We all know that buildings don't always turn out like the renderings. Last-minute changes and real-life materials can all cause discrepancies between the vision and reality of a project. In our weekly Flash Forward Friday feature, we take a look at how different projects stack up.

L'Avenue, early rendering, image via IBI Group

Begun in 2015, Broccolini's 50-storey, IBI Group-designed L'Avenue residential tower has all but completed construction, and its presence on the Montreal skyline adds a great deal of density and height into the core. Viewed in the early rendering above, the first version of the tower features a lower level of fine detail. The decorative fins, along with the balcony detailing, are among the exterior changes that took place during the design phase. 

L'Avenue, final design, image via IBI Group

Compared to the final design of the tower (above), the finished product (below), was built very true to form. Every detail from the tinting to the decorative touches and the balcony arrangements has been faithfully reproduced in real life. 

L'Avenue, as it appeared in March 2017, image by Forum contributor skahhigh

Standing tall among a collection of new towers, including the Tour des Canadiens (left) and Roccabella (right), L'Avenue is but the latest in a handful of highrise developments to grace the city centre as Montreal's downtown skyline undergoes one of the biggest periods of redevelopment in recent memory. 

We will return next Friday with another comparison!