Toronto Waterfront Innovation Centre | 53.03m | 11s | Waterfront Toronto | Sweeny &Co

Remember how the Design panel criticized this for being "too much" like the Ryerson student centre? So they went back to the drawing board, and made it look like every building in a suburban office park. 😡
Oh to be naive enough to believe that this mess is in any way the fault of the DRP!
 
here is more of what could have been
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As dramatic as the NW corner of the Ryerson SLC-looking proposal was, the remainder of the building would have shared the same flaws as what we've got: corporate-office conservative with an uninviting, flat plane of glass at street level along Queen's Quay.
 
It was never a proposal for Menkes - it was a proposal for another developer during the RFP for the site.
 
A tour of every side, starting from the south-east:

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Now from the east, directly along the southern facade:

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Now looking at the south-western side, from the south-east:

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Mid-way, from the south:

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South-west podium:

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Look at the western and southern corner, from Sugar Beach:

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Now the north-western corner:

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Western facade, looking back south towards the Lake:

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Northern facade, starting on the west:

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Finishing w/the eastern facade, and some of the north as well:

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Everything in Toronto is a glass box, no creativity whatsoever. Who are these architects? Or is it a question of budget? .
 
Budget!!!
Priorities!!! We don't prioritize design. Design excellence--which isn't automatically about budget--on the one hand is dismissed as a needless frill and on the other is misused as an elitist shrill. It's just not an organic part of our culture here.
 
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Menkes is on the record at the waterfront drp saying commercial tennants won't accept anything besides an all glass facade which I believe is nonsense but that was the thinking here.
 

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