Toronto Union Park | 303.26m | 58s | Oxford Properties | Pelli Clarke Pelli

I like this a lot. It's going to be a lot more dense than the previous plan which is absolutely for the better, it uses the space much more effectively than the old proposal. Replacing the two "meh" looking hotel towers with three really great looking mixed-use towers was a good idea. The bonus of having a park over the rail tracks is even better. Can't wait to see phase 2, hopefully those giant office towers are still part of the plan.

urbantoronto-6508-21160.jpg


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The heights are dizzying. The towers aren't boxes. The decked park is great. However, I find the towers' cramped together and not a very friendly scale overall. I can envision Front Street as a giant massive wall of glass.
 
Pelli just completed the Salesforce tower here in SF and I'm seeing a lot of similarities in the materials for these renders. Overall it's pretty high-quality stuff and working with Oxford gives me some hope for the residential portion too.
 
Our front page story is up here, and you'll find lots of high-res renderings in the updated database file.

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I like the Salesforce Tower quite a lot, but I find these a bit Dubai-esque for my tastes? I'm sure the design is still evolving though, so I'll withhold final judgement until this hits SPA. I really like the plan to deck over the rail corridor, though -- unlike the Rail Deck Park, it actually has a plausible funding source, and hopefully it will be extended east to Simcoe with phase 2.

Not gonna lie, I'm actually going to miss that weirdo early-80s data centre building that's currently on the site:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1055464735272026112
 
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From the rendering, it looks like the height of the tallest office tower would be in the range of 280 - 300m. Definitely very massive, but I was kinda dreamed for a next level supertall (like 400m) here :p
 
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Contra said:
Pelli just completed the Salesforce tower here in SF and I'm seeing a lot of similarities in the materials for these renders. Overall it's pretty high-quality stuff and working with Oxford gives me some hope for the residential portion too.
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Similarities?? This thing is detailed like RBC Waterpark Place.

Tell me, does this render:

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Look like this:

Guardian-SunGuard-AG-50-Salesforce-Tower-front.jpg


Or this:

rbc-waterpark-place_roberto-portolese1.jpg


I know what I see..
 
It's a very exciting design and Pelli and Oxford are pros, but no doubt it will go through many evolutions. My only concern with the rail deck park is the southern view will be of one massively ugly northern concrete wall of Rogers Centre overshadowing everything, and other than early morning/late afternoon (maybe, depending upon future developments) - the park will get zero direct sunlight.
 
packers67 said:
It's a very exciting design and Pelli and Oxford are pros, but no doubt it will go through many evolutions. My only concern with the rail deck park is the southern view will be of one massively ugly northern concrete wall of Rogers Centre overshadowing everything, and other than early morning/late afternoon (maybe, depending upon future developments) - the park will get zero direct sunlight.
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It is a good problem to have - at least one would finally be in a position to worry about that.

AoD
 
I can't think of a more dated and corporate-bland-America large architecture firm for commercial buildings than Pelli Clarke Pelli. Like ProjectEnd is pointing out above, this isn't going to be very earth-shattering. It looks dated by about 20 years and it's still years out from being built. Dangling a "public" "park" is going to help sway people but those with an eye for architecture are going to be left unsatiated.

If Hudson Yards is what Oxford came up with when they had some interesting architects onboard, I fear for what a similar project would be like with Pelli Clarke Pelli at the helm.
 
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Of course, maybe the City and Rogers will come to their senses and design/build a 35-40,000 seat baseball-only modern home for the Jays and implode the Rogers Centre at some point over the next 10 years. When City politicians and big money got serious about a domed stadium (at the rain-soaked 1982 Grey Cup Game at Exhibition Stadium), we were just headed into the excess of the 1980's. Skydome was the "big hair" of 1980's North American sports stadium. Imagine THAT piece of land being prime for commercial development!
 
I'm not huge on Pelli. The tower design don't bother me as much as the large scale and cold corporate look of the overall plan. I stil haven't seen the Front Street elevation.
 
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