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

[smably]

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!

 

[Obsidian]

here is more of what could have been

 

[adHominem]

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.

 

[Riseth]

That second render is so hilariously wrong.

 

[isaidso]

here is more of what could have been

Super depressing. Like 90% of what Toronto builds, we'll have to tear it down in a few decades and re-build it the way it should have been in the first place. One can only take so much coma-inducing 'architecture'. It just sucks the life out of you after awhile.

 

[Riseth]

Love that original proposal. The slanted roof and circular inset are stunning and would have stood out well on the waterfront.

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

It was never a proposal for Menkes - it was a proposal for another developer during the RFP for the site.

 

[LoMein]

 

[Northern Light]

A tour of every side, starting from the south-east:

Now from the east, directly along the southern facade:

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

Mid-way, from the south:

South-west podium:

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

Now the north-western corner:

Western facade, looking back south towards the Lake:

Northern facade, starting on the west:

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

 

[vatche]

Everything in Toronto is a glass box, no creativity whatsoever. Who are these architects? Or is it a question of budget? .

 

[Blixtein]

It's a question of culture that celebrates lack of ambition.

 

[thaivic]

Everything in Toronto is a glass box, no creativity whatsoever. Who are these architects? Or is it a question of budget? .

Budget!!!

 

[condovo]

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.

 

[GenerationLee]

A building admittedly to which Menkes didn't need to be so cheap-assed about it.

I mean, it is Menkes. Sometimes they try, but when they don't...they REALLY don't try.

 

[DavidCapizzano]

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.