But in fairness, though we currently have twice as many retail units the quality of those units is so lousy that they'll never be able to attract any kind of worthwhile business. If we had a smaller number of superior units (two-storey, well outfitted, nice big display windows) there's a chance something interesting will want to set up shop.

It's more the loss of the floor of office/studio space that bothers me. Mixed use has to mean more than condo + retail. It has to take into account all of the other uses that make up an interesting city. I know the size of the podium is already problematic, but I still wish it could incorporate a floor or two of office space.
 
Oh these towers are fantastic...for Bloor and Bay Street area!

I would rec the developer add red brick to the podium with window cutouts reflecting the Victorian-era buildings across the street---sort of like Market Wharf only with modernized interpretation of Victorian proportions. The towers look great as well but perhaps the balconies could be fritted with an additional pinstripe of contrasting colour to add further flare to the design, say red, green or blue pinstripe about 4" wide near the top or bottom of the white fritted glass balcony panels.

As for the green wall--I would say no, that these green walls will become headaches in a few decades requiring removal and possibly creating eyesores down the road. Now green ivy etc covering red brick...yes!

So tell Clewes to get the red brick on the podium, perhaps with a cap of green (go lux and make it copper that will turn green!) to mimic a roofline then the green pinstripes around the white (or perhaps eggshell) fritted balconies. Oh just send me the bill....005% commission thanks.
 
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CityPlaceN1 said:
Are they not just for massing purposes? If so there's nothing to discuss yet.
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Yes and no---they do look like they rolled off the aA neomodernist assembly line, and for the sake of dropping a placeholder in, I suppose they can't be faulted for doing exactly that.

That said, for every aA project that spins their default design language in a somewhat new direction (Ãce, their Block 31 proposal) or sticks to their default design language but does it to perfection (Four Seasons), there seem to be about five projects that are more of the same. Anticipating what the actual design would be and how much it might depart from those renders is sort of about playing the odds.
 
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Peepers said:
Why is there so much opposition to the above-grade parking structure:confused: These are common-place in Chicago which is hardly an architectural backwater.
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Take it from someone who lived there, many of these great Chicago buildings do not meet the street as well as they could, and these above-grade parking structures are partly to blame.
 
I believe this size and type of development is great for this site - this is a growing metropolitan community and having density here makes all kinds of sense from a services and transit perspective (let’s reduce commuting by putting more people downtown).

The issue I and other have is how they address the parking “bulk head” and the required parking (so parking doesn’t become a neighbourhood issue) and how they address the tower design. It seems the logical solution is to reduce the scale of the project so as to reduce the parking requirement, but we will have to wait and see.

I believe they can solve these issues provided the developer is willing to pay for unusual construction costs (something we don’t see in Toronto) - that is left to be seen.

Also, why do they feel these towers need to be the same height?
 
Because it looks so sharp having twin towers :D They complement each other.

I imagine the project will be scaled down so that the parking can be scaled down as well, but the city really shouldn't be requiring much parking here in the first place.
 
Honestly, the project might get scaled down by the city, but upsized by the OMB to it's original or taller height.

This project makes sense, as long as there is good retail on Yonge, I think it will fly.
 
Looking at the retail base, I like others feel we are down sizing the number of units well up scaling to high end stores.

The present trend is to chase mom & Pa stores out of the area that can be afford by the local area or outsiders looking for bargains or things not found in their area. At the same time, low incomers will have to travel to other parts of the city to buy things that they can afford if these large units become very expensive.

Some will say I am anti-car and that fine with me, but I am looking 10-40 years down the road as to what will be on the road compare today.

If we have gridlock with a million cars today, what do you call it when there is another 1-3 million on the road where it takes you hours to go a few blocks?? Where are we going to put these 1-3 million more cars than what we have now??

I know people live in the core area and work in the 905 and the current transit system suck badly trying to get there daily today and why people drive. Until such time, if every we get a real transit system, we need to try to keep car requirement as low as we can and hope people will use transit more.

If the present trend continue, we may see the return of various companies who have moved out of the area back to the core, since they know they have a workforce close by and they will not have to travel far to get to work compare to what takes place today.

Until I see more on the renders, These towers need to go ahead with reduce parking as plan.
 
whatever said:
But in fairness, though we currently have twice as many retail units the quality of those units is so lousy that they'll never be able to attract any kind of worthwhile business. If we had a smaller number of superior units (two-storey, well outfitted, nice big display windows) there's a chance something interesting will want to set up shop.

It's more the loss of the floor of office/studio space that bothers me. Mixed use has to mean more than condo + retail. It has to take into account all of the other uses that make up an interesting city. I know the size of the podium is already problematic, but I still wish it could incorporate a floor or two of office space.
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Hey, strippers need to buy their heels somewhere. (honestly, I love the Kleen Air Shoes sign. I'm gonna miss it.)

I don't think quality is the issue. Variety is.

I agree that adding some 2nd and third floor office space would be ideal. Yonge has it everywhere else along the strip and should have it here too.
 
greenleaf said:
I agree that adding some 2nd and third floor office space would be ideal. Yonge has it everywhere else along the strip and should have it here too.
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The podium is high enough, even if reduced, without adding office space.
I'd like to see this project reduced to a two storey podium and 2 X 20s just to piss the developer off for trying to pull this crap off at this location.
 
Not a fan.

This isn't aA's fault but they're a fast food firm.

Combo 1: Glass tower with wrap around balconies
Combo 2: Glass tower with fritted glass wrap around balconies
Combo 3: Glass tower with balconies on 3 sides
Combo 4: Glass tower with balconies on 2 sides

It's all so boring and disappointing. Such a lack of imagination. Again, I'm blaming the developers for this. We have this giant boom in a city with pretty bland architecture and all we can do is build cookie cutter glass box condos?
 
We need something like the couple of renderings posted on last page (thechariot) by Arquitectonica. They still provide nice square dimensions that work well for condo's yet they have more variation then the strict rectangular boxes.
 
When I walk through old suburban neighborhoods (eg Annex) the unity of style isn't boring or stifling, but rather evokes the sense of neighborhood identity and history. Certainly the neighborhood along the Yonge axis will exemplify the 2010s aA type modernism, and from my perspective, the relative unity in design gives it the feel of a vertical "suburb" build in the interstices of the old neighborhood.
 
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