You can view the page at http://urbantoronto.ca/content.php?1856-An-Early-Look-at-a-new-Cityzen-project-on-Front-East
The trend of using colour is overdone, tacky, and outdated, this is a nice, clean design.
I'm giving out brick as an example.
Changing whatever material is on the base for something else does not change everything- at the moment, the podium does not fit into the neighbourhood, seeing that most buildings around it are built out of brick. I also have no idea why brick would make the facade messy considering that Market Wharf works well with windows. Having a more striking colour at the base would create an interesting contrast against the whiteness of the towers.
And one more thing- your idea of "clean and contemporary" can easily someone else's idea of bland. So there's really no right or wrong in this.