canarob
Senior Member
You made my day, Archivist!
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- Thread starter Archivist
- Start date
Secret Agent
New Member
Awesome work!!
I'm wondering, how many projects may have been forgotten?
Although it's a hole, Uptown and Crystal Blue were.
I'm wondering, how many projects may have been forgotten?
Although it's a hole, Uptown and Crystal Blue were.
Mike in TO
Senior Member
Great Downtown update - great to see the general higher quality of projects compared to just a couple of years ago. The change Toronto is undergoing, not only with the new buildings themselves, but the new residents and business to further animate the city - 2007 was a great year - looking forward the next years update!
officedweller
Senior Member
Awesome - Thanks!
Archivist
Senior Member
Thank you all. Comments most appreciated. I agree with those that observed that the general quality of projects is better than it was. I will be sad to see the end of the cultural projects downtown, when later this year the AGO and Telus centre are done - though I suppose the TIFF thing can sustain me. But we need a new crop.
Re: Missing buildings. Yes, of course, Blu and Uptown, sorry for the oversight. I could probably insert them without too much trouble.
Re: Missing buildings. Yes, of course, Blu and Uptown, sorry for the oversight. I could probably insert them without too much trouble.
Secret Agent
New Member
....and Minto Midtown was another forgotten.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Setting aside the intense activity we've seen in the past few years with all the new cultural buildings, it would be interesting to compare the quality of 2007's condos, offices, and single family houses with those being built twenty years ago during the last construction boom.
None of our big new office towers strike me as being qualitatively any better, as attractive landmarks on our skyline, than the former BCE Place or Scotia Plaza were in their day. We're in an age where computer software allows designers to create compelling new forms, and a city like Toronto with a history of having once built tall office towers of international significance is a great location for something unique and new. If it can't be done with a brash corporate tower, where ought it to be done? Bay Adelaide in particular strikes me as a huge missed opportunity to add that next generation of structures to our skyline - it will sit on a large lot, offering possibilities of scale now scarce in the downtown core, and doesn't exploit it.
But architects, including some involved in our new cultural projects, are reclaiming the high-rise condo field from developers with nice results. I think this is one area where we can unequivocally celebrate the strength of our local design talent. They don't feel compelled to make each condo tower a screaming landmark, intended to compete with corporate office towers, either. There's an interchangeability of general style, where fitting in seems as virtuous as standing out, regardless of whether KPMB, Diamond+Schmitt, aA, Hariri Pontarini, core, or whoever produced it. Still, we're not entirely out of the historicist woods yet, as ROCP and the Regency show. And there's the easy-sell populism of the Met, Lotus, Malibu and Panorama, with their I'm-not-a-glass-box curves, that can't be ignored either.
Maybe some of our better architects will hook up with builders and start designing attractive single family homes, in the hinterlands or wherever they're building them now for the masses, one of these days too.
None of our big new office towers strike me as being qualitatively any better, as attractive landmarks on our skyline, than the former BCE Place or Scotia Plaza were in their day. We're in an age where computer software allows designers to create compelling new forms, and a city like Toronto with a history of having once built tall office towers of international significance is a great location for something unique and new. If it can't be done with a brash corporate tower, where ought it to be done? Bay Adelaide in particular strikes me as a huge missed opportunity to add that next generation of structures to our skyline - it will sit on a large lot, offering possibilities of scale now scarce in the downtown core, and doesn't exploit it.
But architects, including some involved in our new cultural projects, are reclaiming the high-rise condo field from developers with nice results. I think this is one area where we can unequivocally celebrate the strength of our local design talent. They don't feel compelled to make each condo tower a screaming landmark, intended to compete with corporate office towers, either. There's an interchangeability of general style, where fitting in seems as virtuous as standing out, regardless of whether KPMB, Diamond+Schmitt, aA, Hariri Pontarini, core, or whoever produced it. Still, we're not entirely out of the historicist woods yet, as ROCP and the Regency show. And there's the easy-sell populism of the Met, Lotus, Malibu and Panorama, with their I'm-not-a-glass-box curves, that can't be ignored either.
Maybe some of our better architects will hook up with builders and start designing attractive single family homes, in the hinterlands or wherever they're building them now for the masses, one of these days too.
joel in to
New Member
Amazing update! These kinds of threads are the reason i first joined this forum years ago.
Observer Walt
Senior Member
I'll add my voice to the general chorus of thanks. This must have taken a significant amount of time.
Most of our recent buildings are pretty good, I think. We like to carp about some of them (sometimes even with good reason!), but there are no other cities in Canada, and few in North America, who can boast of a development scene comparable to this! Average people can live in the majority of these new condos, unlike many cities where they would be out of reach.
Shocker's comments are thoughtful, especially with regard to Bay-Adelaide, which does seem to have taken the safe route and doesn't push any envelopes.
Cultural facilities: good to see them going up, but certainly better when they are finished and we can actually step inside! I am very much looking forward to the new AGO, and the newly acquired art which will be contained therein.
Most of our recent buildings are pretty good, I think. We like to carp about some of them (sometimes even with good reason!), but there are no other cities in Canada, and few in North America, who can boast of a development scene comparable to this! Average people can live in the majority of these new condos, unlike many cities where they would be out of reach.
Shocker's comments are thoughtful, especially with regard to Bay-Adelaide, which does seem to have taken the safe route and doesn't push any envelopes.
Cultural facilities: good to see them going up, but certainly better when they are finished and we can actually step inside! I am very much looking forward to the new AGO, and the newly acquired art which will be contained therein.
Logan
Active Member
It isn't until you see all this in one post that you realize just how much construction there is! Thanks for the compilation.
One comment. "Boutique" condos (#24 or 27 on your list) shows the original building rendering. They have added a tower portion to the project which is 35 storeys.
There's a rendering here > www.boutiquecondos.ca
Nice looking building!
One comment. "Boutique" condos (#24 or 27 on your list) shows the original building rendering. They have added a tower portion to the project which is 35 storeys.
There's a rendering here > www.boutiquecondos.ca
Nice looking building!
spaced
Active Member
Testimonial
Archivist:
I enjoyed your posting so much it lead to an argument with my girlfriend regarding me "spending too much time reading 'building news'".
Thanks,
jm
ps. god, I hope you are using an old rendering of the Telus Tower. That mother is ug-ly!
pps. g/f says 'hi'
ppps. Happy New Year Everyone.
Archivist:
I enjoyed your posting so much it lead to an argument with my girlfriend regarding me "spending too much time reading 'building news'".
Thanks,
jm
ps. god, I hope you are using an old rendering of the Telus Tower. That mother is ug-ly!
pps. g/f says 'hi'
ppps. Happy New Year Everyone.
CDL.TO
Moderator
Did something happen at Shuter and Jarvis (#50)?
taal
Senior Member
That render isn't for the telus tower, I think it's for the proposed one across the street.
Have a look at http://www.menkes.com/telus/index.html
Regarding what your gf told you ... mine told me the exact same thing on multiple occasions
Have a look at http://www.menkes.com/telus/index.html
Regarding what your gf told you ... mine told me the exact same thing on multiple occasions
SP!RE
°°°°°°
That rendering was the older Telus Tower design, not the building across the street.
buildup
Senior Member
Sometimes I say I'm on UC, when I'm not...