[Chronamut]

Excited to see what that brick looks like

yeah me too - from what ive glimpsed its sorta a pinkish brick with occasional white pieces

mind you the white pieces could just be salt leech

 

[Chris R.]

The brick work facing King St has been exposed. Tons of drywall being delivered and cutoffs taken away, didn't take photos of drywall delivery.

Comments on the brickwork: Glad to see a generally high quality installation, lacking the typical horizontal expansion gaps, meaning they spent extra time and some extra cash ensuring the brick work could move independently from the behind structure to avoid expansion gaps. The cutouts for vents are too bad, but not great either. Unsure why they made the first floor windows smaller and then made the bricks project inward to the same size as the upper floors. And a comment about the windows, I don't know why they didn't spend a bit extra to get windows that properly fit the arches instead of just filling it with siding.

Today:

 

[PaperSun]

Love the brick colour/design

 

[Chronamut]

Hrmm... did they cheap out on the cornice? Or is there more to be installed..? The lack of flare at the top makes it melt too much into the building and doesn't break up the massing enough. If they've changed the design the cornice feels more like an afterthought with the brick then continuing on top of it.. not gonna lie, the cornice is looking pretty limp in comparison.. I HATE when people deviate from the final render.

To echo Chris though I AM happy about the brick, and a bit disappointed at the lack of the arch in the windows. That's probably cost related though - easier to replace a rectangular smashed window than an arched one, so while I understand, I don't particularly approve. The brick though is a major win in that it LOOKS heritage without expansion bands - they did that right so I am happy with that (although the use of white bricks may have been a bit too.. liberally added in parts..)

We knew there would be ventilation cutouts though, there always are. No pretty seamless design ever stays that way - why they don't incorporate it seamlessly into the design when they render it though is beyond me..

 

[berklon]

I suspect the brick they're adding on top of the current cornice will be covered by an addition to the cornice. The render shows a little lip before the top of the cornice - which I'm assuming is what we're seeing now - just the lip.

 

[Chronamut]

I suspect the brick they're adding on top of the current cornice will be covered by an addition to the cornice. The render shows a little lip before the top of the cornice - which I'm assuming is what we're seeing now - just the lip.

We shall see I suppose.. always hard to critique before something is done.

Keep in mind it also showed the same thing at the mid-way up cornice but that part was never added - the window begins right after it.

This kinda feels like the william thomas building situation where they could have made different sizes of the molds but they just stuck to all of the same size, even when they shouldn't have, like in the middle of william thomas where it's clearly a narrower design.

 

[Crapht]

East side is also exposed. Some faux windows all bricked up. Personally I think the ratio of white bricks looks a bit much but not complaining.

 

[Chronamut]

Mm yeah that feels like a bit much for white brick.. then again I don't recall the last building I SAW white brick on, so maybe I just need time to adjust.

Also the brick ending at that one spot lends less credence that it's backing for more cornice.. some parts of this feel really wacky.

The white brick my be part of the problem though - it takes away from the lightness of the cornice and makes your eye unsure of where to land.

 

[Chronamut]

I drove by this afternoon and noticed the fake bricked windows adjacent to A&W not sure if I like it. I get its a giant bare wall and maybe its done to break up the design but I don't know how I feel about it

I think it was made to replicate the historical look a lot of old historical buildings had where all their windows were bricked in for practicality purposes - as well as when a building next door was built right up to the wall. Maybe one day when that A & W is demolished another building can but right up to it and block that.

I still have trouble with that white brick - my mind is automatically drawn to it and it just feels like chaos to me - like someone took bits of white cornice and peppered them all over the side of the wall lol.. somehow.. and I don't know why.. it makes it look DIRTY.. maybe cuz my mind thinks of salt leeching.

It's a shame too because it's a unique feature - they could have used the white brick as accenting around the windows to make them stand out more if they had patterned them. Now all the accent features are just fighting for visual control with the white brick.

 

[Chris R.]

I drove by this afternoon and noticed the fake bricked windows adjacent to A&W not sure if I like it. I get its a giant bare wall and maybe its done to break up the design but I don't know how I feel about it

It's because they can't put windows there without considerable issues. Not only is it nearly up against the property line, so any future development would nearly block the entire windows, but there are also weird code requirements for windows so close to property lines. That's why the Core Urban had those weird sprinklers to the windows because of their closeness to the property line.

 

[Brumline]

A changing vibe walking down King:

 

[jta5]

l o l the designed-to-be-bricked-in windows are the most ridiculous expression of "conform to the character of the neighbourhood" design principles I have ever seen. Reminds me of the old Hammer in the news satire article about a small business on Barton being required to board up their windows to fit in with the neighbourhood.

 

[TheHonestMaple]

Agreed. Why not just use fake windows? It's not uncommon.

 

[IamNotaRobot]

l o l the designed-to-be-bricked-in windows are the most ridiculous expression of "conform to the character of the neighbourhood" design principles I have ever seen. Reminds me of the old Hammer in the news satire article about a small business on Barton being required to board up their windows to fit in with the neighbourhood.

but again, if they are anticipating that a building will go up next to it which I'm sure it will - how does it not make sense? Its just like the Marquee building having the giant exposed concrete podium - they were gonna build another building there. I dont really see the issue. I guess they could just have not had the fake windows at all but maybe its just to break it up so its not a giant brick wall (or looks like one rather)?

 

[Wigs]

Is there still plans to build something next to Marquee? Can someone link me to that project info?

Hamilton has so many developments in the pipeline I find it hard to keep up