Yes it does seem like bottom-line architecture going up here, but good that this area is finally getting developed. I do hope these new developments include retail, restaurants and opportunities for other such ventures to keep things interesting at street level. Maple Leaf Square has done a decent job in this respect, so I hope Ice and the neighbouring office tower afford the same. It seems like this would be a no-brainer with the sports facilities and harbourfront so close. Is Infinity really just going to be replicated..?
 
The whole "Southcore/MLSE" area is just an add-on for a city like Toronto, while if those 14 buildings (and arena) were placed somewhere on their own and maybe spread out a little, they would actually exceed the skylines of a whole bunch of quasi-major cities like Phoenix, Milwaukee, Tampa, Indianapolis, Winnipeg...

Hell, just what's south of the train tracks (CN Tower excluded) would be compete with bigger cities with more clustering and mid-rise buildings. The done and tower really serve to minimize what else is there, due to their size and prominence.
 
Well strictly skyline speaking TO has one of the more impressive imo, there's really only NYC, CHI, that surpass and perhaps LA, ATL, and Houston on the same level. It's just a shame that this area doesn't have anything a little more visually interesting planned considering it is front and centre on the skyline. Absolute World would have been good!
 
I would have to agree with Tewder on this one. Although, such districts are common and exist in all large cities even those we idolize.

However, it goes back to my common comment that no degree of planning or architecture can save a district from the negative implications of large full blocks being sold to developers to be developed. This is a lesson for all the waterfront. No amount of thought or care or design will ever create a dynamic functional year-round neighbourhood if whole blocks are sold to be developed. I would be so bold as to suggest that most of the highrise or dense areas you see in the world from Asia to Europe to North America where whole blocks at a time are developed don't work, although they may look cool from a distance. Infact, it is a huge mistake to even consider that design or intelligent thought or architecture have anything to do with how such a district functions.
 
TrickyRicky, you have made a keen observation. Thus, I cannot understand all the hyper-excitement on the board about areas like this. This street will always be a very very poor cousin to areas in the city with small storefronts, varied uses and lowrise buildings.
 
Well arguably it won't look 'cool from a distance' either. If it was not going to be grown slowly and more organically as a developing neighborhood, at least it would have been good to have one or two appealing buildings blocking views of the Royal York. A treed park would have been my preference.
 
Southcore badly needs some standout buildings on those remaining lots, IMO. There's a lot of building duplication and lookalike materials being used in the area.

Infinity one and two are the most obvious example of copying within the same development, but PWC's existing tower is about to get a clone, only turned sideways. ICE is going to be more or less the same tower twice with a height differential, and Maple Leaf Square has two near-duplicate towers as well.

Just about all the towers lining Queen's Quay from Yonge to Bathurst are co-joined duplicates as well.

I think this sort of thing really starts to look like an imaginative deficit. When buildings have the huge lots and long sides of the developments at Southcore, they are also not as easily written off or ignored. They are supposed to be part of the signature buildings of the skyline, in fact. I think it's fair to require that those who have the means to build them put in the extra effort to make them all the more interesting for those who have to live with them.

I think it might be of benefit if the remaining lots at Southcore (including ICE's office component) were clad in something other than glass curtainwall. Some creative visual enrichment and punctuation would be good. That, and no more twins and duplicates along the waterfront!
 
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Our massive dataBase entry for Southcore is now live. Check out the story here!
 
Aug 05
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Aug. 7th - Pit ~ level 3 west end of site...getting deep. Hoarding well under way.

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interchange42 said:
Our massive dataBase entry for Southcore is now live. Check out the story here!
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"South Core" may be the name of this three building project, but I think the whole area will be known as "South Core" because its a logical name for an area somewhat removed from - and south of - the core. It's also pretty much built out after these current 7 buildings are complete, unless 90 and 120 Harbour street become included - which would make sense.
 
Big Daddy said:
t's also pretty much built out after these current 7 buildings are complete, unless 90 and 120 Harbour street become included - which would make sense.
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I wouldn't be surprised if the Southcore name doesn't extend all the way to Bayfront, which would include Waterlink/Pier27, the Toronto Star and the LCBO lands just east of Yonge street...and definitely, 120, 90, 85-(Waterpark-3) Harbour street, and also any future re-development of the Westin Harbour Castle convention centre would all be part of Southcore.
 
My own vision of Southcore extends from the tracks to Queens Quay, and from Lower Simcoe to Jarvis. Aside from a handful of sites (60 Harbour, 120 Harbour, 45 Bay), most of the remaining developable land is east of Yonge, such as the Toronto Star lands. I expect that it will be filled up in relatively short order, though.
 
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