Toronto Sun Life Financial Tower & Harbour Plaza Residences | 236.51m | 67s | Menkes | Sweeny &Co

2ef41h1.jpg
 
I prefer the older design because the towers were different. These ones are almost identical twins and I just think there's far too many in Toronto already, especially at the waterfront. When they're short and unnoticable that's fine, but these are going to be 60+ stories each. Prominent. Makes the city look cheap.

Couldn't it have been designed in like an L shape of sorts, maybe lower the height to compensate for the extra rooms that design would do? Throw in a little bit of brick and mortar? I don't know. This website has really opened my eyes. I used to be indifferent about architecture, only caring about height and density, but not no more...!
 
Last edited:
That podium really does look awful. I am turning the "Design Review Panel" signal on my rooftop on tonight.
 
aA are only dealing with the residential towers

&Co are dealing with the office tower and podium
 
That's strange since what I saw before made it look as though the office tower related quite poorly to its podium.

As for these newer renderings (if that's what they are), I'm disappointed to see that what I thought was going to be charcoal coloured stone (or at least precast) is in fact just more... glass.
 
don't worry - it's still stone
 
On first glance the podium appears to be an aA/&co version of 2 Bloor East/Hudson's Bay Centre. What is not shown on the second image, the north elevation, is the Gardiner. While not desirable, I have less concern about the north side as it's not a pedestrian-friendly environment to begin with. The rendering is also inaccurate as it shows cars going the wrong direction on the westbound Lake Shore.

I would like to see the south elevation from a different angle, preferably on the ground from the park on the south side of Harbour, and the York Street podium elevation. These are the two most important sides of the podium where the majority of pedestrians, residents, and office workers will be walking along. The scale is ok but the massing and lack of any setback for the towers from the podium is unfortunate.
 
Kinda wish they rendered it with junk stuffed up to the window to give a realistic idea what it will look like when Target occupies it. Looks like they aren't really going to take proper advantage of their PATH connection either... just have it there a long echoing hallway
 
Last edited:
The podium might be the worst podium we've seen since the HBC bunker at Yonge and Bloor. Everyone dislikes that podium. There should have been a conscious effort to avoid similarities.
 

Back
Top