I think The Well will be better IMO, comparing the two from an urbanistic perspective.

Not nearly as impressive, but more human-scaled than Hudson Yards.

That being said, I do hope we get something as tall as Hudson Yards in the future over the railways (looking at the MTCC).

What about the Well do you find better from an urbanistic perspective?
 
What about the Well do you find better from an urbanistic perspective?

It's at least somewhat more intimate in terms of massing and block sizes for one thing, and isn't completely glass-n-steel in terms of materiality. It looks to integrate itself with its neighbors on Wellington, instead of standing apart from them.

It's not to say that Hudson Yards is a bad project- it revitalizes dead land and the quality of the towers is what we should aim for, but it feel monumental beyond the human scale.

Just look at the scale of that podium! If you overlaid the two projects, the main two towers & mall cover around 60% of the Well's site. Ironically it's the industrial High Line and the materiality of the surrounding buildings that helps humanize the scene.

Even the main public space as well, jumbo-scaled! The pedestrian nature of the square takes a back-seat to Heatherwick's sculpture.

But it's still beautiful and a skyline definer:
B3-DK007_HUDSON_GR_20190311135714.jpg

At the moment, the view north from Chelsea is chilling, and its citizens can be forgiven if they regard Hudson Yards as nothing more than a wall of glazed prisms and wedges, the vitreous cliff of a New Abu Dhabi. When they experience the thrill of the vista from above, and see how well the buildings are integrated into the Highline below, they will come to accept it. But Hudson Yards, it is now clear to see, is no Rockefeller Center. Although it is similar in size (28 acres as opposed to 22 at Rockefeller Center), it lacks the gracious integration of outdoor space with the architectural order of its surrounding buildings. The public space at Rockefeller Center has the pleasing decorum of a civic plaza. The public space at Hudson Yards is more akin to the shapeless residual space of an amusement park, the interstitial fluid in which the buildings float. In this respect—and probably without the awareness of all involved parties—it has inadvertently inherited the spatial character of the Olympic village that never was.
 
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It's at least somewhat more intimate in terms of massing and block sizes for one thing, and isn't completely glass-n-steel in terms of materiality. It looks to integrate itself with its neighbors on Wellington, instead of standing apart from them.

It's not to say that Hudson Yards is a bad project- it revitalizes dead land and the quality of the towers is what we should aim for, but it feel monumental beyond the human scale.

Just look at the scale of that podium! If you overlaid the two projects, the main two towers & mall cover around 60% of the Well's site. Ironically it's the industrial High Line and the materiality of the surrounding buildings that helps humanize the scene.

Even the main public space as well, jumbo-scaled! The pedestrian nature of the square takes a back-seat to Heatherwick's sculpture.

But it's still beautiful and a skyline definer:
B3-DK007_HUDSON_GR_20190311135714.jpg



Will the completion of phase 2 change anything?
 
I was in Manhattan yesterday checking out their new Hudson Yards complex. It was amazing in all spectrums. Really hope the Well turns out to be something unique for Toronto. It doesn't have the scale like Hudson's Yards but it would certainly be massive for the downtown.

I was left pretty unimpressed by my last visit to Hudson Yards; feels soulless and fairly generic, like it could be anywhere, rather than in the heart of a city as special as NYC. I think what's proposed here for the Well, if executed properly, could surpass Hudson Yards in terms of its impact on the city and neighbourhood.
 
Will the completion of phase 2 change anything?
I think it will be slightly better due to the increased greenery (NY does their prestige parks well) and residential component, but still it'll still have that fairly similar tower-as-object format that characterized Phase I (and most NY superblock developments).

154488139.amfwU3C8.siteplanB.JPG

 
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I wonder if the city has plans to update the trails at Clarence Sq. I can see from this diagram that they’re moving the crosswalk from its existing placement at the gas station connecting to that trail across the north section of the park to the middle of the park. if they don’t change the trail, I have a feeling that people will.

177138
 
I was left pretty unimpressed by my last visit to Hudson Yards; feels soulless and fairly generic, like it could be anywhere, rather than in the heart of a city as special as NYC. I think what's proposed here for the Well, if executed properly, could surpass Hudson Yards in terms of its impact on the city and neighbourhood.

One word - Vessel. In any case - contextually New York can handle a development like Hudson Yards and get away with all its faults; we already have Cityplace south of the Well, with none of the finesse and all the weaknesses.

AoD
 

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