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Urban Shocker said:
The fifth TD tower, the Ernst & Young building, looks like it was squeezed into the complex and plunked uneasily on top of the old Stock Exchange as an afterthought. It is faux-Mies by Bregman+Hamann. In a perfect world I wouldn't mind seeing that one removed, to give some breathing space and return to the original plan. With its repitition of form, proportion, texture and colour the centre is considered one of Mies's masterworks. The Georgian and Victorian Toronto downtown that we admire so much was also built from many similarly-sized buildings, constructed with similar materials, all contributing to a similar sense of wholeness and continuity in the streetscape. Our current good neo-Modernist architects are producing buildings that are practically interchangeable in form, and they're doing much the same thing today that the Georgians and Victorians were doing - fitting in and expanding the context. It is perfectly possible to build an entire city this way, from beautifully-proportioned buildings that don't shout for attention and diss their neighbours.
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Too much continuity is monotonous. You need variation.
 
Variation is part of the process described above. I.M. Pei's Commerce Court, for instance, repeated the same proportions and size as the TD Centre but varied the colour and texture, and it expanded what was already there in harmony with it. KPMB's King James Place and Jerome Markson's Market Square date from over a century after the Old Town was built, but they adopt the proportions and scale of the Georgian and Victorian Toronto that they're situated in and extend the forms of that earlier era into the present day in harmony with it.
 
the correct answer is:

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I am ashamed of those towers. It was so awkward when my girlfriend moved here from New York and saw those hideous things for the first time.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Variation is part of the process described above. I.M. Pei's Commerce Court, for instance, repeated the same proportions and size as the TD Centre but varied the colour and texture, and it expanded what was already there in harmony with it. KPMB's King James Place and Jerome Markson's Market Square date from over a century after the Old Town was built, but they adopt the proportions and scale of the Georgian and Victorian Toronto that they're situated in and extend the forms of that earlier era into the present day in harmony with it.
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BANG ON TARGET! You know what Urban Shocker? I'm beginning to realize that you are not just another pretty face!!
 
Demolishing Ontario Place would be outrageous. It's another icon which is seen some of our postcards, and overall a good looking and innovative structure.
 
I'm sure we had a thread like this earlier this year or late 2007.

2 Bloor East, at least the Bay Bunker. I really don't mind 2 Bloor West.
Harbour Square
Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre
Jorgenson Hall

There's also buildings I hate, but not on my list for demolition, like 77 Elm or Grad House.

Variation is part of the process described above. I.M. Pei's Commerce Court, for instance, repeated the same proportions and size as the TD Centre but varied the colour and texture, and it expanded what was already there in harmony with it. KPMB's King James Place and Jerome Markson's Market Square date from over a century after the Old Town was built, but they adopt the proportions and scale of the Georgian and Victorian Toronto that they're situated in and extend the forms of that earlier era into the present day in harmony with it.
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I'll file this away for the Distillery District debate.
 
I definitely wouldn't support demolishing Ontario Place. The buildings are fine; they just have to put something in them.

When this thread came up last time, I mentioned that there's a strange soft spot in my heart for the Hudson Bay Centre/2 Bloor East. Scarberiankhatru suggested that I needed to see a cardiologist.

The Gardiner would also be pretty much at the top of my list, though it's not really a building. Even though it often saves me a few minutes, I think the city does not need an elevated expressway dividing downtown from the waterfront. Even more, I'd love to see the rail corridor buried, but that seems like it would be too much to wish for, even though reports have said it's feasible.

Now, on the other hand, there are plenty of buildings I wouldn't like to see built...
 
Ontario Place is really hard to come up with a use for, even though it's close to the exhibition grounds, it's a pain to get to by anything other than car. They should get rid of all those surface parking lots and activate that space better. Even if it just means more parks.

The Gardiner, by Union at least, is now a heritage structure from what I understand. I actually really like the whole thing, I just wish it was cleaned up.

Metropolis hasn't been mentioned yet? Must be too obvious :p

Pantages tower (yuck), and the Hudson (especially the colour, but also the moisture and expansion joints in the brickwork make it look like cheap ugly-coloured veneer - the worst). And I'm sure the CityPlace building with the crazy-cheap looking red brick balconies will turn out real monstrous.
 
SeanTrans said:
I'm sure we had a thread like this earlier this year or late 2007.

2 Bloor East, at least the Bay Bunker. I really don't mind 2 Bloor West.
Harbour Square
Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre
Jorgenson Hall

There's also buildings I hate, but not on my list for demolition, like 77 Elm or Grad House.
Click to expand...

now, jorgenson hall and 77 elm are very good examples of brutalist architecture in my view, Graduate House (if thats what you mean) is also a fine modern building...
theyre unusual buildings but i love them...

i do agree that the westin harbour and the bay bunker are horrible
 
Mystery White Boy said:
Pretty much all of downtown Toronto save for a few buildings. One thing I really hate is the TD Centre. 4 identical black towers. Such a waste. They would have been better off with 2 tall towers or 4 distinct buildings. The downtown skyline has too many twin towers. Even triplets.
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Mies van der Rohe is the architect of the century and you want to bring down one of his masterpieces and what is arguably the finest block in downtown toronto?

ok...

(i don't mind seeing the ernst & young tower gone though as its not really part of mies' plan)
 
Whether you build cities by adapting to the forms and proportions of structures that already exist and expanding that context, or by linking the old with the new by setting up complementary design opposites - or a combination of both approaches - what counts is doing it well. There are so many buildings that don't do either it's almost impossible to know where to aim the wrecking ball first. At the same time there's this awkward trend to facadectomy, which mostly results in orphaned buildings that no longer have their original neighbours being awkwardly incorporated into larger developments that often look as if they would work better without them.

Getting back to the subject of this thread, a bold, 9/11-like strike at just about any pretentious trophy-building - take the Cheddington ( please! ) - would be my first choice.
 
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