[dt_toronto_geek]

This condo didn't kill this theatre the Ontario Hunan Rights Council did.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20031208/uptowntheatre_timeline_20031208/

Wrong, the cinema chain didn't want to spend the money to make the Uptown, Eglinton and Plaza cinemas/restroom facilities accessible, it was all spec'd out but they chose not to do it. The Backstage cinemas could have been shuttered as making those small cinemas accessible would have been cost prohibitive. To save face they chose to turn the tables and blame it on the OHRC when in fact they wanted out of the Plaza/Eglinton leases anyway as they didn't turn huge profits like the new gigaplexes being built at the time and the Uptown property was worth a fortune so they sold it.

In the end I can never figure how cinemas can be ordered to make their premises accessible (which I don't disagree with) yet large apartment complexes (shelter), don't have to be.

It all makes no kinda' sense to me.

 

[Northern Magus]

This condo didn't kill this theatre the Ontario Hunan Rights Council did.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20031208/uptowntheatre_timeline_20031208/

The Ontario Human Rights Commission exists to enforce human rights, and was responsible for enforcing the Tory-legislated Ontario Human Rights Code until discrimination proceedings were spun off to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in 2008.

Under the Ontarians with Disabilities Acts 2001 and 2005 (enacted under the Harris and McGuinty governments), buildings and the private sector are covered under different specific duties.

In any event, the obligation is to remove barriers to access until the point of undue hardship. Undue hardship will be a question of fact in each case.

 

[Traynor]

In the end I can never figure how cinemas can be ordered to make their premises accessible (which I don't disagree with) yet large apartment complexes (shelter), don't have to be.

It all makes no kinda' sense to me.

I agree completely. I love Casa, but that lobby with the stairs to the mezzanine level shouts through its huge glass windows...

"Hey, we all have working legs in this building and you need to as well, if you want to join us!"

 

[junctionist]

If this is the quality of architecture that Pemberton wants to contribute to our city, then they should stick to building suburban banquet halls.

 

[urbandreamer]

^It's not. It just rep's their conservative-behind-the-trend thinking c.2003. Look at U Condos--they finally embraced aA c.2008, about a decade after Context did....

It's not finished yet...they could still add that cheesy hat y'all seem to love.

 

[Ramako]

^It's not. It just rep's their conservative-behind-the-trend thinking c.2003. Look at U Condos--they finally embraced aA c.2008, about a decade after Context did....

If a policy of cheapening the quality of their projects is still with them today, I wouldn't expect them to do justice to anything designed by aA. At least U Condos is a good enough design that it will still be a worthy addition to the city even after the hack job that they will inevitably do to it. Uptown, on the other hand, was a questionable design choice from the outset, so the Pemberton Treatment © of executing the design pushed it over the edge into full blown shititude.

 

[maestro]

The choice of architects on Uptown may represent the Pemberton of old, but that old design choice included an elegant crown. The decision to hack it up on the cheap is a decision by Pemberton being implemented here and now.

I wouldn't really call the rendering with the fins elegant. It still a hulking mass of concrete. I'm sure the engineering and cost evaluation was done a long time ago if this "elegant" crown was ever more than just artistic license. Uptown is all about the late Marco. Marc seems to be making more up to date design choices.

 

[maestro]

In regards to accessibility,


I don't know but, comparing a commercial theatre to a residential community is like comparing apples and oranges.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

In regards to accessibility,


I don't know but, comparing a commercial theatre to a residential community is like comparing apples and oranges.

My point is that many large apartment complexes built pre-90's (most of them) are not accessable and should be as renters with mobility issues are limited in their choices of where they can live. It's a no brainer.

 

[Parkdalian]

The choice of architects on Uptown may represent the Pemberton of old, but that old design choice included an elegant crown. The decision to hack it up on the cheap is a decision by Pemberton being implemented here and now.

I don't really understand how this is such a clear example of The Cheapening since the original hat wasn't tremendously different. What, are they saving a few thousand because they aren't using as much concrete? If you actually compare the photo with the model, you'll notice there are other, subtler differences. The vertical posts are flush with the balconies, rather than being attached to them. And the top of the building might now more closely resemble the tops of the other setbacks (as you can see on the model to the left). I'm getting the feeling this was a design choice.

And if someone's decision to buy or not buy into this building was entirely due to the construction of its hat, he or she probably shouldn't buy into it.

It's also not done, as urbandreamer points out.

 

[casaguy]

True most buyers couldn't care less, but it is a pretty big let down after being teased for years with this sexy render that highlights the roof element. I don't think the fins are going to be an add-on. What's there now looks pretty finished.

large pic is about 2MB:

 

[Northern Magus]

What a brutal Cheapening. Had they done it as per the render, it would have really enhanced the value of all their buyers' investments.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

I just can't let this one go (yet) and that rendering put up by casaguy just charged me up again. What really gets my goat is this and that crap-box next door will be there for the rest of our lives, at an important and busy intersection and they choose to cheap out like this on these two buildings. I'd go so far to say that they are an embarrassment to the city. Blu is, to an extent, obstructed and overshadowed by Uptown condos. Uptown would have at least been an "OK" building, until the roof feature was eliminated. No sense of civic pride whatsoever by these developers, shame on them both.

 

[Ramako]

I don't really understand how this is such a clear example of The Cheapening since the original hat wasn't tremendously different. What, are they saving a few thousand because they aren't using as much concrete? If you actually compare the photo with the model, you'll notice there are other, subtler differences. The vertical posts are flush with the balconies, rather than being attached to them. And the top of the building might now more closely resemble the tops of the other setbacks (as you can see on the model to the left). I'm getting the feeling this was a design choice.

And if someone's decision to buy or not buy into this building was entirely due to the construction of its hat, he or she probably shouldn't buy into it.

It's also not done, as urbandreamer points out.

I wouldn't buy anything from anyone who has no pride in their own work.

 

[interchange42]

Don't you wish that after the grand tour Pemberton offered the UT staff, that they would be forced to read every comment posted after.

Same goes for all the developers using this site for their advertising.... You can't just take the praise lavished on you by sycophants, you must also hear the criticisms.

I wish we would be offered a tour of Uptown. We have asked. We would like to get into every significant building going up in Toronto. Once we do get into projects, we try to report the facts as we understand them, without much editorializing. UT readers can make up their own minds about every project, and we hope the photos and text help inform the readers. It is pretty new for developers to allow in alternative media like ourselves to their projects: they know that they may be in for criticism as well as praise, so it takes some bravery. The more enlightened developers know that in this day and age it is best to open themselves up, take any knocks if they are coming to them, and learn from them... but then again, the more enlightened developers don't have much to worry about because they are building well in the first place. Hopefully someday Pemberton will be ready to open themselves to UrbanToronto.

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