Toronto The One | 308.6m | 85s | Tridel | Foster + Partners

[AndreaPalladio]

A Selfridges or The Conrad Shop, both out of the U.K., would be great here.
The Bay nearby is in a very depressing space, it could move here and go a little more upscale.

I doubt the Westons would put a Selfridges here to compete with Holts across the street.

 

[urbandreamer]

With all those parking stalls perhaps a luxury car dealership would be a good fit here? Maybe TeslAPPLE Motors.

Oh and do I like the design of this proposal? Yes, and it's now rps of the week.

 

[Tewder]

This is sort of a gateway to Yorkville right? Maybe the atrium will be full of plastic surgery/hair salon locations?

 

[maestro]

Maybe. I suspect it's cheaper with access to a much bigger client pool setting up shop in a downtown office tower.

 

[steveve]

My initial thoughts were in line with others, mostly due to the fact that is very much a box, and aside from what is visible from street level, there aren’t any setbacks or an interesting roofline that we often associate with being ‘instant landmarks’ on the skyline. This tower is incredibly narrow on it’s north/south facing sides, the ratio I’d even say is close to 432 Park’s, so perhaps we are also looking at one of our most slender buildings. It is interesting as well how the Yonge and Bloor area is shaping up with a many proposals all sharing the similar profiles of very thin rectangles with flat rooflines (as seen in the photos of the model). This is not a hit on The One, but just an observation on how Yonge/Bloor is shaping up as an area with incredible height density. One design element I also found off were the amount of greenery slapped on the building, it’s not entirely to my aesthetic taste, alongside putting a lot of the mechanical near street level (hiding them with trees). But the bronze colours fit the feel of the area I think.

Those things aside, there is plenty to look forward to. The renders showcasing the atrium are way more than I could have hoped for, considering the constrained size of the site and comparing it to what is presently there (Stollery’s). There is a significant opportunity that presents itself here to open this space to the public (bonus with widened sidewalks). I’m liking Foster interior, looking more like an office building than the base of a retail-condo, the space reminds me of the Hearst Tower. One of the best things about the building is it looks nothing like a condo, but rather like a high quality office building. As others have pointed out as well, my thoughts ran to 3 World Trade Center.

This may not put Toronto on the map architecturally, but if you’re looking in the context of cities like NYC or London, this is a building that you’d expect to find in those world-class cities; of which are defined by not only the quality of their exteriors (diagrids) but the interior spaces they create. It may be a box, but it’s a world class one.
It’s a shame that Mizrahi wasn’t able to acquire the Scotiabank site and get the entire Bloor Street frontage. I’d imagine extending the site would open up a lot more possibilities for an extended retail podium or perhaps even a second tower. The blank wall on the lower-west side is unfortunate, but is quite deliberate of course, with development (perhaps by the same developer or a different) one day replacing the Scotiabank and joining with The One. (Blank wall on the south side also takes into account future development spurred by The One to the south, so no point in putting windows there). This has been mentioned a few times, but having a separate elevator core for the podium extension will make building the retail component ASAP possible allowing the tower details, height, etc. to be planned separately in later stages.

I don’t know if this will be approved at said height, aside from it’s neighbour (1BE), it’s literally twice as tall as pretty much every other existing high-rise in the area. Even more interesting, Yonge and Bloor will be home to the tallest neighbouring buildings directly across the street from each other, in the country. Like with many development applications submitted, you apply for the extreme end of the scale and will compromise, end up with something in between. We’ve seen this with Mirvish+Gehry and likely will see something similar happen here if the city allows it. I sense a go-go-go mentality here (which is exciting), but it means nothing if without the necessary approvals.

 

[interchange42]

We may have lost a tower at Mirvish+Gehry, but the tallest one actually got taller.

Here the key is not to add significant shadow to Jesse Ketchum Park and playground, while the key question will be how the City reacts to the lack of step-backs in the design, especially if the wind studies do show (as claimed at the reveal) that no podium is required with this external diagrid design to deflect winds from hitting pedestrians on the sidewalk.

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[freshcutgrass]

It's too bad that Councillor Wong-Tam wasn't at the meeting to witness the unusually positive reactions from the community.

And unlike most of these meetings, this one was a veritable Boogie Wonderland...Wong-Tam's loss I guess.



[video=youtube;god7hAPv8f0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=god7hAPv8f0[/video]

 

[Mongo]

Here the key is not to add significant shadow to Jesse Ketchum Park and playground

I just looked at a map of the immediate area, and it's looking like shadowing of Jesse Ketchum Park would not be a significant issue after all, even at the proposed height.

