How can anyone claim Manulife is better than uptown, or crystal blu..... Manulife is not Penn Station or even good architecture..it is a concrete bunker with nothing but a bulky presence, and an awful facade of greying concrete....I dont get some of you people, Its one thing to become attached or used to ugly, its another to forget what ugly is.
Well done hendrix, the number of posts is obviously no indication of ones ability to comment on a building, or share his/her opinion....
 
Not to break up the silly slap fight here, but it's fair to expect that many people will loathe Manulife (and its contemporaries). No problem though, I take solace in knowing that it's because their skulls are thicker than the concrete walls of these buildings they hate. I wasn't enamored with its design right off the bat, which was when I was about 10 years old, but as my tastes matured so came a respect for the hidden beauty in the design.

Urbandreamer brings up a point about the street level though, and while I don't fully agree with the sentiment here (the pomo renovations are regrettable of course), my only concern with many buildings of this mint lies with the treatment at street level. The windswept plazas and barren "landscaping" associated development during the 1950s - 1970s are regrettable in many instances. All in all though, sadly the new building, CrystalBlu, comes nowhere near the level of architectural quality of Manulife. Blu won't age well, and will be more regretful in everyone's eyes than Manulife could ever be to anyone. Blu's not as bad as Uptown though, which is even more upsetting.
 
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jetsbackincanada said:
How can anyone claim Manulife is better than uptown, or crystal blu..... Manulife is not Penn Station or even good architecture..it is a concrete bunker with nothing but a bulky presence, and an awful facade of greying concrete....I dont get some of you people, Its one thing to become attached or used to ugly, its another to forget what ugly is.
Well done hendrix, the number of posts is obviously no indication of ones ability to comment on a building, or share his/her opinion....
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LOL!!! haha! EPIC first post jets! :).. welcome to UT!

Many people like Manulife for some reason.. but don't get me wrong, manulifes got some pretty sweet features about it (including the magnificent views/panoramic lounge). (manulife was amazing for its time, but times/tastes/architecture has changed since then) New is not always better but i think in this case, Uptown does look better than manulife for the most part.

Just because the cladding on Uptown may be crap, it doesn't mean its considered a bad skyscraper. (or worse than uptown for that matter).
 
Egotrippin, you can defend the era all you want, that doesnt change the fact that manulife is not a great building... for this era or any other...The UN Building is from the same era and that is a nice 50's era building,.....its hard to think of any other good concrete 50's skyscrapers, off the top of my head, the prudential in Chicago is not beautiful....PSFS in Philly is not pretty, how did design go from Commerce court, and the GE (30 Rock), in the 30's to that?
 
maybe its the thickness of my skull....Hahaha...
Even the massing ain't great, from north/ south angle its a battleship, and from east west its a lighthouse....:rolleyes:
Uptown residence is an elegant shape, and design. The precast might not look great, but few people view a building up close, and from a distance of even a few blocks, its shape looks great. The crown on top will be a nice finish to a great building.
 
Well, since everyone is throwing their hat in the ring, I'll say that I love Manulife. After recently-built Casa and perhaps 18 Yorkville, I think it's the best tower in that cluster. There's just something so uniformly monumental and imposing about it. At the same time, its simplicity adds a touch of subtlety. When I first became interested in architecture, I never anticipated that Manulife would be the tower in that intersection that I'd spend the most time staring at.

edit: I also think that Uptown, and Crystal Blu to some extent, are good neighbours for Manulife. The setbacks and general noise coming off of those towers help emphasize the oasis of calm that Manulife plays as the anchor.
 
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jetsbackincanada said:
Egotrippin, you can defend the era all you want, that doesnt change the fact that manulife is not a great building... for this era or any other...The UN Building is from the same era and that is a nice 50's era building,.....its hard to think of any other good concrete 50's skyscrapers, off the top of my head, the prudential in Chicago is not beautiful....PSFS in Philly is not pretty, how did design go from Commerce court, and the GE (30 Rock), in the 30's to that?
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"The UN Building is from the same era and that is a nice 50's era building"

Why am i not surprised that "you cant think of any other good concrete 50's skyscrapers".

The UN Building was completed in 1952. Its east and west walls are entirely of aluminum and glass, while the north and south walls are of Vermont marble. The Manulife Centre was completed in 1974.

Not that someone like you cares about history, accuracy, or even architecture.
 
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shame on them , for building that tower in the 70's!!!
Although the "modern era", is actually from the post war years, through the mid 80's making these towers of the same era, as opposed to post modern or classic eras etc.. You took me too literally..... Seagrams/ Secratariat ?(UN)/ TD center are all the same era regardless of time, ... manulife is just a poor concrete clad, "modern" tower.
 
Of course, the clincher in absolute abject amateur laughingstock stupidity of judgment is this

jetsbackincanada said:
PSFS in Philly is not pretty, how did design go from Commerce court, and the GE (30 Rock), in the 30's to that?
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Compounded by absolute abject amateur laughingstock stupidity re chronology, if he's implying PSFS is a "concrete 50's skyscraper"--in fact, PSFS is Commerce Court North's exact contemporary, and predates 30 Rock.

PSFS.jpg


With friends like jetsbackincanada, Hendrix doesn't need enemies. (Ironically enough, PSFS does have a bit of the "Hendrix" to it, i.e. encountering it back in 1931 might have been like encountering "Third Stone From The Sun" in 1967...)
 
Hmmm i dont recall saying that they were identical, and built of the same materials geeesh !! Eras look it up , a generalizing term to include various items in similar styles...not identical. Can't you just understand that Manulife is a building and not your child, I never meant to offend your precious building. Relax sreiously, ... if you love it I am happy for you.
 
PSFS is considered an early bridge towards 50's modernism.
That makes it a reference point between the classic art deco( chrysler, commerce court etc.), and the bland stylings of concrete massifs....good for you , you know how to wikipedia..... think for yourself buddy.... if you cant see the common ground between PSFS, and the Modern era you shouldn't be posting. In an era when TD center was being built, hancock, fcp, and hundreds of others, how can you not see ,that Manulife ain't the most beautiful building.???
 
jetsbackincanada said:
Hmmm i dont recall saying that they were identical, and built of the same materials geeesh !! Eras look it up , a generalizing term to include various items in similar styles...not identical.
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Uh..."era" is a term primarily referring to chronology, not to stylistic categorization.

You're digging yourself deeper and deeper...
 
Sometimes it's helpful to distinguish why one may not 'like' a building from why one might think one is well designed, or vice versa. It is entirely acceptable in the same breath to acknowledge the merits of Manulife while admitting it may not be to one's taste, that it doesn't make your heart sing. Fair enough. Spat over.
 
Okay, the worst of the recent lot has been deleted from above, and maybe more will be. Some yellow cards have also been doled out.

Refrain from personal attacks when discussing projects, or prepare for the consequences.

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