[modernizt]

They will have no choice because they will be pressed into service for that long.

And that's the exact problem. The windows will still be "functioning" as a building skin, but they will offer such poor thermal performance over the decades that the extra energy used will be enormous.

My concern with window-wall is not its need to be eventually replaced, whether that is sooner or later. My concern is what energy suckers window-wall buildings are by nature of the inferior thermal performance of window-wall systems. One year of abundant energy use is one thing --- 50 years of excessive energy use is a painful thought.

Urban enthusiasts on UT and elsewhere harp on about how cars are so bad for the environment, but people are so willing to turn a blind eye to the vast problem of buildings' energy use.

 

[whatever]

Just take an individual building as an example, if you were to just let it fall apart over time you would get performance issues at some location on it's surface due to a culmination of micro-climate, exposure direction, etc. within a short period of time. The rest of the building might not have any problems for another 30 years. Does this mean that the building has failed and he entire façade should be thrown in the garbage?

And that becomes a question of on-going maintenance. If one window fails and it gets replaced that's no problem. But if a window fails and isn't replaced, you now have the beginning of a progressive failure. Water penetration into the dry side of the system will cause rapid degradation of insulation, sealants, and fasteners. That in turn will permit the introduction of additional water into the dry side of the system, which in turn causes more degradation. And then you have the issue that it's rare for it to be just one window that fails in the first place. Because the wall is being produced in factory conditions you'll very often see that it's a bad batch of windows, or a bad batch of frames where the gaskets were applied incorrectly, or something like that.

I've seen cases where every single fastener on a project was the wrong type (stainless instead of zinc, for example), so that two years in there was already severe oxidation at every fastener on the wall. At that point do you change out every single fastener, or just scrap the wall?

 

[maestro]

Neither who be the answer for most.

 

[RyeJay]

And that's the exact problem. The windows will still be "functioning" as a building skin, but they will offer such poor thermal performance over the decades that the extra energy used will be enormous.

My concern with window-wall is not its need to be eventually replaced, whether that is sooner or later. My concern is what energy suckers window-wall buildings are by nature of the inferior thermal performance of window-wall systems. One year of abundant energy use is one thing --- 50 years of excessive energy use is a painful thought.

Urban enthusiasts on UT and elsewhere harp on about how cars are so bad for the environment, but people are so willing to turn a blind eye to the vast problem of buildings' energy use.

Well said!

 

[drum118]

Nov 23

 

[caltrane74]

Just pointing out the obvious, but it looks like the Harbour Plaza Condos are on hold until Sunlife Tower (1 York) tops out at the very least.

However, I doubt they will wait to completely finish the office building before resuming construction on the residential end of the project.

(I wonder if they will have time to sneak in a site variance, in the meanwhile?)

 

[drum118]

Just pointing out the obvious, but it looks like the Harbour Plaza Condos are on hold until Sunlife Tower (1 York) tops out at the very least.

However, I doubt they will wait to completely finish the office building before resuming construction on the residential end of the project.

(I wonder if they will have time to sneak in a site variance, in the meanwhile?)

From what I could see, some column forms are up for the middle tower above the podium.

 

[raptor]

Also, if they put the construction of condos on hold, wouldn't they take down the 2 cranes? I'd imagine crane rental is not cheap these days.

 

[khris]

Did they even go on sale?

 

[UrbanFervour]

This is not a deep insight or anything, but on a grey day, SouthCore just looks so incredibly cold and SAD to me. Living or working there would be very depressing for me. The scale and materiality of all those glassy buildings are not very humane. At least they are sort of cool to drive thru on the Gardiner.

 

[Hamiltonian]

Trees and awnings may be needed.

 

[Mo-tage]

Did they even go on sale?

I think most sold during VIP sales only. They did eventually open up broadly but sold so well I don't get the impression they did much broad marketing. I understand all they have left are a few lower floor north facing units. The condos are underway, unit purchasers received notice that construction has officially started as per the purchase contract. But I'm guessing they're well ahead of schedule so they can focus on the office building and still have no problem meeting the condo purchase contracts timing.

 

[wopchop]

I believe that construction is definitely moving forward, as on-site, they are making an extremely big deal about separating the ICI construction from the residential construction. They've erected fencing between the two projects to keep subcontractors separated.

 

[modernizt]

In case these were never posted... an earlier concept for the office tower:

 

[someMidTowner]

Whoa! That podium is.....interesting.