If the design prompt for the towers was someone at G+C asking “how can we smush two of the best looking midtown projects (E Condos and 150/155 Redpath) into a single development and end up with an utter affront to architecture and design?”, I think they nailed it.

As for the podium… oh boy... I can’t even imagine what the thought behind that was.
 
If the design prompt for the towers was someone at G+C asking “how can we smush two of the best looking midtown projects (E Condos and 150/155 Redpath) into a single development and end up with an utter affront to architecture and design?”, I think they nailed it.

As for the podium… oh boy... I can’t even imagine what the thought behind that was.
You're implying that there was thought?
 
Can someone please explain to the architects in this city (especially G+C) that endless curtainwall at street level is garbage?

I mean, everything else about this is also awful, but like, the complete lack of effort at designing a remotely pleasant pedestrian environment is starting to get really annoying in this city.
 
Is G+C actually an architect group though? I thought they were just an adolescent sketch artist group learning how to draw things for the first time.
I was going to suggest that a 6 year old could do better by just scribbling on paper but decided not to because I thought the comparison would be an insult to the 6 year old.
 
After spending some time looking over the architectural plans, I have to say I find the renderings a fair bit deceiving. Here's why:

First, they've chosen to render the window wall on the glass without any detail whatsoever (e.g. mullions, spandrel vs. vision panels, etc.) which while I generally find a mark of sloppiness, isn't necessarily uncommon. The problem with doing this, however, is that it gives basically no depth to the window wall and makes it very hard to actually discern where the window wall is located.

In effect, doing so makes this building look like it has near wraparound balconies where the white fritted motif is. But this building doesn't have wraparound balconies at all. The balconies are actually recessed in, and the window wall will not be set back from the edge of the floorplate, it will extend right to the edge.

This means that it will be much more visible than if it was universally set back in a wraparound balcony style. Given that this is G+C, I think we can make a pretty safe guess as to how the window wall will look. Ultimately, it seems like these renderings actually *overestimate* how these buildings will actually turn out...

Here are some floor plans and elevations for reference.

Typical tower floorplan, which shows the recessed balconies:
1637287793719.png


East elevation, which shows the depth difference very clearly with the shadows:
1637287887944.png


Zoomed in east elevation, for ease of viewing:
1637287993246.png


Also, the crown (mechanical penthouse) is rendered as a clear glass box, but it's actually more like 70% spandrel glass:
1637288187178.png
1637288205913.png


Additionally, I figured there might be some value in bringing forward this Yonge Street elevation.
1637288436068.png
 
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Is G+C actually an architect group though? I thought they were just an adolescent sketch artist group learning how to draw things for the first time.
They seem to picking off some of biggest plumb spots off late. Perhaps The City should put a moratorium on them...as Toronto needs to start moving/evolving away from the lowest common denominator designs. And these guys are not helping at all in that. /sigh
 
You know the city cannot do that right?
 

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