Toronto The Uptown Residences | ?m | 48s | Pemberton | Burka

Mike in TO said:
^ I'm no fan of the project, but you are making a lot of assumptions on income vs expenses in terms of profitability in this vs other projects. Without knowing any details about construction, land, soft costs etc how can you make such an assumption? I've also never understood the 'greed' term - given how much average $psf in the bloor-yorkville sub-market has increased the last 4 or 5 years the buyers that purchased earlier during the pre-sale process will likely make a much high ROI then the developers could hope to achieve should those buyers flip the units on closing - I suppose all the buyers could be described as greedy then as well...
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Poor DeGasperis family for not making the same ROI as the buyers at Uptown. Maybe we should start a collection for them!
 
jetsbackincanada said:
Agree on the size/power part, but I don't see the beauty that so many see here? Isnt the weathering you speak of give you hope for Uptown's future??
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I think what seperates the two is that on the one hand, Manulife succesfully represents a particular aesthetic, brutalism/modernism, while on the other hand, Uptown is only very weakly tied to art deco/art moderne. Really, the only thing it has that could be construed as similar to this latter category would be the multiple step-backs as the tower rises. Otherwise, it lacks all of the fine articulation and detail characteristic of art deco/art moderne towers. Which raises a broader question: Regardless of when they were built, some buildings are a much fuller embodiment of a particular architectural style than others, therefore, is it really about developers being squeezed to make a reasonable rate of return, or perhaps, are some developers simply concerned solely with rate of return? And in terms of the public "use" of architecture, is this something that should be applauded or at a minimum condoned?
 
Few towers today adhere strictly to one school of design, in fact the homage that Uptown is, is more the norm. It suddenly seems to me that Trump, is a pretty high end material project, the east side, might actually look pretty cool when all is said and done.
 
I walked by Uptown during a recent heavy snowfall. It really dominates the Bloor/Yonge intersection if you approach from the east. The way in which Uptown's silhouette emerges from behind the Bloor 1 boards (and eastern neighbours) is almost sublime, particularly in the low-visibility of a snowstorm. It really has the look of a large tower in a large city -- it projects power, size, and permanence, but not of the overbearing or grotesquely monolithic sort (probably due to its slim width). Uptown's shape reminds me most of the GE building in NYC. Most denizens of the forum seem to appreciate Uptown's massing, but I'll take a gander and call it sublime, particularly as it emerges around corners if you're walking east to west through the Bloor/Yonge intersection.

The unfortunate problem of course is that up close the tower is plain, so plain it bespeaks a sort of cheapness that might otherwise be hidden or toned down by clever aesthetic adjustments to the towers exterior (the original crown design, for example). And unfortunately the good view we get now will be blocked by Bloor 1, meaning views of uptown from the west (and likely any angle) will get only closer... Here's hoping in 10 years someone decided to do a aesthetic make-up job on the exterior. Unlike many of the sub-par buildings in town I don't think it would take much to make Uptown really shine -- just a few things here or there on the exterior (as someone pointed out, offset colour window frames).
 
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Lately, architectural criticism on this site has devolved to "I wish they had used more expensive-looking materials." Imagine that criticism levelled against a painting and you'll get a sense of how much it isn't an aesthetic consideration, and more of a status consideration.
 
FCP used "more expensive materials" in the 70s (Carrara marble); and look where it took *them*.
 
If you're going for a minimalist or pared-down aesthetic you'd better use good 'quality' materials, whether expensive or not, or else it will end up looking like Uptown: in a word shoddy and cheap... and like some others here it's not that I don't appreciate the massing or concept of Uptown, I do, but it's all in the execution.

... and it's pretty faint praise to argue that Uptown will be 'fine' once it's surounded by a cluster of other buildings.
 
It's even not so much the material as it is the lack of imagination.

Precast, if used properly, shouldn't be as bland as this. If they used the darker precast on the podium to to vertically connect the windows, it would have bumped this project up a few notches.
 
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jetsbackincanada said:
Agreed, too bad it wasn't more ornate,(Like American Radiator) but with a little lighting and age, she will be fine and certainly not the eyesore that some claim. It's far prettier than the Manulife behemoth, sitting next door.
I feel its been fairly faithful to the renderings and the models, and you knew from day 1 it wasn't going to be Rockefeller Center. Just the psf bracket, meant it wasn't going to be in the league of FS/SL/Trump etc.... The model looks almost exact, and it's the color thats most off from the render. Heres hoping it ages well.
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man, give it up with the Manulife references, that's a fight you are never going to win.

your endless, deranged, spittle riddled, defence of this complete dog of a building makes it very obvious to everyone that you don't care a whit about architecture, so your opinions about Manulife are totally irrelevant.
 
404notfound said:
your endless, deranged, spittle riddled, defence of this complete dog of a building makes it very obvious to everyone that you don't care a whit about architecture, so your opinions about Manulife are totally irrelevant.
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So you are one of those people who is convinced that their own personal opinion is the only possible correct one, and everyone who does not agree with you is worthless. Not to mention your spewing forth of a stream of vile invective.

I have dealt with this mindset before. The world would be a far better place without it.

Go away.
 
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