UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
Incoherent design plus poor materials. Thus, it gets old fast...
DSC
Superstar
You clearly do not understand how 'city planning' works; the City can say no to things like height and density that go beyond the zoning, they cannot say no to 'design' features like pink windows or a confused mish-mash of architectural styles. Of course, the City DOES often say "no' but is almost invariably over-ruled by appeals to LPAT (whose existence and record probably reduce the number of City "no" s in the first place.)
Irishmonk
Senior Member
Definitely in the running for ugliest building of its height in the world.
Midtown Urbanist
Superstar
It's honestly not that bad from a distance, on the skyline.
ProjectEnd
Superstar
The lights are the best thing about it...
UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
yin_yang
Active Member
It's really not that bad...
Amare
Senior Member
From a distance it isnt. The closer you get, the more appealing the features are.
We're not even talking about when one enters the building, that's a whole other story.
At least Canderel has learned their lessons from this....
Rascacielo
Senior Member
Appealing? You mean appalling?From a distance it isnt. The closer you get, the more appealing the features are.
We're not even talking about when one enters the building, that's a whole other story.
At least Canderel has learned their lessons from this....
Amare
Senior Member
Sorry Canderel must've temporarily hacked my internet connection.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Given the interview to Torstar (?) awhile ago re: design as built vs. rendering and the DRP, I doubt they cared!
Anyways, it's a riot reading some old posts from 10+ years ago:
"The Aura will respect the lines of the Eaton building. The podium matches the height lines of the old building. It is an art deco treasure. We cannot mimic it, our design refines it," said Berardo Graziani of Graziani + Corazza Architects.
Aura will be massive. Its builders will be pouring concrete for the next few years as it goes up 75 storeys (including a four-storey podium). There will be a large retail operation in the podium, above and below the street. An underground mall will link Aura with College Park and the subway.
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"People love to live in tall buildings, especially tall buildings overtop subways, that is the new way," said Riz Dhanji, Canderel Stoneridge's vice-president of sales and marketing. "At the Aura you can walk to the subway, to work, to school or use your bike (Aura will have 200 bike racks). With a direct link to College Park and its Dominion store, people won't have to go outside.
"We will have a landscaped rooftop (patio) on the fifth floor, and top-notch recreational facilities," he continued. "What people are looking for is convenience, and we will have a combined 180,000 square feet of retail space available for the right set of tenants." All of the stores, boutiques and restaurants will have floor-to-ceiling windows, facing onto Yonge St.
Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza
It means that the renovations to the park are being paid for by the purchasers of the condos (supposedly, if the money actually gets there, and doesn't "disappear" or held up for some reason or another). Whoever owns the park would be responsible for the maintenance currently, so if it's the...
More than 12 years later - the basement sits empty and a good chunk of the rest of the podium will be turned into an Ikea.
AoD
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jozl
Active Member
This monster replaced an ugly decades old parking lot. It removed the parking lot but kept the ugly. Maybe the land is cursed. It’s just soooo awful.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
For all the failures, it is getting an Ikea...some *might* consider that a curse yet. Anyways, the basement mall must be super creepy of late - and given open access, must be a bit dicey.
AoD
Rascacielo
Senior Member
The whole College Park complex is such a mish-mash from different eras: the former Eaton store (late 1920s), 777 Bay and the apartments (70s), the twin College Park residences (early 2000s) and finally Aura (2010s). Each addition seems to be worse than the predecessor, although it's debatable whether Aura is uglier than Residences of College Park. Good thing there's no more land left to develop (other than Barbara Ann Scott Park, which will remain as a park in the foreseeable future), or we'd see something truly hideous.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Said it before, will say it again - the entire superblock is a giant mistep and an utter waste. Nevermind how bad RoCP 1&2 were; even 777 Bay and College Park suites are pretty wanting in terms of what it did to the site.
Hideous? Wait 20, 30 years when all these buildings start to seriously age. The Liberty is slowly getting there (just look at the faded window claddings)
AoD
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