^^ Too cynical and simplistic. That's not really how the process works. There's far more give and take between developer and architect and city/community than you're accounting for.
 
You're being a bit cavalier with the facts there Spire. Interchange is correct, this particular building has gone through massive changes, not just to the podium. When a developer meets with an architect about a new project what they have is a site, a program and an ideal GFA - it's then up to the architect to balance those requirements with the zoning by-law, Official Plan, any relevant Secondary Plans, urban design guidelines and special area-specific planning policies. Things change massively over the life of a project, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. It's up to the architect to roll with the punches and adjust things as new requirements / changes come in. It's also therefore best never to get too attached to a particular 'design' or 'design element' as it is almost certainly going to change.

Just remember, by the time even our most talented sleuths are able to find renderings or get information about which firm is doing which new building, the project has already been around that architect's office for a significant period of time (sometimes years).

It's unfortunate the design that I spoke about last summer isn't going ahead - the simplest way I can describe it would be KPMB's 355 King study meets Pier27's bridges. It truly would have been stunning.
 
DtTO said:
I know this is off topic, but how did you amass 1808 posts since February of this year? Oddly enough, a search suggests that you only have 57 posts. It normally says 500 for anyone that has over 500 posts :S
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I have no life :cool: My account was accidentally deleted. the post count re-added so people didn't think i was a new user or a copycat gabe.
 
Hopefully some of those bolder design elements and concepts can be explored for the future 11 Wellesley project. Nice opportunity there to display creative massing forms, and urban spaces.
 
I suspect the north tower, given how short it is now, will be entierly parking and amenities. That might not be a bad thing for the folks living in the other tower.
 
Thernan said:
I suspect the north tower, given how short it is now, will be entierly parking and amenities. That might not be a bad thing for the folks living in the other tower.
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I doubt that they would waste the views from the north tower on a parking garage when they could be sold as condos. The podium here will still be quite large. I suspect that the podium will contain all parking and amenities.
 
I'm not surprised that the "plain jane" version is going ahead. A softer condo market with lower precon prices means the cool stuff will have to go away for awhile. Perhaps this is just a basic rendering--there may be red brick or colour in the real version--but I like how it riffs on the 1960s office towers on Bay Street. Personally, I've become so impatient re: my dream aA tower that I'm going to give it the NimbyTect treatment soon (ie, a condo version of the Mowat Block on Bay Street.)

I have no idea if there's a public art component, but if there is, I have an incredibly cool concept/idea for it. If you're serious, contact me via twitter. (My idea makes sense for a site like this.)
 
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^The retail spaces are fine, it's the business that sucks. I walk down Roncevalles almost daily and whenever I'm on Yonge I fantasize all the old historic buildings "cleaned up" and looking like Roncevalles. Maybe with another 30,000 condo residents in the area it will happen before we're all old men?
 
I also prefer the charming indie districts in the West End. But considering the relentless block busting being planned for Yonge St and the high-rise form of proposals, I imagine the future retail to be of more corporate nature. The skyscraper canyons of Midtown Manhattan comes to mind, but with of course less interesting buildings.
 
^^

The last time I was in Manhattan (1.5 years ago) I was so sick of all the corporate retail. All you see is Old Navy and the Gap. All the cool, independent stores are gone. It's just so overwhelmingly corporate, it's like a trip to Yorkdale. The worst thing is, the Gap and Old Navy, sell the exact same clothing in NYC, as they do here, so why would I want to shop there? Times Square has become so boring and bland. Sure, it's got the bling but retail wise, it's completely conventional and corporate. If Yonge Street just becomes lined with the same bland, retail as a typical shopping mall, it's not going to worth it. I want to see unique, creative, independent stores on Yonge Street and throughout the city.
 
interchange42 said:
These comments are disingenuous, right?

Massive changes have been made to this project through the community working group—more significant changes than have happened to any other project I can remember offhand—and whatever plans may have been in the bag to improve upon the original plan are totally gone now.

A few people from aA or related firms will know what was proposed—and maybe the secret design was only ever one of a number of options—but I'll be very surprised if it is ever made public. Multiple designs are created for any of these larger projects before one is settled on; maybe these particular "lost" special elements will be worked into another project some day. It they ever do, we'll likely be able to report that this is what 501 might have been.

42
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From what we've seen the only real massive changes have been at the podium level. Perhaps the economic viability of the secret avant-garde concept was removed when they were forced to shorten the towers, but I still can't help but be suspicious when the results looks exactly like the "massing studies". I get that they were facing resistance to the project's density, but if they were serious about the design why not put it forward from the start? I'm sure they would have found a little more leniancy in all the haggling if they presented a truely stunning vision instead of a pair of "glass boxes" that communities seems to so easily coalesce against.

ProjectEnd said:
It's unfortunate the design that I spoke about last summer isn't going ahead - the simplest way I can describe it would be KPMB's 355 King study meets Pier27's bridges. It truly would have been stunning.
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Sounds pretty daring. Disappointing that we get something so bland instead. Perhaps it's best we never saw that iteration as it would probably make the outcome that much more soul-crushing.

Hopefully a reincarnation in the not so distant future.
 
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