[waterloowarrior]

through a dirty window...

 

[urbandreamer]

Peter Clewes is right: Utterly "unfortunate" indeed.

7 March 2013: Vomit.

 

[Edward]

I like the base. They tower is pretty forgettable. It will just "be" in the mix.

 

[aporia]

Is the red material at the base (I'm not sure what it is) going to be burnished or finished somehow? It looks rather rough and too industrial.

 

[Edward Skira]

Would have looked cool if they had used the same cladding on the tower as well.

 

[caltrane74]

The balcony glass looks sharp. Not garbage or vomit at all. Best thing is going to be the density in the Entertainment District.

 

[urbandreamer]

^It's garbage man! Ask Peter Clewes--he works right next door

 

[Lansdude]

^It's garbage man! Ask Peter Clewes--he works right next door

Anyone want to offer up a general theory as to why our condos are almost always vertical, orthogonal boxes without setbacks?

I know nothing about the financials or what the market research says, but my uneducated theory is its a combination of 1) maximizing revenue - the marginal revenue increase for living in a more aesthetically "interesting" building is substantially lower than the revenue provided by the additional square footage, and 2) since balconies are on 95% of these things, and privacy is expected, your only choice is to stack them on top of each other so tenants can't see each other having sex on the balcony or sun-bathing topless or whatever less risque activity one might imagine. Plug those two things in and for the low to mid-range market, it's never more profitable to craft a non-box. There are notable exceptions like boutique condos in Yorkville and the L-Tower, but it seems that condos here suffer not from a lack of vision but from simple financial logic. You'll have rare beauties that stretch the possibilities like Ice, but these are niche projects that make their extra cash over the basic model on the novelty of the form. You lose a lot of square footage when you cut an oval shape out of an area that could be a rectangle.

idk tell me if i'm dumb tyia

 

[urbandreamer]

16 March 2013: Imagine this day: You are an aArchitect and your job is to pick out furniture for your client. Now you've just driven to work in your black 2001 Saab 900 and what do you see?

 

[ZachBalbino]

^It's garbage man! Ask Peter Clewes--he works right next door

I was at their office for a summer co-op program (the office was next door to cinema tower) and I remembered hearing some of my colleagues complaining about how awful the podium is because of the choice of material on the garage.

 

[Torontovibe]

^^ Why, would they prefer grey spandrel?

 

[AlbertC]

I can see the podium cladding aging very poorly. Too bad they didn't go with a metallic material.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

From the corner of Bay & Albert about half an hour ago it looks as if they are taking the crane down.

 

[someMidTowner]

Crane removal shots from today:

 

[DarkSideDenizen]

Too bad they're wrapping up, a better roof feature might have saved this building. Well, at least partially.