[interchange42]

The cladding of the mechanical penthouse here though shows no attempt to be anything other than purely functional, with nothing to visually balance the louvered sections, no attempt to reflect any of the design of the rest of the building, and as such it looks lazy and cheap to me. U Condos mechanicals seen in some of the same photos, and by the same architect, incorporate actual design and look much better.

42

 

[TheKingEast]

 

[G.L.17]

From yesterday:

 

[Hamiltonian]

Hate the Bay Street frontage, mostly love the rest. Yippee!

 

[Miscreant]

I'll add the St. Joseph st. frontage as well. In fact, the entire base of the tower just isn't working. The rest of it is pretty nice, though the second tower on the south side could have staggered balconies too. I'm not sure why it doesn't...

 

[condovo]

August 24, 2016

 

[maestro]

The cladding of the mechanical penthouse here though shows no attempt to be anything other than purely functional, with nothing to visually balance the louvered sections, no attempt to reflect any of the design of the rest of the building, and as such it looks lazy and cheap to me. U Condos mechanicals seen in some of the same photos, and by the same architect, incorporate actual design and look much better.

42

I don't see anything wrong with a purely functional aesthetic over one that may incorporate actual design but, doesn't mesh with the rest of the tower. A simple, setback box that can only be seen from afar or a high elevation would have looked better on U.

 

[interchange42]

Nah.

42

 

[TheKingEast]

 

[junctionist]

If the mechanical penthouse will be visible from many perspectives, then it should be incorporated into the design of the building and designed with finesse. In this case, there's a jarring contrast between the dynamic use of light horizontal lines in the balcony slabs and the heavy vertical qualities of the mechanical penthouse. It seems heavy handed and inelegant.

 

[steveve]

The mechanical:

 

[stjames2queenwest]

aA seems to like the no apologies/ disguising of their mech levels. Seems like they like the "Hat" approach.
The tower is gorgeous, the podium is not, however when you are walking past it, you are not looking at the lifeless podium. In part because the tower is so eye catching and striking, and also because there is nothing worth looking at along the street. Maybe retail will change this. Sadly this is a recurring theme for this north stretch of Bay.

 

[maestro]

If the mechanical penthouse will be visible from many perspectives, then it should be incorporated into the design of the building and designed with finesse. In this case, there's a jarring contrast between the dynamic use of light horizontal lines in the balcony slabs and the heavy vertical qualities of the mechanical penthouse. It seems heavy handed and inelegant.

The vertical vents are particularly unfortunate here. Unfortunately, I find many incorporated mechanical penthouses to be heavy handed and inelegant. I wish more consideration to the design of mechanical penthouse was given to the effect of balconies on the rest of tower. Why couldn't X2 have stepbacks or grilles that coincided with the inset balconies below the penthouse. I've said once and I'll say it again. I prefer X over X2. I agree the elevator overrun isn't great from 180 Restaurant.

 

[stjames2queenwest]

No way x2 mech is far superior. One of the best mech levels of recent in my opinion. Looking at them both right now. X2 is one of the nicest new buildings in my opinion (x is nice too but I like the mech level incorporation on x2 more)

 

[ProjectEnd]

I'm not bugged by it. I also agree with @maestro in that of the two, for me, X is superior.