SP!RE said:
Yonge Street has nothing in common with Oxford Street, other than the fact that they are both famous street names.
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Really? Oxford Street felt a lot like Yonge Street to me, particularly the stretch closer to the Marble Arch.
 
In my personal experience of that street, it's very very different from Yonge Street. The built form, the type and status of its retailers, its infrastructure... I can think of many great precedent examples that 501 Yonge could follow and none of them are situated on Oxford Street. Maybe that's just me though... maybe I didn't spend enough time exploring its length to form an opinion.
 
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^^ Built form and infrastructure? Well that's exactly my point. Yonge Street needs to significantly up its game when it comes to both of those things.

SP!RE said:
Yonge Street has nothing in common with Oxford Street, other than the fact that they are both famous street names.
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How so? Oxford is London's main 'high street' while Yonge is ours. Neither is a high end shopping strip, but acts as the main retail thoroughfare in each city. I'm not sure how more alike their roles could be. Oxford has better architecture, but a main street should be like that. Yonge Street could learn a lot from Oxford's example.
 
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SP!RE said:
In my personal experience of that street, it's very very different from Yonge Street. The built form, the type and status of its retailers, its infrastructure... I can think of many great precedent examples that 501 Yonge could follow and none of them are situated on Oxford Street. Maybe that's just me though.
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It might just come down to when I was there. It wasn't so much the built form but the demographics of the crowds there, the music and noise generally, the construction, the grime, the energy. Definitely better retail on average though.
 
isaidso said:
How so? Oxford is London's main 'high street' while Yonge is ours. Neither is a high end shopping strip, but acts as the main retail thoroughfare in each city. I'm not sure how more alike their roles could be. Oxford has better architecture, but a main street should be like that. Yonge Street could learn a lot from Oxford's example.
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"Better architecture" is a very non-specific goal for developments on Yonge Street though. In a discussion like this, it's helpful to have precedent examples. The built form on Oxford Street is very different and has a very different history than Yonge Street. Perhaps we should be discussion which features of buildings along Oxford Street could be incorporated into a development like 501 Yonge. All buildings along Oxford Street are midrise, for example.
 
Let's also keep in mind that if you had to do Oxford St all over again, you couldn't--it's a product of its period: and a period when London was the centre of the universe while Toronto The Good was a provincial tank town, and all that was Oxford-ian and not in cruddy ad hoc increments didn't stray far from the Eatons/Simpsons node.

Today's "Oxford" equivalent in Toronto isn't Yonge, it's Bloor (and I'm not judging architecture here)
 
SP!RE said:
I think the "moderator" role is a difficult one. Admittedly I do find that the best approach is for mods to not engage in debate or share opinions but rather ensure that the boards run smoothly. Maybe the mods should have separate "personal" accounts by which they engage in discussions, so that their moderator accounts can be used solely for moderating. Just an idea.
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For the record, I don't think there's any bias in the way people get banned or threatened with it for how they express their opinions. Mods are above that. I just don't like the frickin censorship! [/ot]
 
The podium/ ground level treatment looks great in that rendering. Certainly more engaging than an expanse of glass at ground level.
 
You know I think that is the first version of this proposal that I actually like. Still has that refined-but-bland look/feel of an aA work, but I guess that can't be fixed. I would take aA over G+C any day.
 
I like it too, less the towers, but I could live with this. Best street level treatment yet, by far.
 
They should rename the Draft North Downtown Yonge UD Guidelines "Welcome to Suburbia" --they want all glass office towers and all glass retail frontages! Boring! It reads like a 905-subdivision by-law doc.

The best 501 Yonge design likely won't be built--cost cutting etc.

The design shown in this doc looks very similar to a certain "sketch" ...
 
^ I agree, ud.

I am hard to please, I know, but really the city should send this attempt back, like they did the others. This is a corner that is ripe for cutting edge, and something a tad seductive, not a rehash. Oh, I'll add that this stuff looks institutional. Not good for Yonge at all. I am disappointed.
 
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