Youtube vids from the TD Centre,
*excuse the weird video warping... crappy auto-stabilization at it's best

[video=youtube;lhScIvMxeTA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhScIvMxeTA[/video]

*apparently you can only post 1 video.. more vids on this channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/steveveisthebest/videos
 
The busy, cheap looking cladding reminds me of the three tower development at the NW corner of York and Queen's Quay. It's one of my least favourite buildings--junky and tired looking, dirty, tacky (and the parking garage right behind it facing the Gardiner is an abomination...). I wonder if in 10 years Aura will look the same, albeit almost three times the height. Some would argue it already does...
 
You guys are so negative it's beyond belief. We are getting a 900ft building all you people do is complain. Yes we know, Aura is not an architectural gem. It's not a L Tower visually. But to be honest... it's not that bad. Anyone I show the tower to in person, they only say positive things and go on about how tall it's going to be. The general public is not walking by this tower and screaming in disgust. Aura is mediocre at best, but certainly not an eyesore. I think it'll turn out decent enough once completed. The quality isn't overly high, agreed BUT there are WAY uglier buildings in this city let me tell you.
 
travis3000 said:
You guys are so negative it's beyond belief. We are getting a 900ft building all you people do is complain. Yes we know, Aura is not an architectural gem. It's not a L Tower visually. But to be honest... it's not that bad. Anyone I show the tower to in person, they only say positive things and go on about how tall it's going to be. The general public is not walking by this tower and screaming in disgust. Aura is mediocre at best, but certainly not an eyesore. I think it'll turn out decent enough once completed. The quality isn't overly high, agreed BUT there are WAY uglier buildings in this city let me tell you.
Click to expand...

I'm normally much more an observeror on these forums but there is so much wrong with this statement that I just had to weigh in.

Your analogy is pathetic. Aura is that bad. It doesn't matter if it is 200ft or 2000ft. It's bad. The fact that it is tall is not a saving grace. We're just getting more dull, mish-mashed dreck. I'd much prefer if it was tiny because it is so poorly designed and executed. It is absolutely an eyesore. I stare at it every day out my office window and simply wish it wasn't there. It's almost completed. There is no saving grace coming. The cladding (all 45 types of it, it seems. I swear they must have got a great deal on some sort of "value mixer pack" of cladding, spandrel and mullions on this one) is already there and looking terrible. This won't be like 300 Front where everyone wasn't sure about it when it was 30% done and not looking too good. The retail is hideous and not even functional. The underground and street level areas add very little to the surrounding area. Not because of the boring retail that is there but because of the poor design and low budget materials used. It looks like they are using the cheapest materials available from top to bottom here.

Sorry. It just isn't good for this city. And like I said the fact that it is tall is no saving grace. That's like saying sure a Dodge Caravan is boring, forgettable and mostly pretty cheap...but look how much of it you get!
 
travis3000 said:
You guys are so negative it's beyond belief. We are getting a 900ft building all you people do is complain. Yes we know, Aura is not an architectural gem. It's not a L Tower visually. But to be honest... it's not that bad. Anyone I show the tower to in person, they only say positive things and go on about how tall it's going to be. The general public is not walking by this tower and screaming in disgust. Aura is mediocre at best, but certainly not an eyesore. I think it'll turn out decent enough once completed. The quality isn't overly high, agreed BUT there are WAY uglier buildings in this city let me tell you.
Click to expand...

oh man here we go again. have you assigned a few macro keys on your computer to save time when you post this stuff?:

"We are getting a 900ft building all you people do is complain"
"Yes we know, Aura is not an architectural gem."
"But to be honest... it's not that bad."
"Anyone I show the tower to in person, they only say positive things and go on about how tall it's going to be."
"Aura is mediocre at best, but certainly not an eyesore."
"I think it'll turn out decent enough once completed"

and my personal fav:

"The quality isn't overly high"
 
milanista said:
Aura is that bad. It doesn't matter if it is 200ft or 2000ft. It's bad. The fact that it is tall is not a saving grace. We're just getting more dull, mish-mashed dreck. I'd much prefer if it was tiny because it is so poorly designed and executed. It is absolutely an eyesore.
Click to expand...

Well I guess "different strokes for different folks", .....Id say this project is an improvement to a city that until recently, hasn't designed and built anything more than a bunch of boring glass boxes. Look around:eek:
 
milanista said:
The fact that it is tall is not a saving grace. We're just getting more dull, mish-mashed dreck. I'd much prefer if it was tiny because it is so poorly designed and executed.
Click to expand...

that is exactly the point. the height of Aura is precisely why it is so offensive, why it is such a disaster. the size doesn't make it better--it makes it worse.

if it was a 25 story condo on some windswept corner of the GTA, it wouldn't even warrant a thread on this forum
 
The only positive thing that I think I can say in Aura's defense is that its mediocre, definite non-luxury status, large volume of condo units will probably result in units that fall in price into affordable status for those that make a median income and want to live downtown.
 
Automation Gallery said:
Well I guess "different strokes for different folks", .....Id say this project is an improvement to a city that until recently, hasn't designed and built anything more than a bunch of boring glass boxes. Look around:eek:
Click to expand...

There are plenty of fine mid-rise and high-rise projects, look around. Aura is not an improvement over about one third of the really good to great buildings that have gone up in the past decade.
 
Thernan said:
Lol, Aura needs a Myspace shot to look decent...
Click to expand...

The view of Aura from my office at 390 Bay is actually its best angle, as far as I've seen. For some reason the light always seems to hit it in such a way that the effect of the spandrel is minimized. It's at just the right distance away where the deficiencies can't really be observed but the overall massing and broader strokes of the design can be. Ultimately, it's got far more bad vantage points than good.


[video=youtube;TFeUrC2gR30]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFeUrC2gR30[/video]
 
The Aura Webcam is lookin pretty crazy right now:

EUASPXk.jpg
 
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