We’re talking here about the composition of the facades? The strategy of staggering rectangles of brick and glazing is not purely about budget. It’s a design strategy. Which nobody seems to like.

View attachment 261084
While the lower reaches are not exactly beautiful, that doesn't tend to be the part of Campus One that people hate particularly. In the meantime, as it says in our front page article, Diamond Schmitt have indicated that they only consider the current image to represent a massing model, that they have not applied a design to it yet. Campus One's early massing model looked nothing like what we ended up with - it looked great - go back to the early pages of that thread before the City said no to the height and Knightstone applied the screws on the exterior.

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I'm talking about the architectural expression of the building's skin: Diamond Schmitt are saying the what you are looking at so far only applies to a massing model. You're allowed to not like the massing too, of course, I'm just trying to tell people to not get worked up about the cladding. (Yet.)

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Preliminary Report on this one to the Oct 15th TEYCC.


Items on the City's radar vis a vis this proposal:

1601558211177.png
 

Graywood has proposed a 15-storey mixed-use project called 506 Church Street that would include 173 condo units and 11,539 square feet of retail and commercial space. Sales are expected to launch next year.

“It’s in the heart of The Village and we’re working very carefully with the local community associations to make sure we’re sensitive to the needs of that community,” said Price. “Our site houses a couple of very prominent restaurant, bar and entertainment venues, so we’re very conscious of that.

“We’re working with existing tenants to try and accommodate them in the future.”
 
Site Plan Approval application submited:

Development Applications

Updated project description:
Proposal for a 15-storey mixed-use building having a residential gross floor area of 12,371.0 square metres, and a non-residential gross floor area of 800 square metres. A total of 197 residential dwelling units, and 40 below grade parking spaces are proposed.
 
I think it's the very shiny spandrel that's throwing me off with this.
 


Event Information: 506-516 Church St - Virtual Community Consultation Meeting

Date and time:Wednesday, April 28, 2021 7:00 pm
Eastern Daylight Time (Toronto, GMT-04:00)
Change time zone
Duration:2 hours
Description:
The City has received an application to amend the Official Plan and Zoning By-law for the property at 506-516 Church Street to permit the redevelopment of the site with a 15-storey mixed-use building comprised of 1,072 square metres of non-residential floor area and 12,708 square metres of residential floor area. A portion of the existing building at 508-510 Church Street is proposed to be retained. A total of 173 dwelling units are proposed.

Please visit the Site's Application Information Centre website at https://aic.to/506ChurchSt for more information.

You can also view a copy of the Preliminary Report providing background information at: http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2020.TE19.26
 
Given the constraints on the site (angular planes, etc.), and the need to avoid it looking like a single slab towering over Church Street, the new articulation with terrace on every floor is a massive step up from the original unbelievably clunky massing, as per below.

1595883018242-png.260088


The 'dormer' treatment at the top of the taller sections facing Church is also a step in the right direction, while its edges next to the Crews/Tango buildings are more deferential, not boxing it in as much.

42831-132800.jpeg


Hopefully the widows are given a more clear treatment as per the new simple renderings than awful the mirror treatment in the old simple renderings.

The difference between the north and south halves looks better now too. I believe it's necessary to make these look like two adjacent buildings rather than one continuous one to avoid having something that looks like a new slab loom over Church.

Anyway, it's nothing an architect would design given fewer constraints on the site, but it's much better than it was.

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Brief commentary from this Renx article last week:

Graywood also proposes a 15-storey mixed-use project called 506 Church Street that would include 173 condo units and 11,539 square feet of retail and commercial space. Hamilton called it a “work in progress” and said Graywood continues to work with the city’s planning staff on approvals.

 
Boutique Bar at 506 Church Street, which is among one of the properties included in this project, will be closing at the end of the month on November 30, 2021.

 

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