Okay, I saw this image on the site header...

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...and almost had a stroke. While further images in the news article clear it up, this image kinda makes it look like are were going to put it in NPS.
 
The new Court House must respect surroundings, esp. City Hall - it should be subject to Toronto Design Review Panel. Paris Court House is simply a stack of boxes. rising well above an otherwise indistinct cityscape in that area of Paris. A huge design issue for Toronto - good luck Renzo Piano!
 
Ugh. Here we go again. Architecture stripped down to being boxy or not boxy.
 
elad said:
The new Court House must respect surroundings, esp. City Hall - it should be subject to Toronto Design Review Panel. Paris Court House is simply a stack of boxes. rising well above an otherwise indistinct cityscape in that area of Paris. A huge design issue for Toronto - good luck Renzo Piano!
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Same should have been true for shitty recladding project like Simpsons Tower.
 
As great as the Paris courthouse project is, it strikes me as trite to build something similar in Toronto given how dominant the rectilinear glass building is here. Moreover, a local architect like KPMB or DSAI could design something similar, and it would better support the local economy. If you hire Renzo Piano in Toronto, you have to let him design something special that will stand out in his portfolio. It can't be like Philip Johnson's CBC Broadcasting Centre, which is nice but forgettable.
 
junctionist said:
As great as the Paris courthouse project is, it strikes me as trite to build something similar in Toronto given how dominant the rectilinear glass building is here. Moreover, a local architect like KPMB or DSAI could design something similar, and it would better support the local economy. If you hire Renzo Piano in Toronto, you have to let him design something special that will stand out in his portfolio. It can't be like Philip Johnson's CBC Broadcasting Centre, which is nice but forgettable.
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Different context will require different responses, though I wouldn't expect the project to stray too much from the rectilinear form - this is a much tighter site with height limits. There is plenty of room in RPBW's vocabulary to make it memorable even within these constraints.

AoD
 
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junctionist said:
Moreover, a local architect like KPMB or DSAI could design something similar, and it would better support the local economy.
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The local architectural economy won't suffer: the big architectural firms in this city are busy, and we're only shipping a few design jobs to RPBW anyway: the working drawings are gong to Toronto-based NORR. At the same time, if you complain about hiring from beyond the 416, you're arguing against local firms winning commissions in other parts of the world.

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AlvinofDiaspar said:
Different context will require different responses, though I wouldn't expect the project to stray too much from the rectilinear form - this is a much tighter site with height limits. There is plenty of room in RPBW's vocabulary to make it memorable even within these constraints.

AoD
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Good point about site specific constraints and rectilinear likelihood. In fact, if you've ever looked at the original plan for Eaton centre with huge rectilinear office blocks, in some ways they were a better frame to City Hall's curves than the jutting Bell Trinity triangular prism. Anyway, it could be all in the details - for example a curved southwest corner instead of a right angle corner or inset right angle corner.
 
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elad said:
Good point about site specific constraints and rectilinear likelihood. In fact, if you've ever looked at the original plan for Eaton centre with huge rectilinear office blocks, in some ways they were a better frame to City Hall's curves than the jutting Bell Trinity triangular prism. Anyway, it could be all in the details - for example a curved southwest corner instead of a right angle corner or inset right angle corner.
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The firm in question is one of the best in the world - I am confident of its ability to be aware of the context and propose a design that respond to it accordingly. We will find out soon enough!

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Different context will require different responses, though I wouldn't expect the project to stray too much from the rectilinear form - this is a much tighter site with height limits. There is plenty of room in RPBW's vocabulary to make it memorable even within these constraints.

AoD
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I wonder if the constraints that aim to preserve City Hall’s architectural dominance from Nathan Phillips Sq, force the courthouse to be demure or if it just has to look different enough as to not compete with City Hall’s distinctive curves.

If so, perhaps the south facade could be restrained but the west facade as seen from University and Armoury can be much more interesting and call attention to itself outside the view from Nathan Phillips Sq.
 
MetroMan said:
I wonder if the constraints that aim to preserve City Hall’s architectural dominance from Nathan Phillips Sq, force the courthouse to be demure or if it just has to look different enough as to not compete with City Hall’s distinctive curves.
If so, perhaps the south facade could be restrained but the west facade as seen from University and Armoury can be much more interesting and call attention to itself outside the view from Nathan Phillips Sq.
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No way to know for sure unless one is in the know, but the old architectural plans from the Dev App site: http://app.toronto.ca/DevelopmentAp...ion=init&folderRsn=3850943&isCofASearch=false is suggestive of how the building will be organized given the needs.

Honestly I don't expect the building to be showy - something like the KT Headquarters building perhaps?

AoD
 
I'd like to see a throwback to brutalism, but done in a contemporary style. Either that, or lots of stone cladding. Pink granite, white marble, yellow limestone, all of the above. Have there been any large buildings clad in stone in the last few years? Time for it to return.
 
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