400WellingtonGuy
Active Member
Boulevard trees are being installed today I believe. Saw them last night driving by. Anyone have pics today?
- Thread starter brettrobinson
- Start date
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
I saw them along Church this morning. They were all planted save one, which was lying there awaiting planting, I presume. The balcony railings are on the corner balconies on the 3d and 4th floors now too.
carturo15
Active Member
Those are actually 4th and 5th floor, remember that the first level on the Front side is actually the second floor
AndreaPalladio
Senior Member
That's too much thinking for 6:30 am.
anonymous0024
Active Member
The trees along Church, from August 14th, 2013:
And a shot of one of the retail units along Front:
There were two trees planted along Front as well, no photos of them though.
And a shot of one of the retail units along Front:
There were two trees planted along Front as well, no photos of them though.
carturo15
Active Member
udo
Active Member
iPhone pic taken from Hothouse restaurant patio ...
Contrary to widespread opinion I like how the Berczy condo building blends into its neighbourhood - at least from this angle. The brick facade has about the same height as the more historic buildings next to it, the greyish upper portion blends with the sky and the set back modern look aligns with the other modern glass facades seen in the background.
Contrary to widespread opinion I like how the Berczy condo building blends into its neighbourhood - at least from this angle. The brick facade has about the same height as the more historic buildings next to it, the greyish upper portion blends with the sky and the set back modern look aligns with the other modern glass facades seen in the background.
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Redroom Studios
Senior Member
I agree... it is a fairly smart design on the street fronts. (the back side is rather hideous but almost nobody will see it) this is the way to do infill and I like how the addition of Berczy and L Tower have totally increased the scale of this intersection.
and Hot House - good call! one of my fave restaurants in TO!
and Hot House - good call! one of my fave restaurants in TO!
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ProjectEnd
Superstar
I'm sorry but to praise this utter disaster as "the way to do infill" really is an indication of how far we've got to go when it comes to new residential in this city.
Tulse
Senior Member
I'm curious as to what folks don't like about the project. To me it scales well with the neighbourhood -- given that the building would be that height, the setbacks and light-coloured upper section help to make it blend with its surroundings. I might have preferred something less tall and massive here, but if we have to have that, I think this works well. What are the basic objections?
RiverCity1
Active Member
Nice pic, udo. That was taken from pretty much the exact same spot as depicted in the main database rendering above lol. I prefer the choice of the darker balcony glass and windows over what the renderings suggested. Otherwise, the building looks the same and is a great fit in a great neighbourhood.
whatever
Senior Member
I like everything about it except for all that grey spandrel on the upper portion. If they'd gone with brick or precast or stone or even something like a forest green spandrel I would have liked it much more.
arvelomcquaig
Active Member
I think the objections (at least mine) are how perfunctory the upper, white-ish section is. It looks like the most banal contemporary architectural junk made of cheap materials and designed in two minutes.
urbandreamer
recession proof
What don't I like about it?
1)Massing--is clumsy and clearly value engineered beyond reason given the expensive price these units sold at
2)Scale--it could be 1s or 100s but that doesn't matter to me. It's #3 that matters
3)Design--awful. In fact there is no design here. It's just parts bin schlock mixed via a very Vancouver perspective of pedestrian condo architecture with faint'n cheesy nods to a kind of North American 19th century style. The grey spandrel makes up 50% of this building's presence so how can anyone state it just "disappears." It doesn't! The datum lines are off. The precast panels/trim are cartoonish disneyfied pieces of crap--why not just make the entire building red brick?
4)Materials--terrible choices here. It didn't actually have to be red brick. A white glossy clay tile would've done but only had I designed the exterior
The grey spandrel is dreary. The precast colouring and texture is wrong! The way the brick is laid and textured makes no sense of its context. The window wall is low grade--see the hybrid system on those gorgeous Distillery District condos for an example of how to improve it. The colour is all wrong--grey or black on red brick??? The dark glazing looks terrible. The balconies look tacky.
5)This is a condo version of those tacky suburban homes being built in Caledon, Erin, Brampton etc. It exists because it was easy to market and sell. Wow location location location! Who cares??? Many locations downtown are better than here.
6)Verdict: This is the design equivalent of covering the St James Cathedral in beige EIFS. (Including "modernized & improved" windows like on the Motel 6 on Dundas East.)
Given its context this is one of the worst-designed buildings of the past decade.
1)Massing--is clumsy and clearly value engineered beyond reason given the expensive price these units sold at
2)Scale--it could be 1s or 100s but that doesn't matter to me. It's #3 that matters
3)Design--awful. In fact there is no design here. It's just parts bin schlock mixed via a very Vancouver perspective of pedestrian condo architecture with faint'n cheesy nods to a kind of North American 19th century style. The grey spandrel makes up 50% of this building's presence so how can anyone state it just "disappears." It doesn't! The datum lines are off. The precast panels/trim are cartoonish disneyfied pieces of crap--why not just make the entire building red brick?
4)Materials--terrible choices here. It didn't actually have to be red brick. A white glossy clay tile would've done but only had I designed the exterior
The grey spandrel is dreary. The precast colouring and texture is wrong! The way the brick is laid and textured makes no sense of its context. The window wall is low grade--see the hybrid system on those gorgeous Distillery District condos for an example of how to improve it. The colour is all wrong--grey or black on red brick??? The dark glazing looks terrible. The balconies look tacky.5)This is a condo version of those tacky suburban homes being built in Caledon, Erin, Brampton etc. It exists because it was easy to market and sell. Wow location location location! Who cares??? Many locations downtown are better than here.
6)Verdict: This is the design equivalent of covering the St James Cathedral in beige EIFS. (Including "modernized & improved" windows like on the Motel 6 on Dundas East.)
Given its context this is one of the worst-designed buildings of the past decade.
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SP!RE
°°°°°°
This building demonstrates the way that market (condo-buyers' and developers') tastes are conflicting with environmental concerns. They attempted to create a fully-glazed look for the upper portion of the building but had to use spandrel in order to meet environmental targets.
I'm still excited for the "glass-glass-everywhere" aesthetic to die in this city, replaced by a mix of forms and various types of cladding. This habit of applying spandrel glass copiously as if it's vision glass is really ugly.
I'm still excited for the "glass-glass-everywhere" aesthetic to die in this city, replaced by a mix of forms and various types of cladding. This habit of applying spandrel glass copiously as if it's vision glass is really ugly.
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