Rowe
Active Member
Kitchener has better buildings than Waterboo.
I think we're just going in circles at this point. Syn, you are missing my point. I am providing positive reasons why this development makes sense here. You are saying it shouldn't be here, but not saying why it shouldn't be here, except by saying, "why can't it be mid rise"? Which is fine, but that just sounds like your preference. If this is just a discussion of preference, then we are free to disagree on what constitutes beauty, and we should probably stop the back-and-forth.
But if you are saying a "historic district has been ruined", you have to provide proof of this assertion rather than writing off the arguments of other people as ill-mannered brutes who don't understand or appreciate heritage.
The unfortunate thing about this is that we are all modern, whether we like to admit or not. We can't escape our time period. Building a mid-rise that defers to the historic nature of the District is as modern a thought as building a point tower. Zoning laws and deferring to heritage is a relatively recent idea. The Victorians, for instance, might have thought a slaughterhouse was an appropriate neighbour for the Distillery District.
It's a good idea to put some of these ideas in historical perspective. In a hundred years time will people on urbantoronto be discussing the heritage of a currently "bland" Markham industrial park? Would the Rack House's destruction have generated much hubbub if it had been a windowless box made of concrete put up in 1960? In a hundred years time, will non-specialists even notice much difference between the point towers and the rest of the DD, labelling them all as "old"? (Much as most non-specialists couldn't tell you that one hundred years seperates the Grange and 299 Queen Street West.)
Modernism, in the sense you are describing, is about admitting your contemporary nature and using it to your advantage to create buildings that take on the past as equals, so that the whole area's level of design is outstanding. So yes, because modernism has to work from an awareness of being embedded in time, it is more trustworthy than a blanket worshipping of the past.
And no, modernism does not demand point towers and it can work mid-rise, but it does not exclude point towers either. Particulary when there have been no positive, practical reasons provided why the point towers are currently damaging the district.
You have an excellent point Hipster, not about the Fort but about the cultural importance of Canadian whisky. They are both important but maybe we always view heritage with a capital 'H'. I love the idea of incorporating a museum about whisky, and why not expand it to celebrate Canadian alcohol in general including our love of Beer and the excellence of ice wine etc. I can only imagine that it would be a huge draw and would be in perfect synergy with the concept of the 'Distillery' district. Who do we email?
The past takes a back seat to these 'signposts'. One could argue the towers themselves are well designed, but taken as a whole they don't strike a respectful balance between the old and the new. The Chrysler Tower is well designed & beautiful, but if we were to drop it in the middle of the Distillery it would look quite ridiculous...wouldn't it?
While I can see the argument that putting towers in neighborhoods with a history such as the Distillery District is bad planning and completely out of character with scale in some circumstances, aren't these towes being built on the outter boundaries?
No, not just on the outer boundary...right in the middle of the complex, too. One of the largest distillery buildings was demolished to make room.
The towers do not overwhelm the Distillery district. The solidity of the older brick buildings more than compensates for the height of the towers which are light.
Walk around any old European city and you will see buildings which were constructed hundreds of years apart but which function well together.
I think the looming effect of Clear Spirit to be re-assuring. It confirms to me that I'm not siutting in some Pioneer Village themepark (all day pass in hand) waiting to see some costumed re-enactment.
The Gooderman Worts complex was not originally constructed as some themepark it was a real business and real activities occured there. I am hoping professionals open up offices there, it needs more business, fewer bars and souvenir shops.
Not right in the middle - that's probably where Corkin Gallery is, or the retail stores to the west of it that face Trinity Street, if you take into account the heft that the new Pure Spirit condo and lofts add to the complex. Trinity Street, on the street grid, bisects the Distillery on a north/south axis - though I think that the "centre of gravity" will shift slightly to the east of that when the two lovely new towers are built.
Not right in the middle - that's probably where Corkin Gallery is, or the retail stores to the west of it that face Trinity Street, if you take into account the heft that the new Pure Spirit condo and lofts add to the complex. Trinity Street, on the street grid, bisects the Distillery on a north/south axis - though I think that the "centre of gravity" will shift slightly to the east of that when the two lovely new towers are built.