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

interchange42 said:
To me, because of the curves, these look like a couple of sheets flapping in the wind. I want something that looks like it's resisting the wind, cutting into the sky, so to speak. The geometric tops of the CIBC Square towers look like they are accomplishing that effect.

These towers actually are resisting the wind, so I prefer that they looked like they were. That would be bolder, and actually impressive.

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It's not impossible to be dynamic either. Renzo did it well at Aurora Place in Sydney:

Aurora_Place_3.jpg
 
interchange42 said:
To me, because of the curves, these look like a couple of sheets flapping in the wind. I want something that looks like it's resisting the wind, cutting into the sky, so to speak. The geometric tops of the CIBC Square towers look like they are accomplishing that effect.

These towers actually are resisting the wind, so I prefer that they looked like they were. That would be bolder, and actually impressive.

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They do appear somewhat unresolved. Gensler's Shanghai Tower has the same "sweeping" effect but seems to come to a more solid top.
 
These towers are honestly great. Toronto does not have many buildings that incorporate sweeping curves like this, nor ornamental crowns to this degree. While it could obviously be further refined, I don't think it really needs much in the way of drastic changes.

Plus, they're an incredible improvement over what what was initially proposed for that side of the site. I'll take the current revision any day over the two cylindrical hotels that vastly underutilized the space.

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Contra said:
They do appear somewhat unresolved. Gensler's Shanghai Tower has the same "sweeping" effect but seems to come to a more solid top.
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Personally, I'd highlight Two International Finance Centre as his tall design that most satisfies me: it subtly curves and reduces at the top while maintaining its geometry. That's a great building…

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ericmacm said:
These towers are honestly great. Toronto does not have many buildings that incorporate sweeping curves like this, nor ornamental crowns to this degree. While it could obviously be further refined, I don't think it really needs much in the way of drastic changes.

Plus, they're an incredible improvement over what what was initially proposed for that side of the site. I'll take the current revision any day over the two cylindrical hotels that vastly underutilized the space.

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The two eastern towers looked like they had tremendous potential. It would've worked nicely with CIBC Square a few blocks away. The two western towers could have been great, or terrible, depending on materials chosen. The splash of colour in this area would've been welcomed regardless, though

As for the new proposal, there's nothing great about how the tower meets the street. As mentioned in the tweets posted above, it's a city block sized office lobby. This thing is going to be absolutely spartan at ground level. Why didn't they design the ground level to be more permeable, or install retail or programming to give people a reason to linger?

The rest of the architectural design is nice, but totally generic. This design would suit any generic Mississauga office or condo development. The swoopiness of this design already feels dated, imo.

Even in their own renders, the view from the north (aka, the view 98% of us will be seeing) is totally bland and hardly stands out from its surroundings. The fins are a lazy attempt at creating visual interest. I'm not even confident that the fins will be prominently visible from the north at ground level. Whoop de doo.

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smably said:
I also quite like the profile of the Salesforce Tower in SF. It's got some nice curves without being goofy or gaudy.
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Everyone here finds it a little too phallic. That said, it's been a nice addition from a height perspective. I find the fins in this proposal about 20x more interesting visually than the roof of Salesforce Tower, but I assume I'll be told whey I'm wrong in the next few comments ?
 
Everyone just chill, this is Toronto, we must hope that these projects will not be watered down to Toronto level just before the shovels hit the ground.
While they look good right now, I strongly believe they can do better with the tallest tower design mimicking the CN Tower or at least comprementing the cylindrical area.
 
Contra said:
Everyone here finds it a little too phallic. That said, it's been a nice addition from a height perspective. I find the fins in this proposal about 20x more interesting visually than the roof of Salesforce Tower, but I assume I'll be told whey I'm wrong in the next few comments ?
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Might want to check out this video, since you seem to be quite the fan of the Salesforce Tower

 
Great video and a great tower... . love it when the architect and the developer consciously set out to create something special, and are not afraid to create a new landmark.......

/always felt that San Francisco is sort of a sister city to Toronto in many ways
 
yyzer said:
Great video and a great tower... . love it when the architect and the developer consciously set out to create something special, and are not afraid to create a new landmark.......

/always felt that San Francisco is sort of a sister city to Toronto in many ways
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Personally find them pretty different, having lived in both. Both amazing cities though, for their own unique reasons.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
The two eastern towers looked like they had tremendous potential. It would've worked nicely with CIBC Square a few blocks away. The two western towers could have been great, or terrible, depending on materials chosen. The splash of colour in this area would've been welcomed regardless, though

As for the new proposal, there's nothing great about how the tower meets the street. As mentioned in the tweets posted above, it's a city block sized office lobby. This thing is going to be absolutely spartan at ground level. Why didn't they design the ground level to be more permeable, or install retail or programming to give people a reason to linger?

The rest of the architectural design is nice, but totally generic. This design would suit any generic Mississauga office or condo development. The swoopiness of this design already feels dated, imo.

Even in their own renders, the view from the north (aka, the view 98% of us will be seeing) is totally bland and hardly stands out from its surroundings. The fins are a lazy attempt at creating visual interest. I'm not even confident that the fins will be prominently visible from the north at ground level. Whoop de doo.
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The podium is not just going to be an office lobby. There will almost certainly be a lot more in the way of indoor retail within so it's not like it'll be sterile. The development itself describes having 200,000 sqft of retail space. My guess is that the winter garden will almost be treated as an extension of the public space, sort of acting like a small indoor mall. Think like the GM Renaissance Center Wintergarden in Detroit (except executed much better), or Complexe Desjardins in Montreal. I can also see what looks to be some sort of greater "street level" activation along the park side of the development. This makes sense though, because I'd imagine that they want to get as many people using the park side as possible.

In terms of architecture, I can't really see how this is "generic" at all. If anything, I feel that they're done very practically for towers that integrate sweeping curvature like this. Any curvature that is too over-the-top or too drastic in relation to the height will cause issues with maintenance later. Crowns can only go so tall before they start to become problematic from a structural standpoint, especially for fins like these. There are a lot of elements of these towers that can absolutely be considered "safe" and could be done better, but I think it comes from a sense of practicality, rather than a lack of vision. My guess is that they have bigger plans for something even more drastic on the eastern part of the site after this section gets built.

I found your Mississauga comment funny, as I've never seen anything remotely like this at all being built there, and I'm sure that there are many Mississaugans out there that would kill for something this architecturally significant downtown.
 
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