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

Mongo said:
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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actually the world would be a far better place if people didn't feel obligated to defend garbage. anyone who thinks this is a good building is wrong, its as simple as that.
 
Different people have different tastes, hence the McMansions popping up all over Don Mills and Bayview.
 
Parkdalian said:
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.
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I think the point with Uptown is that the massing and design are (for many of us) excellent, but the building comes out far below potential because of very plain -- too plain (and thus cheap-looking) -- exterior aesthetics. Some simple and inexpensive ideas could have made uptown much, much better, because of what is already right with it.
 
condovo said:
^^ No. It's about aesthetics, not status. A building's not a painting.
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A building is not a painting. But in aesthetic terms, it is a painting.

If we are going to talk about the aesthetics of the building, let's talk about the appearance of the materials, not the fact they are "high-end." Pre-cast is an aesthetically acceptable building material. End of argument. To disqualify pre-cast because it is "low-end" is not an aesthetic judgment. That's like saying that only rich people are fashionable because only they can afford silk and cashmere.*

(In fact, as adma points out, precast and spandrels might be functionally *better* materials than stone or brick.)

Tear down the Uptown for its formal flaws or poor historical reference or whatever in terms of its aesthetic, but "high-end" is a complaint about status, not about aesthetics.

(*Of course, the cheap can be ugly. But so can the expensive. Hence why we should avoid using "cheap" and "expensive" as aesthetic judgments - they don't actually explain anything about the aesthetic object. They only explain our status anxiety.)
 
404notfound said:
anyone who thinks this is a good building is wrong, its as simple as that.
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Now please support your claim. Provide the grounds that support the validity of your assertion. Where necessary, support your claim with the presuppositions that underly your position.

If you can't do any of this, merely admit that you hold a personal opinion and nothing more.
 
gristle said:
Now please support your claim. Provide the grounds that support the validity of your assertion. Where necessary, support your claim with the presuppositions that underly your position.

If you can't do any of this, merely admit that you hold a personal opinion and nothing more.
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Ok, the design as form is not garbage--only the treatment of the materials. Ok, the treatment is not garbage, just very substandard. Unless one's standards are already very low, in which case you may like this building, and many others found throughout the GTA.

"Provide the grounds that support the validity of your assertion."
"Where necessary, support your claim with the presuppositions that underly your position."

OK:

the word "excellent" is an adjective, and is usually defined as "the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree". this building cannot be described as excellent.

"mediocre" is also an adjective. usually defined as "ordinariness as a consequence of being average and not outstanding". this building may be able to be described as mediocre.

"uninspired" in another adjective. it has been defined as "deficient in originality or creativity; lacking powers of invention". this building definitely fits the bill here.

finally, "shoddy" is another adjective. in this case, the definition goes something like:

1. Made of or containing inferior material.
2. Of poor quality or craft.
3. Rundown; shabby. (ok, its not rundown yet)
4. Conspicuously and cheaply imitative.

from my perspective, this description fits Upchuck Residences to a T.
 
You still haven't proven that your argument is anything more than a personal opinion. You can't just define terms like "excellent" and then assert that "this building cannot be described as excellent". You need to point to objectively verifiable evidence - evidence that doesn't depend on one's personal biases or opinions.
 
Parkdalian said:
To disqualify pre-cast because it is "low-end" is not an aesthetic judgment.
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I disqualify this precast, not all precast. There's good precast and there's bad precast. Uptown's sucks. 1 St Thomas' doesn't. Quay West at Tip Top's doesn't either. The Florian's, even better. So, as I said, this isn't about status. It's about aesthetics.
 
This thread is so often rife with anger:mad: and strong debate:confused:,.... More than any other Building, the updates are few and far, but the complaints are frequent.
Sure its not without flaw, but seriously......the way people seem to think that every project is gonna be of the quality of super high end, four star projects is laughable, this and MLS and Cityplace aren't being built for multi millionaires, but young, and up and coming investors and businesmen. Single people wanting to escape commutes, and sterile cul de sacs. Its not meant for Sir Roland Haghner and his high falootin poodle kennel. They belong in Ritz, ShangriLa, and Trump.
UPTOWN is 1,000 Xs sexier, than any 2500 sf house in the burbs, cut off from 3am pizza delivery, walking to a Jays game, and sitting down by the Lake, then hitting up that new bar on Bremner, and we gonna grill up on the 44th floor of Rays place at the Uptown......Your paying for the lifestyle, you want a gated home in Rockwood, were happy for you. This tower serves a purpose, and it's not about marble hallways, it's urban living , at a younger/lower economic bracket, how can you not celebrate that???
The people who are gonna live there, aint going to be as worried about this as some of you are.
For a NA city to embrace density, reverse sprawl, and encourage public transit, these towers must exist. For it not to look like most of St Jamestown, but rather a fine precast impression of a bygone era classic, is welcome and amazing. If you don't like density, maybe town homes, and a lawn mower are for you.
 
404notfound said:
actually the world would be a far better place if people didn't feel obligated to defend garbage. anyone who thinks this is a good building is wrong, its as simple as that.
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I for one like this building very much and your opinion means as little to me as i'm sure mine does to you. I've listened to people like you crap on this building for months and frankly, in my opinion, most of those people don't know jack, they are simply full of themselves. Uptown adds some class to the area - maybe thats why you don't see it.
 
404notfound said:
actually the world would be a far better place if people didn't feel obligated to defend garbage. anyone who thinks this is a good building is wrong, its as simple as that.
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it's hard to really agree with you on that one. you see, just because you see it as garbage doesn't mean everyone has to agree with you and what you think is a global standard... everything is opinionated.

IMO, I've seen some really nice photos of Uptown, however, on many days it doesn't look so good. i wish it looked a bit more stained rather than just plain white-looking (and it's not even pure white like 1St thomas)...

so Uptown is just okay. it adds some nice height to the area/skyline. and does a fair job at covering up crystal blu.
 
I don't want to go "rah rah Uptown", but I find 404notfound's knock on its aesthetics rather overwrought--I've seen worse turkeys...
 
Heck, the Uptown gets points from me merely for being precast rather than another drab blue-green glass box.
 
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