A
alklay
Guest
To replace this strip of charm with a block busting mega-structure, would be a travesty of the highest order.
C
caltrane74
Guest
That is a beatiful picture SNF.
Should I ask "who" suggested demolishing these excellent old buildings?
Should I ask "who" suggested demolishing these excellent old buildings?
D
dashingdan
Guest
I love that picture. The kind of urban streetscape that I love!
M
MetroMan1000
Guest
If anything, the Festival tower shouldn't have been built across the street from this. More buildings of this scale should have been built, with the Festival tower built behind fronting on to John St. instead.
U
unimaginative2
Guest
That is a great picture, and a good thought MetroMan. At the very least, the film festival building should have attempted to relate to these buildings with similarly scaled spaces for businesses. Unfortunately, that's very difficult to achieve in one project.
I'm amazed that people still think that tearing down strips of individual buildings and replacing them with one big building is a good idea. I guess the vast numbers of failed superblocks aren't familiar to everyone.
I'm amazed that people still think that tearing down strips of individual buildings and replacing them with one big building is a good idea. I guess the vast numbers of failed superblocks aren't familiar to everyone.
I
interchange42
Guest
The John Street frontage of the site is much shorter than the King Street length, and does not have the cachet of King Street either. It makes sense therefore that the condo's front door is being situated on quieter John, and all the flashy festival related stuff is focused on King.
Without having a larger site - a much larger one - I don't know what King Street treatment would work in terms of relating this building to the smaller, older buildings on the south side. The way it is, with the Festival Centre's space requirement means that the podium has to be 5 double-height floors, so there's not much point in even trying to relate: this building is going to overwhelm this portion of King Street, no matter what. Instead of trying to relate then, what's an architect to do but make the centre look as good as they can on its own, with clean bold lines that will act as handsome counterpoint to the charming clutter across the street.
It's worth mentioning again too, that this centre is replacing what has been a parking lot for over a decade now (and was previously a carwash). By stitching up in this tear in King Street's urban fabric, KPMB's big beautiful Festival Centre is going to have one of the greatest city-building impacts on our downtown in years. The centre will not only fill this street with life in September, by the way. The TIFF group are inviting the other over-a-dozen film festivals that occur annually here to use the facility, (like the imminent HotDocs and Sprockets Kids film festival, the current Images Festival, the upcoming InsideOut Festival, etc.), plus you have Cinematheque moving in with 5 screens to light up twice nightly the rest fo the year. This is going to be a very busy building, and those restaurants on the south side of King, which don't do so well when Mirvish doesn't have shows on, should become gold mines.
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Without having a larger site - a much larger one - I don't know what King Street treatment would work in terms of relating this building to the smaller, older buildings on the south side. The way it is, with the Festival Centre's space requirement means that the podium has to be 5 double-height floors, so there's not much point in even trying to relate: this building is going to overwhelm this portion of King Street, no matter what. Instead of trying to relate then, what's an architect to do but make the centre look as good as they can on its own, with clean bold lines that will act as handsome counterpoint to the charming clutter across the street.
It's worth mentioning again too, that this centre is replacing what has been a parking lot for over a decade now (and was previously a carwash). By stitching up in this tear in King Street's urban fabric, KPMB's big beautiful Festival Centre is going to have one of the greatest city-building impacts on our downtown in years. The centre will not only fill this street with life in September, by the way. The TIFF group are inviting the other over-a-dozen film festivals that occur annually here to use the facility, (like the imminent HotDocs and Sprockets Kids film festival, the current Images Festival, the upcoming InsideOut Festival, etc.), plus you have Cinematheque moving in with 5 screens to light up twice nightly the rest fo the year. This is going to be a very busy building, and those restaurants on the south side of King, which don't do so well when Mirvish doesn't have shows on, should become gold mines.
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B
building babel
Guest
The height of the Festival Centre podium will approximately line up with the heights of other buildings on the north side of King, stretching over to Simcoe, so the building won't introduce anything visually overpowering. Also, it is broken up into smaller components rather than being a lumpy slab. There will be glimpses into it from the buildings on the south side, setting up a dialogue.
3
3Dementia
Guest
Everyone who owns a restaurant across the street will have no problem putting their kids thru college.
It's gonna work...
It's gonna work...
G
gbelan
Guest
the Brian Linehan Foundation donated 1 million yesterday
to festival centre.
to festival centre.
S
superdeduperawesome
Guest
Yeah, great idea MetroMan.
John st. could have used the attention and that King St. can afford to grow because of the new tower.
John st. could have used the attention and that King St. can afford to grow because of the new tower.
R
rdaner
Guest
rooftop cinema
The KPMB website has updated images of the centre with a perspective of the rooftop cinema.
www.kpmbarchitects.com/
The KPMB website has updated images of the centre with a perspective of the rooftop cinema.
www.kpmbarchitects.com/
C
caltrane74
Guest
Re: rooftop cinema
A
alklay
Guest
Re: rooftop cinema
I think this is my favourite firm doing work in Toronto now. All their projects have a certain texture and layering that adds depth and richness to their neo-modernism (which, in other's hands, can be cold and harsh at times).
I think this is my favourite firm doing work in Toronto now. All their projects have a certain texture and layering that adds depth and richness to their neo-modernism (which, in other's hands, can be cold and harsh at times).
O
officedweller
Guest
Re: rooftop cinema
Not keen on the cut-off corner on the stone panel or the stairs to the roof (wasn't someone on the forum complaining about the sawtooth edge of the seating at Varsity Stadium?)
Not keen on the cut-off corner on the stone panel or the stairs to the roof (wasn't someone on the forum complaining about the sawtooth edge of the seating at Varsity Stadium?)
I
interchange42
Guest
Re: rooftop cinema
Quite keen on the cut-off corner on the stone panel and the stairs to the roof (which are an outdoor amphitheatre for tower residents and TIFF centre staffers, who could use it as an outdoor theatre if need be).
...and yeah, it was paulbali whinging away about that sawtooth effect up at Varsity. I'm under the impression that it was mostly the cheap materials and slap-dash look he objected to there. Other than a stepped diagonal built into this building, how do these two projects really relate? They are quite different from one another.
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Quite keen on the cut-off corner on the stone panel and the stairs to the roof (which are an outdoor amphitheatre for tower residents and TIFF centre staffers, who could use it as an outdoor theatre if need be).
...and yeah, it was paulbali whinging away about that sawtooth effect up at Varsity. I'm under the impression that it was mostly the cheap materials and slap-dash look he objected to there. Other than a stepped diagonal built into this building, how do these two projects really relate? They are quite different from one another.
42