I love this project!! I feel this is the most important development in Toronto now. Followed by the Bloor 1 tower and retail podium. Aura will revitalize the college area, as far as retail and future development goes.
When Sears tower was built , that area was run down and a kind of backwater, it has since been completely turned around and I predict within 15/20 years of completion, there will be a half dozen 650 ft/ 1000 ft towers in that area, as long as the market don't tank, meaning that cycle will be pushed back a little further as the market returns..
By 2040. that CP area should have a good degree of infill, and a continous skyline from the lake to Bloor!!!
I also think that the design will encourage development in that area, it will be a landmark and it should look great for decades, "I live just down the block from Aura" will be a marketing tool, along with the school, and subway!
For those who dont think Toronto embraces great design or bold new styles, Aura should be some form of reprieve, this tower is pretty bold and I hope they embrace it.:p
 
jetsbackincanada said:
I love this project!! I feel this is the most important development in Toronto now. Followed by the Bloor 1 tower and retail podium. Aura will revitalize the college area, as far as retail and future development goes.
When Sears tower was built , that area was run down and a kind of backwater, it has since been completely turned around and I predict within 15/20 years of completion, there will be a half dozen 650 ft/ 1000 ft towers in that area, as long as the market don't tank, meaning that cycle will be pushed back a little further as the market returns..
By 2040. that CP area should have a good degree of infill, and a continous skyline from the lake to Bloor!!!
I also think that the design will encourage development in that area, it will be a landmark and it should look great for decades, "I live just down the block from Aura" will be a marketing tool, along with the school, and subway!
For those who dont think Toronto embraces great design or bold new styles, Aura should be some form of reprieve, this tower is pretty bold and I hope they embrace it.:p
Click to expand...

Apart from being kinda tall and filling a in gap on Yonge street, what makes Aura "great design" and a "bold new style"? To me it looks pretty generic and forgettable, but maybe I'm missing something?
 
UrbanFervour said:
Apart from being kinda tall and filling a in gap on Yonge street, what makes Aura "great design" and a "bold new style"? To me it looks pretty generic and forgettable, but maybe I'm missing something?
Click to expand...

You're not missing anything. It is indeed pretty pretty generic and forgettable. If it's finished with proper window-wall glass it could look decent though, but it's all down to the exterior finishing.

sodapop, just a friendly FYI, there's an edit feature for posts.
 
At the ceremonial groundbreaking event, the old idea of a potential height increase to 85 stories was dismissed as no longer being contemplated. Sorry!

42
 
Never say never, but this was also the sentiment I received from Canderel at groundbreaking.

The full scope of this project has already hit 1.3 million square feet (double One Bloor).
 
To urban fervor
Well it's not a box, first of all, second it will have its own signature shape, iconic and unique, many great landmarks were initially unwelcome to the locals only to be cherished in time.... Eiffel, TransAmerica (SF), WTC , etc. It will be a building that will be very recognizeable, when Toronto fills in for New York in film/TV, they will have to avoid that tower much like the CN Tower, so people don't go ...Ohh thats...
The nite lighting scheme will really make it noticeable from many directions, and for miles, plus 800ft....800 ft.....oh yeah it's tall!!
The crown is also a fantastic feature unlike the top of most towers, with mech. boxes and such. It will stand alone for years, until the area catches up to it, making it something people will remember when they visit... poor Trump hidden down there, you will have to look for Trump, not Aura, you won't be able to miss it.
Lastly, so many American cities have no growth or development going on, and most of what was planned was scrapped with the downturn. To see such unbridled enthusiastic growth all over Toronto is so exciting, yet there is so much grumbling going on.... what would you like them to build??? That phony looking Dubai crap?? More boxes?? 1 Bloor, and Aura are as cool as any Miami condos, and better than most of the stuff built in Chicago, or even New York, even the cityplace stuff is pretty cool for todays architecture.
I am willing to bet that most everyone, once Aura is built, :confused:will love it!!
 
jetsbackincanada said:
To urban fervor
Well it's not a box, first of all, second it will have its own signature shape, iconic and unique, many great landmarks were initially unwelcome to the locals only to be cherished in time.... Eiffel, TransAmerica (SF), WTC , etc.
Click to expand...

Though right up to the doorstep of 9/11, the WTC tended to be cherished in only a very qualified or "accidental" way; you would have had to be insane to espouse it (or similar things like Albany's Empire State Plaza) as a positive urban planning model for the present time...
 
jetsbackincanada said:
To urban fervor
Well it's not a box, first of all, second it will have its own signature shape, iconic and unique, many great landmarks were initially unwelcome to the locals only to be cherished in time.... Eiffel, TransAmerica (SF), WTC , etc. It will be a building that will be very recognizeable, when Toronto fills in for New York in film/TV, they will have to avoid that tower much like the CN Tower, so people don't go ...Ohh thats...
The nite lighting scheme will really make it noticeable from many directions, and for miles, plus 800ft....800 ft.....oh yeah it's tall!!
The crown is also a fantastic feature unlike the top of most towers, with mech. boxes and such. It will stand alone for years, until the area catches up to it, making it something people will remember when they visit... poor Trump hidden down there, you will have to look for Trump, not Aura, you won't be able to miss it.
Lastly, so many American cities have no growth or development going on, and most of what was planned was scrapped with the downturn. To see such unbridled enthusiastic growth all over Toronto is so exciting, yet there is so much grumbling going on.... what would you like them to build??? That phony looking Dubai crap?? More boxes?? 1 Bloor, and Aura are as cool as any Miami condos, and better than most of the stuff built in Chicago, or even New York, even the cityplace stuff is pretty cool for todays architecture.
I am willing to bet that most everyone, once Aura is built, :confused:will love it!!
Click to expand...

The grumbling comes from people who have probably studied good design and know that buildings like this will probably end up being as inspiring and exciting as RoCP 1&2 (YUCK!)
But I agree with your points that (on the whole) Aura will likely be good for downtown. It will set an appropriate new height precedent, it will add significant density, and it will bridge the dead-zone of activity on Yonge between Gerrard and College with a significant podium... So I guess not all is bad.
 
I dont think ROCP is that bad, (though i have not seen them in person), giving the economic constraints on todays contractor, and the cost of skilled labor, precast , and connect the dots assembly is just the reality of todays design.
Stone work is as out of favor in economic cathedrals, as it is in churches.....if you ask me, modern church design is an interesting parallel, cheapened, modern designs , that would horrify the workers who assembled the stone masterpeices of yersteryear...there are no new cathedrals, or Chryslers, that being said, the overall impact on the skyline can be one of the few points of comparison between the past and present, and ROCP, has a nice silhouette, and looks great when looking south from bloor, again we love skyscrapers here, right?? Perhaps the horrible rows of low income housing, on NYC's lower east side, or south of Chicago will remind us, that glass, and spandrel, and precast ain't so bad, I know where I would rather live!!!!
Lastly, for midlevel income families, what is being built now that is so much better??? Trump/Ritz/ Shangri la are a different tax bracket, so City Place, and Success, would be similar ???
I dont think the sprawling fields of suburban townhomes, and sub divisions, are of any higher quality??? U get to live dowtown affordably, that makes rocp A HUGE SUCCESS!
 
Adma, I agree whole heartedly, on your WTC thoughts. I hate those buildings even after 9/11, out of scale to the historic wall street, and poorly laid out street plan, minimalist crap that never should have been built, but all the same, the Windows reataraunt, and the sheer size made them visible landmarks that people did grow attached to?? Although those sentiments have been dramatically enhanced by he events of 9/11. (we actually agree)
 
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