, but they look thicker...

Source: @mburrrrr

Front page story here.

42

 

[alklay]

I have driven past this on the Gardiner a few times this week. And so far, this does not look promising. Grey, monotonous, almost blank. Certainly devoid of anything interesting in terms of style. This is especially so for the part facing the Gardiner. I am not sure how the addition of balconies on this part, will make it much better (and I am not sure of the appeal of facing a highway, taking the noise and pollution into account).

I hardly got excited at the renders (large blank sections on a box podium that was too large to make one feel comfortable at ground level) and this is even less promising as construction continues. This is not architecture that will make for a decent neighbourhood. It is too big, too monotonous and too potentially lifeless to make for an area that anyone will want to be in, let alone stay and stroll, on a nice sunny day.

 

[Riseth]

I have driven past this on the Gardiner a few times this week. And so far, this does not look promising. Grey, monotonous, almost blank. Certainly devoid of anything interesting in terms of style. This is especially so for the part facing the Gardiner. I am not sure how the addition of balconies on this part, will make it much better (and I am not sure of the appeal of facing a highway, taking the noise and pollution into account).

I hardly got exciting at the renders (large blank sections on a box podium that was too large to make one feel comfortable at ground level) and this is even less promising as construction continues. This is not architecture that will make for a decent neighbourhood. It is too big, too monotonous and too potentially lifeless to make for an area that anyone will want to be in, let alone stay and stroll, on a nice sunny day.

Can't say I disagree with you.

I wish the density along this stretch was either shorter or broken up into more smaller developments like the St Lawrence Market neighborhood immediately to the north. There you have lots of nice low/mid rise developments with loads of retail, plenty of greenery and smaller sites that fit the urban fabric much better and make for a great street presence. In contrast to here where all these (mostly) bland mega developments along this stretch just do the opposite of that and give off such a sterile vibe. That being said, maybe it will be better along here when all is said and done.

 

[ciceror]

I have driven past this on the Gardiner a few times this week. And so far, this does not look promising. Grey, monotonous, almost blank. Certainly devoid of anything interesting in terms of style. This is especially so for the part facing the Gardiner. I am not sure how the addition of balconies on this part, will make it much better (and I am not sure of the appeal of facing a highway, taking the noise and pollution into account).

I hardly got exciting at the renders (large blank sections on a box podium that was too large to make one feel comfortable at ground level) and this is even less promising as construction continues. This is not architecture that will make for a decent neighbourhood. It is too big, too monotonous and too potentially lifeless to make for an area that anyone will want to be in, let alone stay and stroll, on a nice sunny day.

Idk mate. Big and monstrous is great for a city in my opinion. I love how the podium dominates the street like the older buildings in the core

 

[GabrielHurl]

The size of the people in mburrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr's shots beside the transfer levels? Woah! The plans say those are 4.5 metres thick beams making up that level in both towers, but they look thicker...

Source: @mburrrrr

Front page story here.

42

I nearly wore my calculator out doing the structural quantity take-off on this project

 

[mburrrrr]

Flashback two years ago - March 20, 27 & 30, 2019
SE tower slab pour with up to 10 feeds over 12 hours in poor weather conditions.