Toronto Union Centre | 298m | 54s | Westbank | Bjarke Ingels Group

Any idea why Alex Bozikovic refers to this as being taller than Scotia Plaza? At 264m wouldn’t it be 10m shy?
 
ADRM said:
  1. Architects do as their clients instruct.
  2. You don't have to look to a Vancouver proposal for what you claim this city lacks, as this same firm and this same developer are doing exactly what you're looking for, literally a kilometre away from this site.
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That design was watered down significantly through the Toronto planning process. I wouldn't be surprised if this design is a direct result of what happened to the same design team on King W.
 
^you aren't wrong. It sits at a much lower elevation too, as 264m is likely measured from the Simcoe frontage, not the Front St. frontage, which has a significant grade change.
 
It's definitely utilitarian, it looks like the King Centre's form extruded upwards 40 floors and then literally swallowed up by the same curtain wall you see at the Bay Adelaide complex. As of now, the north facade is the best one, whereas the south facade is entirely forgettable.

Maybe using varying facade treatments to emphasize the terracing could help in bringing the concept through parts where there's no physical terracing, especially on the South elevation. Making the diagrid more visible could also help as well. I am also slightly suspect to the viability of trees on the north facade, as it looks like they'll be mostly shaded but also exposed.

Also sort of disappointing that they're not really touching the existing building since that building will be still be most people's pedestrian experience, it would look better with at least a bit of reinterpretation in the facade.
 
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1107646615312101378

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Woah -

All the elevators are on the north edge of the building. The developers are promising that you will be able to see them move; they will be lit. (And maybe topped with terrariums.)
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177059

(Allied/Westbank/BIG - via Alex Bozikovic)
 
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This is generally exciting, but what is the deal with the building on Front St.? It's so strange to see it basically untouched when this building is so hostile to the street with all its windows and possible storefronts blocked out. It's not even that nice a building in the first place. It's a shame they can't reconfigure the data centre if that's what's constricting things to improve the public realm here. This is such a busy central area - it's so unfortunate to have the street just be a blank wall.
 
MetroMan said:
It would be great if they could bring that green wall to the windowless data centre at the base on Front st.
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I agree, I'm surprised that they're not really touching it considering that Allied owns that building- it's long overdue for a recladding. Even a roof screen to hide the rooftop bricolage would go a long way in improving the appearance of the building.

It's also a pretty poor pedestrian experience at the moment, any improvement there would go a far way.
 
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Very cool, also they probably aren’t touching the building below because it’s a data centre. Is it not? They probably don’t want interruption to it.
 
stjames2queenwest said:
Very cool, also they probably aren’t touching the building below because it’s a data centre. Is it not? They probably don’t want interruption to it.
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That's my understanding. I think all the majors route through there. If the data centre floors are to expand, I would hope that existing users could be moved incrementally into new space, freeing up area along the north wall to go in and make adjustments to that frontage: this building should have a prominent Front Street presence.

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