It's a tradeoff, if the city feels that the positive value from the section 37 benefits outweighs the negatives of a height increase, that, in your example, could increase shadowing, they'll take it, or they'll negotiate to such an amount until they feel such value has been achieved. Wind tunnels are normally mitigated by the podiums (which is why many new buildings have them), and that's not something that normally changes through negotiating with the city with regards to section 37 agreements.
 
From the DRP meeting – March 18, 2014........http://www1.toronto.ca/City Of Toro...sign/Files/pdf/DRP/DRP Minutes March 2014.pdf

50 Bloor Street West
Pellow & Associates
Morguard Corp.
Rezoning Application

Positives:
- the celebration of retail in the heart of city
- efforts to improve residential address and north-south
connectivity on the lane
- the move to put townhouses on the roof deck, rather than
trying to make it a public space

Problems:
- mid-block north-south connectivity at grade is missing from
proposal
- bulkiness of tower; the building floor plates are too large
- separation to the new tower on the 2 Bloor site is not
acceptable, tending to tower over-crowding
- the base building feels massive from the perspective of a
pedestrian; there is no justification for the height of the base
- the building expression doesn’t appear to have changed much
from previous review

Recommended Refinements
- reduce floor plate size and density
- provide more connectivity at grade
- address proximity and skyview issues
- create a bigger setback and try to move the tower west
- lower the height of the base
- further refine the building expression; an 80-storey building
has to be exceptional
 
UppVsZ2.jpg
 
further refine the building expression; an 80-storey building has to be exceptional
Click to expand...

In other words...we will look pretty stupid poo-pooing an 80-story Frank Gehry building, and then approving this dog's breakfast.
 
did you do this yourself or got it from somewhere? looks cool except the lower part.
 
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It'd look a lot better if they chopped off that triangle piece at the top and just continued the box up higher.
 
Nothing like a bad change to make one appreicate an original. Was the tower change in response to cliche-criticism along the lines of "stacked boxes"?
The podium floor plate does not too big to me. Bloor has a shortage of large retail spaces which is part of the reason retail is moving south.
 
Looks like a dog's breakfast; no major theme or even recurring subthemes; just a bunch of different ideas thrown together. Blech.
 
The reason that this 80 story skyscraper is getting considered when the Frank Gehry towers aren't is because Frank Gehry is proposing 3 80 story skyscrapers. Obviously anyone would choose any one of those towers over this one.
 
more over Gehry's towers are 280+ meter towers in an area zoned for 160 meter towers. This guy is a 280 meter tower in an area zoned for 295 meter towers.
 
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