Is it just me or does anyone else think at the podium/street level the marble actually looks better than the new glass cladding? It just looks cheaper, with a tinge of "shopping mall aesthetics" feel to it all.

AoD
 
Agree completely - while the new cladding on the tower looks fine, up close on the podium, my opinion the glass does not have anywhere near the same life and texture
as the marble being replaced.
 
Ditto. I have been disappointed in the podium cladding thus far. I hoping that when its finished, that it will look more refined and, well, interesting. At this point, the podium appears to be headed towards banal, without any of the redeeming qualities of minimalism/modernism.
 
The trouble isn't just the cladding, it's the redesign, i.e. the bank-pavilion part's lost its "dimensionality"...
 
Originally we heard that the marble on the podium would be kept. That was a good idea because natural stone works well on podiums and is a fine material to emphasize. It would have preserved a bit of the building's heritage, too, without the issues associated with cladding the whole tower in that kind of marble panel.
 
Though at the same time, it may all be a residual response to the podium's 70s-style "anti-urbanism", the way it clashes with its Bay St neighbours, etc...
 
If they'd kept the original marble on the podium exterior it still would have been as prone to discolouration and disengagement as the rest of the marble was, surely? The lobby interior still has the discotheque look - more so, in fact, with the carpet gone and the new white floors.
 
The gleaming white of the lobby actually makes me nervous. As though I'm wobbling through with an overfull glass of red wine.
 
adHominem said:
The gleaming white of the lobby actually makes me nervous. As though I'm wobbling through with an overfull glass of red wine.
Click to expand...

Could be worse--could be slippery. The tiling in the redone Royal Bank Plaza is noticeably slippery, especially to those wearing shoes with leather or non-rubber soles.

I'm curious to see whether the new tiling will be polished at all once things are done.
 
Walked past this today and was disappointed with the big changes made to the SE corner of the podium. The previously interesting angled columns are covered over with an odd looking layer of transparent glass and what almost looks like a walkway has been bolted on behind it. I'm not sure what I'm seeing, but I personally don't think it's an improvement.

The tower looks amazing though.
 
The exterior glass cladding pattern, which is most visible on the podium because it's closest to the street, appears to match that of the shiny new white disco floor inside.
 
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