Not necessarily ugly but certainly uninspiring. I believe for the time being it will be the tallest new condo on the water west of Yonge. It will have a huge impact from the city's 'postcard' vantage point. The street presence from the renders looks solid, but I wish the towers were more ambitious.
 
Whoever criticizing the Lighthouse project let me guess : you couldn't afford the unit or didn't got it due to overwhelming demand. The project looks fantastic and the location is good as it is. But imagine in 2 years where whole East Bayfront will be developed completely and all existing condos will come to live? It will be very chic place.
 
gear74 said:
Whoever criticizing the Lighthouse project let me guess : you couldn't afford the unit or didn't got it due to overwhelming demand. The project looks fantastic and the location is good as it is. But imagine in 2 years where whole East Bayfront will be developed completely and all existing condos will come to live? It will be very chic place.
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This is quite inelegant.
 
The towers are uninspired IMHO. I'm not sure if the pattern treatment on the glass will be significant enough to make an impact on the overall aesthetics.
 
The towers are pretty boring, but the podium and public space looks interesting. I watched the video above and it addresses why the towers are so bland and monotonous. The architect is pretty upfront about the fact that Daniels told them to cheapen the towers. They apparently kept coming to Daniels with designs that included articulations in the massing and Daniels told them in no uncertain terms that they were to design a rectangular box, so eventually they put a frit pattern on the balconies and that was it. The interesting part starts around 26m:12s in the video above.
 
The video is quite a worthwhile watch if you want more insight into the amount of study that goes into the design of a building, the wrestling that's done over the budget, the give and take that has to happen to make things work. When you've got an hour, put it on your to do list!

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smably said:
The towers are pretty boring, but the podium and public space looks interesting. I watched the video above and it addresses why the towers are so bland and monotonous. The architect is pretty upfront about the fact that Daniels told them to cheapen the towers. They apparently kept coming to Daniels with designs that included articulations in the massing and Daniels told them in no uncertain terms that they were to design a rectangular box, so eventually they put a frit pattern on the balconies and that was it. The interesting part starts around 26m:12s in the video above.
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I bought here on account of Monde and RC3 being sold out. I love the neighbourhood and really wanted to anchor myself here.

Am experiencing a bit of buyers remorse and reading this doesn't help. Will watch the video when I can - seems like a good insight into how the design of the project shaped up.
 
jackass42 said:
I bought here on account of Monde and RC3 being sold out. I love the neighbourhood and really wanted to anchor myself here.

Am experiencing a bit of buyers remorse and reading this doesn't help. Will watch the video when I can - seems like a good insight into how the design of the project shaped up.
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Don't feel too bad. Daniels is a reputable builder and I'm sure you'll have a very nice condo. The street-level animation looks quite good -- you can tell that they put most of the design energy into the ground level and podium, which is honestly the right trade-off as far as I'm concerned when the budget is tight. Definitely watch the video!
 
Certainly worth listening too. The 'cheapening' is discussed around 42:00 at the end of the presentations.
 
I almost felt sorry for the architect being so apologetic and forthright as to cheapening of the towers. Later in the video, alongside the Daniels executive, she attempted to massage the value message. Perhaps the lower level, mixed-use elaborations, which look interesting, will keep our eyes from wandering upwards. However, the diversion won't be available to anyone not in the immediate area.
 
Daniels Lighthouse West Tower is sold out. Also, from what I understand, the East Tower was released on April 22 and sold out on May 6 with lots of buyers unable to get one (I am one of them). I am sure majority of these buyers have different vision than those who don't appreciate this project.


 
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Jowblow333333 said:
Daniels Lighthouse West Tower is sold out. Also, from what I understand, the East Tower was released on April 22 and sold out on May 6 with lots of buyers unable to get one (I am one of them). I am sure majority of these buyers have different vision than those who don't appreciate this project.
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We often see that there are those who don't care much about the architectural expression of a building—they just want a place to live (or to rent out). That doesn't change the fact that others want better looking buildings in this city, whether they own in them or not: UrbanToronto generally believes that creating new buildings comes with some social responsibility to create buildings that give back to the city.

What's interesting about the youtube videos mentioned above (watch the follow-up roundtable discussion that autoplays next too), is that you can see the deliberations that go into the final plans for a building. What's being mentioned as a cheapening above, fails to mention that Daniels was telling the architect that they wanted to be able to spend more on the amenities and public realm, all while keeping the price point down. Whether any of us agree on the spending priorities as stated, that's where Daniels stands.

In the meantime, they are a reputable builder, they are one of the most socially aware developers out there, and they are quite philanthropic. I'd love for them to spend more on a architecture too (and believe they'd benefit from it, even though I cannot prove it), but their largesse in other areas is laudable to a degree that has me tending towards forgiveness.

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Jowblow333333 said:
Daniels Lighthouse West Tower is sold out. Also, from what I understand, the East Tower was released on April 22 and sold out on May 6 with lots of buyers unable to get one (I am one of them). I am sure majority of these buyers have different vision than those who don't appreciate this project.
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Yeah, their vision is to make a quick profit! I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that most of them are investors who don't intend to live in the apartments themselves.
 
To be fair the details of the podium, and the envisioned effect it will have on the neighbourhood are cause for optimism. Sherbourne Park and its new immediate neighbours seem a good fit with lots of potential urbanity--esp. when linked with the many other amenities in the hood. I'm feeling positive for this suddenly burgeoning district.
 
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