I don’t really see the similarity. This building is basically opaque. The “blanket” is the cladding. The AGNS design – which has not been built - has a façade layer of glass that wraps internal corridors inside which are separate volumes...

An exceptional building by a seminal Toronto firm. Here’s the addition under construction, from the HIA:

While I share some of the skepticism about the plant material – and the waterfront design review panel did as well – it’s important to note why there are no precedents in Toronto; Nobody has really tried before. The complexity and expense of the KING Toronto landscape far exceeds anything...

Have these photographs ever been shared on this thread? Apologies if so. https://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/2022/core/vid-ingelevics-ryan-walker-how-to-build-a-river

https://ecolebranchee.com/english/ecole-stadacona-premier-lab-ecole/

@ADRM is correct. I would just add that TDSB consistently hires the same few architecture firms, and in recent years only one of these (LGA) has any claim to design excellence. Meanwhile TDCSB has hired some of the same people - but also DTAH and the excellent Kohn Shnier. They face the same...

So, window wall at grade, huh.

You can see where they got the colours from. 🤣

That’s right. Which takes it to $480 PSF. I can’t show my work in public, but I am very confident that $450-million is a good ballpark number. @innsertnamehere makes some good points. The garage will also generate revenues and serve other uses. However it will also incur its own operating costs...

Hi, Alex here. Thanks for all the comments on my piece. On parking: there are currently 1200 surface parking spots. This plan would provide 2100 underground and roughly 600 surface. This is being driven, so far as we know, by the requirements of Therme. The $450-million estimate comes from an...

This is the crux of the matter: They can’t. Triplexes are a minor side dish when it comes to new housing supply. Right now the proportion is under 1% IIRC. If Toronto is going to build 35,000 units a year, these will overwhelmingly be in big buildings. Even if 10% of that number were in...

This is an excellent point – that the small scale projects aren’t going to happen unless government makes it easy for amateurs to do so. At the same time, one can ask: why should government go out of its way to help an amateur developer approve three apartments, while also presenting serious...

IIRC, these existing buildings are by Page & Steele in the Peter Dickinson era.

City Urban Design forced some changes to the site. A full regular street and a private pedestrian path now cut through the courtyards at the east and west ends. Before: After:

Why is an architect who does grocery store renovations designing a public art gallery? http://www.pmarch.ca/

Good point @tripwire. What is the street actually accomplishing? I assume the answer is that per city policy 1) the buildings need to have street addresses, and 2) you can’t put high-rise next to the houses. Those are basically arbitrary. Seems like, if you massed the density along Carlaw in...

The ground floor plan is worth examining. The retail configuration is awkward. Neither of the two plazas proposed will be successful. The northeast plaza is built around an existing Pizza Pizza, which presumably is going to go eventually. But the open space is super awkward as a result. The...