Most of what Toronto builds isn't visually appealing. For self preservation's sake, it's best just to concentrate on the high-rises Toronto builds each year that add beauty to the city. There's almost always 3-4 that go up each year like that. The rest range from inoffensive to awful. This one falls squarely under 'inoffensive'. It's not very nice but it's not ugly either.

Things gradually improve too. We're seeing far more buildings like 19 Duncan than we used to. Perhaps in a few years, we'll get 5-10 good looking high rises each year.
You know I have to agree with you that most of what gets built is inoffensive to awful. I agree, the redesign is inoffensive. But for me that's where the disappointment is. I thought the previous iteration was genuinely great.

You are right though. Most of Toronto architecture doesn't really stand out much... given the vast amount of projects though, it would be nice to see more standouts per year.
 
You know I have to agree with you that most of what gets built is inoffensive to awful. I agree, the redesign is inoffensive. But for me that's where the disappointment is. I thought the previous iteration was genuinely great.

You are right though. Most of Toronto architecture doesn't really stand out much... given the vast amount of projects though, it would be nice to see more standouts per year.
Agree, the previous version was more interesting, especially the 3rd phase tower. Maybe HP got some heat on The Well for using fake diagonal bracing (certainly something that would be frowned upon in school so not sure what the justification was to do it in the real world other than a non-architect client thinking that it looks cool). Interesting that the Pinnacle website is still using all the old renderings and interactive 3D model to finish selling the remaining units.
 
Agree, the previous version was more interesting, especially the 3rd phase tower. Maybe HP got some heat on The Well for using fake diagonal bracing (certainly something that would be frowned upon in school so not sure what the justification was to do it in the real world other than a non-architect client thinking that it looks cool). Interesting that the Pinnacle website is still using all the old renderings and interactive 3D model to finish selling the remaining units.
I think if I never saw the 1st version and only saw this new version, I would appreciate the new version more.

I'm not an architectural student or anything, but I also remember the well getting flack for the fake diagonal bracing... I at least personally appreciated the aesthetic of it... just overall felt like a sleeker proposal.

Pinnacle keeping the older renders makes you wonder if they know they downgraded the project, or is merely an oversight... it should be fixed, it's almost false advertising.

Also I'd like to add, I read that the floor plan stayed the same and the redesign allowed for more balconies... and personally, I love a balcony. I love being able to have a bit of outdoor real estate and the views are great... so it's a very human component of a building... I'm not usually one to think that balconies inherently take away from the overall look of the building... so if the redesign was to implement the balconies, I do understand, but can't help but feel the redesign could have been better if that was the case.
 
Jan 29, 2022


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Seems like the balcony installation has hit a stand still. It doesn't appear there's been progress in a month or longer but I haven't been counting floors either.
Three floors have had balconies installed this week. I think it has been too cold but it has been much warmer this week. I have the pleasure of looking at it every day as my home office/desk looks directly toward the building.
 
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In extremely cold conditions the employer needs to allow for warm-up breaks, and the ratio of break time to work time expands the colder it gets. It might be that particularly for something like balcony work that the subtrade figured it just wasn't worth bringing guys in to have them spending most of the day huddled around a salamander. Maybe if it was pathway critical or if there were impending deadlines approaching, but it's probably cheaper/easier to just slow down for now and then throw some extra manpower at it in a few weeks.
 
...not to mention, there's probably lots of work going on the inside.
 

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