Toronto The Globe and Mail Centre | 83.21m | 17s | First Gulf | Diamond Schmitt

Really nice materials here. The glass is excellent, there's barely any distortion in the reflections except for those bottom panels.
 
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I understand what they're doing with the fins, they co-0rdinate with the 6 story buildings on the north side and the ~3 story height buildings on the south side. While it takes away from the reflective spender of the structure at street level, it actually makes a lot of sense visually when looking down Front or King.
 
Nice to see the underside panel installation continuing (among other elements coming together).

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In contrast to the dark panels above, the light panels compliment the lighter glazing...

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A peek in from King St looking south.

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The opposite view (looking north from Front St).

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Street level glazing on south side of building.

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Saw the sidewalk hoarding on the south (Front St.) side of the building is being removed today, or at least reduced. I would love to see the Berkeley St side opened up and the sidewalk restored there, as it's been a real pain for pedestrians for years now, but since that seems to be the truck delivery area I imagine it will be a while yet.
 
The harmony is very absent in this building.
The transition between the blue and black does not work.
For me, it ugly.
 
Saw the sidewalk hoarding on the south (Front St.) side of the building is being removed today, or at least reduced. I would love to see the Berkeley St side opened up and the sidewalk restored there, as it's been a real pain for pedestrians for years now, but since that seems to be the truck delivery area I imagine it will be a while yet.
They hope to complete all the sidewalks 'before winter'.
 
October 12, 2016:

The fins are now being installed on the Berkeley and Front Street podium facades:







King Street side:


The fins seemingly disappear when viewed head on at a 90 degree angle:


Still acceptable when viewed at a slight angle:


But disturbing to look at from a more oblique angle as you get further away from the building:






I've said this before. In my opinion, the slick clean lines and stunning reflective quality of the glazing on the lower podium sections of the building (consistent with the rest of the building) has been radically altered and degraded by the unnecessary and frivolous inclusion of these ornamental fins. Although still a big fan of the overall design of this building, giving it two solid thumbs up, I would have much preferred to nix the fins for simple black mullions not unlike the glazed portion of the nearby Parliament Street Datacenter.
 
The mid-block passageway between King and Front streets that will be accessible to the public is visible from Front Street close to the CIBC branch now that the scaffolding is down.
 

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