Mike in TO said:
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Why are they having two different architects design the podium and the tower, and why weren't they allowed to discuss each other's work during the design process? Is this the rushed final product of some kind of reality real estate development show?

42
 
One of the more unusual mixed-use developments - the lower floors will house Vestal Virgins - and the design reflects that.
 
Why are they having two different architects design the podium and the tower, and why weren't they allowed to discuss each other's work during the design process? Is this the rushed final product of some kind of reality real estate development show?
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42, as Urban Shocker alluded two this is a rather unique mixed use development with two very different clients and the design of the building represents a separation between the private girls school and the high-end condos - I think the institutional nature of the school should have a visual difference from the tower. It is not a typical podium.

As for the design process - Yann Weymouth is a very accomplished architect with notable projects around the world. Aspen Ridge should be applauded for going after that high caliber an architect in only their second high-rise project. It would be nice to see more developers take design as seriously as Aspen Ridge has with only two developments in their track record. The exterior materials will also be very high-end which should enhance the structure.
 
That said, I think there is something rather ... questionable ... about positioning a luxury condo like that, squatting atop a school for young Catholic gels. Could they not have gone for a side-by-side approach, rather than a tops-and-bottoms one?
 
love that nice long curve on the "backside"!

yep, doesnt quite seem right does it, mixing something very conservative like the girls school with a sexy, very modern glass condo?!?!
 
I like Yann Weymouth's tower here, and I'm not against a visual differentiation for the two distinct uses for the building, and I won't worry about the top/bottom thing...

but I wonder why the two sections of the building don't even look related to each other? It would make more sense to me if they looked like cousins; if they looked like they were constructed at the same time. Multi-part complexes that are constructed concurrently normally are designed with complimentary components. Here they seem to be saying that this glass building is new building added above an older, unrelated project. The podium doesn't have to be an all-glass affair to be related, but it should share some design elements. It would be more honest.

42
 
I think a successful design contrast is set up between the mechanically regimented lower section - smallish windows, spaced equally, and a look that says "cloistered institution" - and the glassy, curved, freeform, setback, upper condo section that does give it a unity as a whole.

But, because of the blurring of boundaries between the sacred and the profane that the unnatural proximities of this design set up, as a decent godfearing citizen I'm still left with the sneaking suspicion that elevator shafts from the condo above will penetrate deep into the inner sanctum of the girls school below, that a vile traffic in human flesh will take place with chaste young women periodically transported upwards to a garden of earthly delights at the behest of jaded old lechers and swingers with a taste for take-out living in the condos, and that none of us on the street will be able to stop any of it because the building colludes in the deception.
 
... or at least one would like to think so!

I am impressed with this design. As already mentioned, it sets the bar high, although much less would not have been accepted in this location, which is neighbour to some of the highest of the high-ed new projects, not to mention artistic and educational institutions.
 
July 25

http://www.77charles.com/

Hoarding is going up so demolition of the private French School "Lycée Français de Toronto" should begin soon.

From Wikipedia:
The Lycée Français de Toronto is a French school of modest size located in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1995, it had 350 students in the 2007–08 school year. Currently located at 77 Charles Street West in downtown Toronto. It will be relocating as of September 2008 to new school buildings at 2327 Dufferin Street. The Lycée Français de Toronto nevertheless offers the full range of grades in the French educational system, from pre-school to the Baccalaureate, alongside teaching on Canadian history, geography and economy.
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This project has such a 1990s Toronto PoMo feel... me loves it :)

Do we know where sales stats are at?
 
The sales office is now closed and new hoarding is up indicating construction will begin in Spring 2009.
 
A demolition permit was applied for in July 08 and is still under review. As you can see below, the permit to actually start construction was only applied for a few weeks ago. It could be a year before they get all the necessary permits.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Application: Partial Permit Status: Not Started

Location: 77 CHARLES ST W
TORONTO ON M5S 1K5

Ward 27: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 08 170266 FND 00 PP Accepted Date: Dec 5, 2008

Project: Mixed Use/Res w Non Res Partial Permit - Foundation

Description: Part Permit - Proposal to construct a 16 sty mixed use building (4 levels of below grade parking, floors 1-4 to be occupied by Kintore College, floors 5-16 condo with 46 residential units).
 
The sales centre is closed now and a large banner announcing construction beginning (I believe it stated Spring 2009) has been put up.

There were construction machines beginning some initial demolition around the edge of the site a few days ago.
 
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