[RiverCity1]

"The tower almost doesn’t exist from down on the ground." ??!

Well it is true...when you are underneath the canopy you cannot see the tower. And with most people with their heads down and eyes focused on their smart phone, you wouldn't even notice it's a construction site from ground level.

p.s. I think I'm one of the few people, like Hume, who actually likes the temporary safety canopy

 

[caltrane74]

Well Hume likes, what's going on at street level........Aura condo in Toronto half-finished, half-open
http://www.thestar.com/life/homes/2013/08/02/aura_condo_in_toronto_halffinished_halfopen.html

He likes it! He likes it! He really likes it!!

offthedeepend will not be impressed.

 

[RiverCity1]

The article was only focused on the podium, however. We will have to wait for a fullsome review of Aura by Hume once fully completed

 

[LowPolygon]

He likes it! He likes it! He really likes it!!

offthedeepend will not be impressed.

Oh yeah, I really take Christopher Hume seriously as an architecture critic. When I met him back in the 1980s he was writing about things like um, children’s theatre.
Michael Kimmelman he is not.

 

[BrianSolo]

You're putting him down because he was writing about things like children's theatre 30 years ago???? Wow!!!

 

[LowPolygon]

Wow!!!

you seem rather easily excited.

 

[wmedia]

This thread is turning into children's theatre.

 

[pw20]

Oh yeah, I really take Christopher Hume seriously as an architecture critic. When I met him back in the 1980s he was writing about things like um, children’s theatre.
Michael Kimmelman he is not.

This on a forum of arm chair critics.
From an urban street wall format Aura is great. It's its insides and cladding that I personally have a Problem with. Aura is kinda like an ugly lady wearing lovely shoes.

 

[maestro]

It's a bland, boring block sized podium with identical CRUs repeated over and over again. It beats a parking lot however, it's far from great and something that shouldn't be replicated over and over again on our established retail streets. The curtain wall used is average at best

 

[someMidTowner]

From the west, zoomed and cropped:

 

[Xray_Crystal_Junkie]

Saw the two full floors of spandrel on the north/east sides today and it's an absolute joke. It looks terrible. Just lazy design to have such a glaring blemish as a result of the mechanical.

 

[Miscreant]

Interesting shot. That photo almost looks like a hi-res impressionist painting.

 

[rpeters]

let's just hope the materials are shoddy enough that a reclad comes sooner than later. FCP took 25 years, hopefully Aura's comes in 15. We now know that blue and dark grey do not go well together, it's a shame it took a 78 story monstrosity to figure that out.

 

[someMidTowner]

Thanks. I wasn't using a telephoto lens so that is a major crop. It was so fuzzy that I had to do some fixing in PS, which created that effect.

 

[rpeters]

Aura has definitely nudged past the 200m mark. I think it's closer to 210m and appears to be 65 stories now.(it's hard to figure out since I'm not sure if the 56th floor terrace is actually the 57th floor due to no 13th floor, I'm assuming 56th is actually 57th)