differential said:
This is far far superior to what was there before. The blue glass complements the orange building next door and the white should brighten up the view from NPS. The old ugly concrete tower really made the area look cold especially with NPS next door.
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Most of us liked the "old ugly concrete tower", and for the record, there was nothing wrong with it to begin with
 
I always thought it was a dour facade with the beige concrete cladding and the brown tinted windows. They almost never used the distinctive lantern lighting feature at the penthouse level. The way it meets the heritage Simpson's retail complex is an awkward mess of faded panel cladding. (At least they tried to blend new and old in one complex, which was unusual with skyscraper projects in the 1960s.)

I could even appreciate the recladding project if they weren't planning on destroying the lantern at the top and the concrete columns along the facade, whose rigidity contrasts nicely with the lightness of glass cladding. The green stripes that are part of the new cladding are uninspired.

Overall, I think the tower will lose its character with this renovation project with little to show for it. It's bound to become a generic and disposable tower, when it could have retained its character with a restored and modernized penthouse lantern and tasteful new windows.
 
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raptor said:
Most of us liked the "old ugly concrete tower", and for the record, there was nothing wrong with it to begin with
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Meh, sick of concrete. Between this, the Sheraton Hotel, and NPS, there is too much of it in one area. This reclad isn't great and could have been much better, but it is an improvement for the area nonetheless.

I will say I prefer the yellowish columns in that photo to the white being installed over it.

NPS could use a reclad as well, though that one should be done much more carefully than the Simpson building.
 
You seem to have zero respect for architecture from different decades and want everything to look trendy/current. Why not re-clad the CN Tower in glass while you're at it.
 
isaidso said:
You seem to have zero respect for architecture from different decades and want everything to look trendy/current. Why not re-clad the CN Tower in glass while you're at it.
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70s brutalist concrete office buildings/hotels are not something I respect, any change to those is often an improvement.

The CN Tower is an exception.
 
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Surprise, surprise
- look what Cadillac Fairview is installing at the top of the Canaccord Tower (Pacific Centre) in Vancouver:

Pic by me tonight.

hVdtKOQ.jpg
 
A photo update in another thread made me realize that there's a good counterpoint project to this one from a few years back. The condo conversion of the old Four Seasons at 21 Avenue Road that's quite visible in these photos by @ADRM involved a better refurbishment of the facade. The concrete was painted and new windows were installed, but they largely kept its original character intact with its unique geometric features like the bay windows.

Admittedly, they butchered it at street level, but the tower itself looks sharp and attractive post-renovation with much of its original character intact. The new colour combination of the concrete and windows is different. But it's arguably better that the more monotonous original iteration. The changes could always be undone, anyway, which is also good.
 
A little more of the vertical cladding has appeared.

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This is project is just disgusting in every way, shape, and form imaginable. There's not one section of this building that transitions well with the other.
 
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