Toronto The Gloucester on Yonge | 147.82m | 44s | Concord Adex | a—A

And there we have it. A big, dead wall of glass with absolutely no animation for an entire block of downtown Yonge Street.

That is architectsAlliance's idea of urbanism in 2015. :/
 
Is there an aA rule that prohibits materials other than glass at grade?

Why is it so difficult to include a modicum of visual interest at the level that’s most conspicuous to passersby?!
 
Yeah... not a fan of this one. Like I said earlier, it's a shame that the limestone precast didn't extend to what I'll call the "other tower".

I'm afraid that Yonge st might be heading in the way of Bay street in terms of street level.

Also, ugh balconies... why.
 
I like the tower but ya glass is not good at street level in that amount. Even if it is smaller retailers it all gets lost and looks the same.
 
Love the tower. Do not like the ground level.

It really would not take much to help delineate the ground level retail space. Even a very gentle sawtooth design with small indentations would still look very modern and help break up the space.
 
While this project previously contained 2 bldgs (18s + 44s) ... has the project now been revised to 1 larger footprint building? It sure seems that way according to the sales materials:

 
I think a lot of these developers are brain dead. Do you really expect any animation from Cresford? Think of Charles St. - it could have been animated with restaurants/bars/patios, but instead it's animated with giant lobbies for condo's that add nothing to street level. It looks like they are continuing the trend here on Yonge St.
 
Easily my favorite aA condo tower. Love the use of vertical rectangles on the bottom portion to combat the long slab balconies up top.

I hate a lot of balcony treatments (especially on towers), but understand they're a necessary evil of the industry. This is the best accommodation for them I've seen in a while.

Better than the casa's imo - and King Charlotte.

I would like to see them do less 100% glass towers though. But I guess it's another necessary evil for developers/architects.
 
Pretty tower. Shame about the street level. So much more could be done with the facade that doesn't require elaborate forms or expensive new materials.

Take the upper podium's black vertical bands, for instance. Why not extend them to street level in varied lengths, like the lights of Aura's crown? Long ones to divide retail space, varied shorter ones to create a pattern, at least some visual interest along this block-busting facade?

Instead, featureless glass, perhaps eventually a bank logo or a Starbucks siren to stir the imagination.
 
It's a shame to me that the pre-cast motif on the short portion of the tower doesn't continue along the street frontage or podium, or at least the podium's treatment from Dundonald Street. Those sorts of material variations are of best use in a podium, in my opinion. A tower can be all-glass and appreciated from a distance, but a podium really requires variation in materials and geometry.

Otherwise I'm really liking the evolved aA themes I'm seeing here.
 
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