So instead of having buildings at various heights, interacting and conversing with one another as well as the street below, you want a uniform set of 100m-ish buildings with a series of funny hats? Interesting.
Also, you have yet to address my commentary about the wall-like effects of buildings with uniform dimensions.
I have never heard of anyone complain that North York downtown area with its 100m height limit is like a wall.
But there is the common complaint that the condos (some as high as 150-160m) along the harbourfront act as a wall,... a huge wall restricting the view of Lake Ontario for the rest of the city. The condos along the harbourfront along with the raised Gardiner Expressway act as a giant barrier restricting our access to Lake Ontario. The harbourfront condos are NOT subject to a 100m height limit, or any other height limit.
Hmmmm,... maybe the harbourfront area should have had a height limit. What if the harbourfront area had a height limit of 60m from the shoreline to the Gardiner Expressway,... then from the Gardiner Expressway to Wellington there was a 100m height limit,... then between Wellington to King Street, there were a 150m height limit,... north of King Street there's no height limit. This progression of height limit would allow a better view of the lake for more people,.... instead of staring at a wall of harbourfront condos.
One of the key aspect that makes downtown North York so attractive is that its a very walkable area,... urbanly-self-sufficient (in that the local residents don't have to frequently go outside the area for basic amenities,... unlike harbourfront and groceries),... in downtown North York, there's lots of restaurants, movie theatres, stores, pubs, coffee shops, little malls, banks, grocery stores, subway stations, etc,... along this stretch of Yonge Street,... North York downtown is an area where you always find people walking around,... to go to work, subway, home, local establishments or just to hang out,... it's a walk-able urban area, just like downtown Toronto,... but cleaner! When you go to Scarborough City Centre or even Mississauga City Centre,... you don't see people walking around outside on the sidewalks, when people need to cross Hurontario Street or McCowan,... they're more likely to get in their cars and drive! What's the use of having an urban area, if it's car friendly and not people friendly?
In downtown North York, I walk past the 15 storey Proctor & Gamble building (60-70m high) quite often when I go to the subway station,.... and on a windy day, the wind gust that blows around that little building just takes your breath away,... you'll struggle just to keep your balance. Right now there's a 100m height limit on buildings in downtown North York,... but imagine if they start building towers that are 142m like Bazis Emerald Park or 164m like Tridel Hullmark Centre,.... the higher you go, the stronger the wind,... and these buildings will be directing more wind downward onto the street level. Look at the design of Bazis Emerald Park,... the top of the towers curves and lean westward,... those strong westerly winds will hit the Bazis Emerald Park towers and be deflected downwards onto street level,... blowing people and garbage all around.
The higher you build the buildings,... the less walkable and less pedestrian friendly this part of town will become.
Since we're on the subject of building design and overal building-scape of an area,... do you think Bazis Emerald Park was designed specifically for the North York downtown area? It looks more like the architect-designer Roy Varacalli just reused a building design originally designed for Emerald Tower in Astana, Kazakhstan,... and then just customize a podium to fit the plot of land in North York,... and voila,... Bazis Emerald Park.
