even putting some tree/flower planters like what's been done on Bloor Street would help - i think there's room.
 
Look at the new monocle store downtown. Look what they did with the store front. We need more of that everywhere.
 
To add insult to injury, the scale of the black slate podium feels off to me. I love the tower though. This one definitely looks better from a distance.
 
meh ... not sure how I feel ... I completely disagree with comments that the developer cheeped out ... the quality of the finishing, from the sidewalks / square / trees / ... surpasses any other project in the GTA (namely referring to the other high end hotels).

I do agree it manages to pull off the bunker look ... but compare this to the other hotel projects, they're similar, thinking about Ritz Shangri la, though Trump I actually like in this regard, it fits in better.

Regarding trees they did plant a lot ! I don't think it will help, even when they mature.

But I guess one thing is ... Yorkville is big and there is room to expand ... we have space in our core for some massive projects like this ... there's still something amazing about walking around the base of this one !
 
This one is just great close-up, with the detail require to engage passersby. The Four Seasons' base walks a line, being both solid enough to impart an air of exclusivity and permeable enough to provoke curiousity and subsequent interest in what can be seen through the glazing.

There are no cheap materials here, no dented mullions nor chipped precast. The stone has terrific, unique natural patterns in it. The stainless steel window frames are deep and luxurious. The granite sidewalk impresses in a way that suggests the replacement of all of Toronto's main street concrete sidewalks.

We're usually begging for this attention to detail and execution in our buildings.

42
 
No question regarding the quality of the materials, and there are many nice elements here. The podium is not a winner though, to my eyes. It is jarringly out of scale with the tower, and out of keeping with it from an aesthetic point of view. The placement of the fountain (though I love the fountain) further adds to the clumsiness of the whole composition. Unfortunately, with all these minimalist clean lines you have got to get the details right.
 
interchange42 said:
There are no cheap materials here
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I always like to try and picture how projects look through the general public's eyes, who don't really understand construction materials and methods (the large majority of people).

Joe public when viewing this doesn't see high quality materials, stone, curtain wall etc. He sees a glass tower and a large hostile-looking bunker. And at the end of the day, who are we building for? Architects, modernist skyscraper enthusiasts, or the general public?
 
wmedia said:
I always like to try and picture how projects look through the general public's eyes, who don't really understand construction materials and methods (the large majority of people).

Joe public when viewing this doesn't see high quality materials, stone, curtain wall etc. He sees a glass tower and a large hostile-looking bunker. And at the end of the day, who are we building for? Architects, modernist skyscraper enthusiasts, or the general public?
Click to expand...

By the look of most of our condos, we're building them for garbage men.
 
These condos are built for foreign investors, who obviously don't care much about the condo design. All they care about is a quick profit.
 
This project is not done yet. Don't forget that they will still have a restaurant outside overlooking the street. That will change the look of the ground floor a lot. Besides, the entrance is not finished yet. Wait for next spring, when they freshen it up with plants . We are quick to jump the gun and judge sometimes.
Having said that, the hotel's reviews on tripadvisor are mixed. Some describe the interior as gorgeous and some call it outright atrocious. I wonder about those reviews sometimes.
 
The service also gets mixed reviews. They should have kept their old staff. 5 star property with 2 star service seems to be the norm in Toronto. I have noticed the Ritz has a lot of new staff again, can't be a good place to work if no one stays.
 
Joe R. said:
By the look of most of our condos, we're building them for garbage men.
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That seems a little extreme. There's a mixed bag of condos for sure, but I'm still okay with the majority of them. For example, I don't consider an afforable building that uses window-wall and pre-cast as a "failure" or "disaster" like some people on here.
 
4seasn16.jpg
 
Shame we won't really be able to see the beauty of the rose garden until at least late spring. Even then I don't think it will look as mature as renders suggest for another year on top of that, unless they plan to plant fairly mature bushes on a more regular basis.
 
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