Don't understand the choice of a fountain as the centrepiece of the entrance square, if the designer was worried about water getting on guests or their cars, could have chosen a sculpture instead (no water required). I can only hope it still gets used if only the upper portion ending with the largest (bottom) bowl and not continuing to the ground, otherwise there is no point.
I walked by the building today for the first time since the sidewalk was finished and construction fencing removed. I thought seeing the finished product would help me to warm up to the podium but unfortunately I still don't like it. The way the podium greets the street makes it seem rushed and unfinished, just a wall of black stone running straight down to the ground and window slits with steel frames. Seems like a wrong way to design a hotel, it should be welcoming and open but this gives the opposite feeling, cold, uninviting and sterile, seeming to say "stay away".
There is no real attempt at landscaping, nothing at all on Yorkville Ave. and a few stick trees on Bay St., doesn't look like they even tried to come up with a plan. A line of planters along the wall would have made a world of difference. The driveway mosaic looks very nice and I'm sure the park will be also, but they don't help the Yorkville or Bay sides of the podium at all. I was expecting much better from Four Seasons, especially since this is supposed to be their flagship.
The pictures of the interior look wonderful, so are the towers, it is too bad the podium exterior doesn't live up to those standards.
