My brother relocated to Toronto last month and is in the market for this type of mix-use condominium, so we have recently visited several units in the Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Shangri-La Toronto and Trump International Hotel and Tower. Based both from a refinement perspective [Execution of design] and the level of top-tier materials one would expect, the differences were readily apparent:

- Four Seasons Toronto [1st]
- Trump International Hotel and Tower [2nd]
- Shangri-La Toronto [3rd]
- The Ritz Carlton, Toronto [4th]
 
This is the one of the reasons I did not buy a condo with window walls. I'm glad I'm in the Uptown.
 
Benito said:
This is the one of the reasons I did not buy a condo with window walls. I'm glad I'm in the Uptown.
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Great, except for the fact that every incidence of falling glass in 2014 has been from a building with curtain wall. Shangri-La/Trump, and one of them (Trump) was due to human error (workers striking the panel, IIRC).

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Shangri-La the only buildings to have non-balcony glass fall in recent memory? Obviously, not including Trump, since that was due to human error.
 
DtTO said:
Great, except for the fact that every incidence of falling glass in 2014 has been from a building with curtain wall. Shangri-La/Trump, and one of them (Trump) was due to human error (workers striking the panel, IIRC).

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Shangri-La the only buildings to have non-balcony glass fall in recent memory? Obviously, not including Trump, since that was due to human error.
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Didn't glass fall from the Four Seasons too?
 
I also believe there has been falling glass from the Bell Lightbox as well in the past. Sorry if I got the terminology wrong, but I believe you understood my point.
 
Marcanadian said:
Didn't glass fall from the Four Seasons too?
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Again, curtain wall cladding.

Benito said:
I also believe there has been falling glass from the Bell Lightbox as well in the past. Sorry if I got the terminology wrong, but I believe you understood my point.
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Balcony glass, yes. I was just replying to your comment about not buying condos with window wall. I can't recall a single incident of window wall cladding falling/breaking. Balcony glass, yes, but actual unit glass? I only know of that happening in curtain wall clad buildings, ironically.
 
Kai55 said:
More falling balcony glass this morning.
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Not a surprise at all. People in the industry have been warning us about this for years.... off the record of course. People don't like whistle blowers. Consumers want floor to ceiling glass (no matter how little sense it makes in our climate), so floor to ceiling glass is what they get. And developers want to make a profit.
 
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This technology can't be that new that Toronto is the test site. Is there any incidents happening in other cities? Maybe this is a climate issue with extreme cold to hot temperature swings. The other problem may just be inferior products being produced overseas to save money. If this is the case, it could turn out to be a much more costly way to do business than installing the right material in the first place. No one has been killed yet, but it will happen if this continues.
 
The extreme example of window technology gone wrong (and other engineering issues) is the John Hancock Tower in Boston. Give the Wikipedia article on it a read.

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