From the perspective of the closest point of Jesse Ketchum Park (the southeast corner), the silhouettes of the proposed tower and the approved Holt Renfrew tower line up almost perfectly, it's ridiculously close. Almost all of The One would be hidden behind the Holt Renfrew tower. The very top of The One would be visible from that spot (about the top 15m or so), but as I recall, the Holt Renfrew building was actually approved at a somewhat greater height than it ended up at, so the excess visible height might still be allowed since the extra shadow coverage was already approved for the Holt Renfrew tower.

The match is not as close at other locations on Jesse Ketchum Park, but the rest of the area is also further away from the building so it would not be as visually dominating as at the closest location.

This might be why KWT did not seem concerned about the height; she might have already been informed that the extra shadowing it would cause on Jesse Ketchum Park over what had already been approved was negligible.

 

[ssiguy2]

Hot damn that was a great song.

I may have been raised without computers but we had the best music of all time, I feel sorry for anyone under 30 who doesn't know what truly great music they missed.

I wish the new building was as cool as that song but it's not. It's a handsome, has some interesting design elements, and {thank god} it isn't blue glass. The thing that drops it from a 10 to an 8 is that after you take off all the neat accessories, it's still a square glass box.

 

[flonicky]

it's still a square glass box.

Yet, when compared to Aura, it's interesting how such a simple box gets so many things so right while Aura gets so much, so wrong. With Mizrahi promising the moon, this amount of restraint is admirable.

 

[Big Daddy]

We may have lost a tower at Mirvish+Gehry, but the tallest one actually got taller.

Here the key is not to add significant shadow to Jesse Ketchum Park and playground, while the key question will be how the City reacts to the lack of step-backs in the design, especially if the wind studies do show (as claimed at the reveal) that no podium is required with this external diagrid design to deflect winds from hitting pedestrians on the sidewalk.

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Yes, but Mirvish lost an 80 storey building to pick up 4 floors in the taller building - quite the compensation. the overall density was pared back by close to 33%. If they do the same here, this could easily end up shorter than 1BE.

I suspect this will be a long and nasty process and it could take years just to break ground - if it does. Mirvish was delayed by 18 months and required a massive redesign and downsizing. Mirvish was in a hurry to get started due to his age and Gehry's.

What can they hold over Mizrahi's head? He stands to lose his down-payment and the costs associated with initial design. The cost of carrying the land and the development team (including interest on the investment in land, lost interest in not being able to employ that money elsewhere, architects, engineers, planners lawyers, etc) is huge and can ultimately be crippling - another tool in the city's chest to force a developer's hand - time is the city's biggest weapon. (that's why Pinnacle put their application to the OMB in at 1 Yonge or they would still be waiting)

Shadows on Jesse Ketchum Park will just be another tool the city may use to "justify" a height reduction. The big difference between Mizrahi and Mirvish is Mizrahi doesn't have an 80 storey building to surrender.

 

[Big Daddy]

Yet, when compared to Aura, it's interesting how such a simple box gets so many things so right while Aura gets so much, so wrong. With Mizrahi promising the moon, this amount of restraint is admirable.

Aura could have been a great building, there is nothing really wrong with the design - its the cheapening, the materials they chose to use that dragged this project down.

Imagine glass like the Four Seasons or the Delta hotel on Aura - game changer.

 

[Big Daddy]

And unlike most of these meetings, this one was a veritable Boogie Wonderland...Wong-Tam's loss I guess.

Wong-Tam's absence speaks volumes.

 

[freshcutgrass]

I wish the new building was as cool as that song but it's not. It's a handsome, has some interesting design elements, and {thank god} it isn't blue glass. The thing that drops it from a 10 to an 8 is that after you take off all the neat accessories, it's still a square glass box.

But the main feature is the exoskeleton, which is not an accessory. This alone makes it unique in Toronto, and in rare company globally. My favourite features of the building is what it's missing....balconies and a podium. There's nothing typical about this building, but I'm getting a strange 80's vibe for some reason.

I feel sorry for anyone under 30 who doesn't know what truly great music they missed.

I was talking to a twenty-something the other day. They have never even heard of Fleetwood Mac. That shocked me for some reason and I wondered how deep that problem went. When you realize there's a generation here that is over-stimulated by Kanye West, and has no knowledge of Fleetwood mac, you know the problem might be even worse than you thought.

 

[interchange42]

Yes, but Mirvish lost an 80 storey building to pick up 4 floors in the taller building - quite the compensation. the overall density was pared back by close to 33%. If they do the same here, this could easily end up shorter than 1BE.

It was 6 more floors, but the point was that the City was not against the height, it had a problem with the density being proposed on that site.

Shadows on Jesse Ketchum Park will just be another tool the city uses to "justify" a height reduction. The big difference between Mizrahi and Mirvish is Mizrahi doesn't have an 80 storey building to surrender.

What indication is there that they would do the same here? The City does not have a predetermined "every large application gets trimmed by 30%" policy. Every site is analyzed individually.

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