Toronto X The Condominium | ?m | 44s | Great Gulf | a—A

No Barcelona chairs? What kind of philistines put this together?
That is strange. Maybe the high price of authentic Knoll chairs ($7,226 CAD) makes them impractical for use as common area furniture? It would be a pretty big hit to the condo's reserve fund to replace them.

Of course, they could buy the Debbie Travis knock-off from Canadian Tire for a fraction of the price, but then we may as well jump off a bridge.
 
Keep in mind that the lobby isn't the finished product, I think there will be art work going on the walls and if the renderings are any indication, there might be some playful chandeliers and some plant life added to warm it up a bit. I see the receptable holes on the ceiling that should hold the chandeliers.

I agree with the comments about the barcelona chairs.......small critique but this is one of the first mis steps I've seen so far.
 
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^^ Yes but the lobby is not a copy of Mies but, rather, an homage to Mies. It makes sense to have Barcelona-inspired chairs rather actual Barcelona chairs. Same goes for the X-inspired coffee tables rather than real X tables. What I don't like about the lobby, however, having visited a few days ago, are the cheap, De Boers-looking, microfibre-upholstered sofas and the brown strips in the floor which are made from what appear to be porcelain or ceramic tile rather than coordinating, veined stone. It's like they ran out of money at the last minute and had to make cuts accordingly. Overall, though, the design is successful.
 
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I absolutely love the Mies style, and don't mind (actually like) the minimal office building look to the lobby.
Barcelona chairs are so overused, and you see knock-offs everywhere (even at Canadian Tire), so it is nice to see not-so-literal styled chairs in the lobby.
Some bronze sculptures on those black granite tables will add a little interest to the space.
 
^^ Yes but keep in mind that the lobby is not a copy of Mies but, rather, an homage to Mies. It makes sense to have Barcelona-inspired chairs rather actual Barcelona chairs. Same goes for the X-inspired coffee tables rather than real X tables. What I don't like about the lobby, however, having visited a few days ago, are the cheap, De Boers-looking, microfibre-upholstered sofas and the brown strips in the floor which are made from what appear to be porcelain or ceramic tile rather than coordinating, veined stone. It's like they ran out of money at the last minute and had to make cuts accordingly. Overall, though, the design is successful.

Unfortunately, the chairs aren't even close to achieving the look of the Barcelona chair; the inspiration didn't produce a similarly striking look. In contrast to the chairs, the exterior does use the Miesian inspiration for a look that's very striking yet not a copy. For this reason, I think they should have gone with some Barcelona chairs, even if they are pricey. (There are plenty of knockoffs too, some which should be quite good considering the design is at least half a century old now.) The Barcelona chairs would have been the Miesian element in a lobby with some original variations. Perhaps they could have mixed the two as well.
 
The concrete barriers on Jarvis Street (Wally Way or whatever) were removed today finally re-opening up both southbound lanes in front of X. What has to be seen to be believed, a small section of the concrete sidewalk - poured just over a week ago, has been drilled up and replaced with asphalt already. Orange markers on the newly minted sidewalk a little further north indicate that perhaps more is yet to come. Stunning incompetence at work here. On a more positive note it looks like there's some electrical tangled in among the base of the art piece leading me to wonder if it will somehow be illuminated at night.
 
What has to be seen to be believed, a small section of the concrete sidewalk - poured just over a week ago, has been drilled up and replaced with asphalt already. Orange markers on the newly minted sidewalk a little further north indicate that perhaps more is yet to come. Stunning incompetence at work here.
[Edit: some freshly laid granite slabs have also been removed]

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge, then click again on the image for full size.



On a more positive note it looks like there's some electrical tangled in among the base of the art piece leading me to wonder if it will somehow be illuminated at night.



Once the digging is done and the cones & caution tape are gone this corner is going to look absolutely sensational

 
A quick panorama from the 4th floor of X - taken today. Demo work continues on the site of X2 and more muddy work continues at Couture. Uptown is seen topped out. From this vantage point, we should be able to see Chaz rise.
x-pano.jpg
 
Great view of my building. I notice people have moved into the 11th floor as of today. Puzzling the electronic directory in the entrance is not working yet.
 
A quick panorama from the 4th floor of X - taken today. Demo work continues on the site of X2 and more muddy work continues at Couture. Uptown is seen topped out. From this vantage point, we should be able to see Chaz rise.
x-pano.jpg

Cool shot. However, it will be tough to enjoy the pool and deck as a quiet retreat with the noise and dust of construction on either side for the next few years.

(BTW to create panoramas seamlessly, you may want to try Autostitch. It's free software found here: www.autostitch.net. I don't work for them but I use it all the time and love it.)
 
You are exactly right Traynor. However, you can enjoy the pool/jacuzzi area in the evenings. The only problem is, the pool and jacuzzi is not yet functioning, as is the case with most of the amenities.

Thanks for the link to Auto Stitch. I will make sure to use it in my upcoming panoramas.
 
X amenities from above with a different angle

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge, then click again on the image for full size.



Does anyone know what that green space is for behind the Gerstein Centre in the second photo?
 

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