UrbanFervour said:
The waterfront is the beginning, centre and end of the city. Lake Ontario is literally the reason our city exists.
We can have the opportunity to shape something beautiful, memorable, attractive to locals and visitors alike, high in tax revenue potential, and the face of the city. Or we can build another ... what... South Core? City Place? Liberty Village? West Donlands (Grey Gardens)? The waterfront presents a HUGE opportunity for Toronto - I don't understand how people are indifferent about what gets built there.
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I'm not indifferent to what gets built on the waterfront but, I just don't see it defining the Toronto of today. We are a Great Lakes but, I think having the greatest waterfront in the world wouldn't make us that much more of a waterfront city. It's just too cold.

Grey Gardens? I believe you do like being cynical.
 
Filip said:
Well our pension funds are patrons of fine architecture elsewhere. Just not here.
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I think projects spearheaded by the real estate arms of our pension funds are pretty consistent everywhere. They do make great investment partners for more design conscience developers elsewhere. We just need to wrangle some up here.
 
Skeezix said:
Not to mention much of it is in public hands. With public authorities in the driver's seat on sites such as this, where they can control who ultimately builds what, we should theoretically be able to insist on better results.
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This. Precisely this.

It should be a government mandate to whenever possible strive for the finest architecture. This econotecture spree by the public sector is highly unlike them. Ontario and Toronto once built landmarks. And the price was never severely contorted because of it.

At the end of the day it's in the public good. And as long as a certain degree of prudence is taken, the people are generally for it. Whimsical architecture or simply the use of warmer materials adds so much to the public sphere. It feeds the soul and the sea of grey in Toronto can be really soul sucking, especially in the winter.
 
Just catching up with this (and every other thread), having had a crazy schedule over the last couple of days.

This building still has to go to the Waterfront Design Review Panel. These are the people who recently told Menkes that the design for the Waterfront Innovation Centre was not innovative enough to deserve that name. It's too early to assume that this one rendering represents what we will end up with.

There's got to be a happy medium where the design of this building can be more expressive without pushing the cost of it into the stratosphere, nor looking like it. Besides, I also agree that government agencies which are charged with improving the public realm—like Waterfront Toronto is—have a mandate to insist upon better than bottom-line architecture.

Meanwhile, why is everyone going on about "prefect square" here? The building is at minimum cereal box shaped, and if you look at how the tower meets the podium roof, you'll see there's an angle in there, suggesting the tower may be a parallelogram.

Anyway, I still say this is too preliminary a design. It will be interesting to watch this evolve a bit.

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I hope to see more than just the LCBO Tower on this planning application

55 LAKE SHORE BLVD E
Ward 28 - Tor & E.York District

Proposed Use --- # of Storeys --- # of Units ---
Applications:
Type Number Date Submitted Status
Subdivision Approval 16 152754 STE 28 SB May 9, 2016 Application Received
OPA & Rezoning 16 152742 STE 28 OZ May 9, 2016 Application Received
 
Images.

5731d21c74263_Menkes_Waterfront_Image_1.jpeg
5731d24ee7126_Menkes_Waterfront_Image_2.jpeg
 

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Sad thing is that along with Parkin, Bregman Hamann were the architects of record on the TD Centre:

bh7-td-centre.jpg

Image c/o Robart Moffatt
 
ProjectEnd said:
Sad thing is that along with Parkin, Bregman Hamann were the architects of record on the TD Centre:

bh7-td-centre.jpg

Image c/o Robart Moffatt
Click to expand...
I never really thought these buildings had such a Gotham feel to them before this photo.

Anyway, the LCBO tower's podium looks excellent to me, for an office tower.
 
55 LAKE SHORE BLVD E
Ward 28 - Tor & E.York District

Subdivision Approval application to permit a mixed-use development, including a new office/retail building, 6 mixed-use buildings and a public park
Proposed Use --- # of Storeys --- # of Units ---
Applications:
Type Number Date Submitted Status
Subdivision Approval 16 152754 STE 28 SB May 9, 2016 Under Review
OPA & Rezoning 16 152742 STE 28 OZ May 9, 2016 Under Review

▼ Supporting Documentation
 
Menkes did a decent job on Telus tower, same with Four Seasons...it won't be ground breaking, but I'm optimistic.
 
Huh.

The residential towers on the north side of Harbour Street are proposed at 65, 70, 74, 76, 80, and 85 storeys tall. That's a range of roof heights between 225.5 metres and 288.5 metres tall. I think that's a little higher than the Lower Yonge Precinct Plan envisioned.

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