isaidso said:
It's not nearly as nice as the original renderings suggested but still more appealing than those soul-less expanses of glass that have blemished the city the last 25 years.
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Right, render-wise is fine. But architects need to start to present things like they will be, not as they wish they were. It's going to stay ugly for decades now. It's like they have no imagination at all to even think "Will my design look like a prison?". Instead they'll circle jerk about how 'liveable' these cells are.

Also, I've seen these bronze/copper imitation cladding everywhere in King West and the materials they use are really a let down. The Well and the other building at Front and Portland have them. They look very cheap, kind of Las Vegas cheap.
 
A big issues I have with the building is not the materials, but the scale. It has the proportions of a "tower in a park" in an area with buildings with much smaller SF.
 
...I still want to see the detailing finished before I declare it a "correctional facility" though. But to be fair, there's few examples around this city I would declare as such before this one.
 
piponwa said:
Right, render-wise is fine. But architects need to start to present things like they will be, not as they wish they were. It's going to stay ugly for decades now. It's like they have no imagination at all to even think "Will my design look like a prison?". Instead they'll circle jerk about how 'liveable' these cells are.

Also, I've seen these bronze/copper imitation cladding everywhere in King West and the materials they use are really a let down. The Well and the other building at Front and Portland have them. They look very cheap, kind of Las Vegas cheap.
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The ones at the Well look red to me? You mean the red fins in the office building right?
 
ProjectEnd said:
So leave.
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PE, that's a bit harsh.

The critique of the building's aesthetic is a fair one. As always, aesthetics are subjective. But I agree w/the posters take. The massing here is really overbearing, the podium is just ugh, and the rest is still unfortunate.

I take it you would differ, and that too is fine.
 
Northern Light said:
PE, that's a bit harsh.

The critique of the building's aesthetic is a fair one. As always, aesthetics are subjective. But I agree w/the posters take. The massing here is really overbearing, the podium is just ugh, and the rest is still unfortunate.

I take it you would differ, and that too is fine.
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As an example of being subjective on the aesthetics here, I mostly disagree with this view. <3

...that said though, I suspect design restrictions (read: conservative) of this thing where coming from developer side...and not from the Nordic architect.
 
It definitely reads as a tower in the park, due to its slabby proportions, despite the podium that goes right to the street and a lack of any "park" component. I'm not sure how to read this building, but it definitely reminds me of a correctional facility. The grey tones of the cladding only strengthen this association.
I'm sure it'll read as less sterile once its occupied and immersed in the urban fabric in the coming months and years.
 
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A lot of people seem to think everything needs to be a point tower. They're hostile to any building with proportions like 88 Bathurst unless it was built 100+ years ago in Europe. Then they gush over it like it's the most marvellous thing ever. I was down in King West yesterday. This building is a breath of fresh air and adds variety to the neighbourhood.

There are also those who hate anything that's not glass. God forbid a building have actual walls, colour, and texture. 88 Bathurst is the same colour as Aqualuna if it needed saying.
 
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Couldn't care less about the finishes. I just find the massing oppressive and the ground/podium boring. Not that it matters but, a block long podium under a point tower is equally boring. An 18 storey 100 plus metre slab that hugs the street (if there are step backs than they are, in typical Toronto fashion, ceremonial) is what makes this oppressive. Break this apart into three abutting buildings, 10 to 12 storeys tall, with one major medium rise step back and you'd have something dense, interesting with still a sense of human scale. However, it's urban centre urbanity over packing as many people in.
 
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