AlvinofDiaspar said:
Why of course - and I quote the CEO at the time:

“The Waterfront Innovation Centre shows how Waterfront Toronto and committed developers like Menkes can provide creative new spaces to support the growing digital media sector, help build out a complete community and do it in a way that meets the highest standards for design and sustainability.” “The Innovation Centre is an excellent model for waterfront revitalization; after Waterfront Toronto has made the up-front investment in needed public infrastructure such as municipal services, parks and public spaces, the private sector takes on the role of building a high-speed broadband network and the customized office space that makes use of it. In this way, Waterfront Toronto is able to leverage high-quality infrastructure to deliver key economic and social benefits that enable Toronto to compete aggressively with other top tier global cities for investment, jobs and people.”
John Campbell, President and CEO, Waterfront Toronto

http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca/nbe/...&CACHEID=2458aa08-deca-4472-b636-ab348ce67a0f

And also, from the project site itself:

developer selection
...
Menkes was chosen because their submission best responded to specific economic development objectives for the site, demonstrated a strong vision and implementation plan, including a financial plan. The premier Canadian real estate firm has a track record of delivering high-quality innovative commercial space and shares Waterfront Toronto’s desire to be a leader in sustainability and design excellence.

This surely is an example of highest standards of design.

AoD
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This is one of the reasons why I could never be a politician and why I stopped going to community consultation meetings! I just can't sit through people talking BS. I remember when Mayor Miller was telling us that Corus Quay would be a great, iconic building to set the tone of what would follow on the waterfront, and then we got the Corus, dull, glass box. My patience for empty talk has long run out!
 
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Torontovibe said:
This is one of the reasons why I could never be a politician and why I stopped going to community consultation meetings! I just can't sit through people talking BS. I remember when Mayor Miller was telling us that Corus Quay would be a great, iconic building to set the tone of what followed on the waterfront, and then we get the Corus, dull, glass box. My patience for empty talk has long run out!
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In fairness (as much as it pains me to write that in this particular thread), remember that a lot of people don't really know what innovative architecture looks like (and that's not part of even the ideal job description for politicians).

And that's why it's so important that people who do "know" -- or at least have an interest in -- what innovative buildings look and feel like to raise a stink when that's clearly not what's happening.

Will the bland dreck that we're going to get here actually hinder the tenants from bringing their own innovations to market? Probably not. MaRS is also mostly bland as hell from the outside and it's been a roaring success -- a game-changer for upstart micro-clusters in the city.

But was this a real opportunity to bring a genuinely world-class design to a waterfront that is entirely bereft of that? Yes. And, what's more, we're actually starting to run out of near-to-medium-term development opportunities on the waterfront to have some impactful architecture.
 
So disappointing, especially the aptly named 'Block 2.'

But sure, throw in a couple of buzz words like "nexus" and "exchange."

Oh, and don't forget about those balconies that will be open once every five years.
 
Edward Skira said:
And their job is what exactly? I doubt it's to ensure we have the ninth wonder of the world on the waterfront.

And who says a "waterfront innovation centre" itself needs to be something innovative? The point is to provide a place for businesses to locate for such a purpose. Not a great building but certainly not so bad that we need to resort to such an over the top reaction.
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Oh, this design is deserving of the meanest of reactions; I'd hardly call mine "over the top". Over the top would be sending angry letters or chaining oneself to work machinery on the subject site. All I said was that this design is poor and unworthy of being located here and that WT don't seem to be doing their job.

Their job being to facilitate the development of the waterfront with a mind to encouraging good design. Good design of buildings and public realm. Their job sure as hell isn't to rubber stamp lowest-common denominator rubbish that wouldn't be worthy of Steeles Avenue, never mind the waterfront. Carte blanche these lands were and this is what we get? What's the point of pretending that we care then?

I didn't say this particular building had to have an innovative design, I'll settle for something that doesn't look like the wind brought it in from north Ajax. It doesn't have to be "innovative" to be aesthetically and functionally decent, which this plan is not. Look at that adjective...decent. Not mind-blowing. Not "ninth wonder of the world". Just bloody worthy of being at the location it's proposed for.

Also: see AoD's post above re: "....highest standards of design..." 'Highest' being an antonym, not synonym of 'lowest'.
 
Torontovibe said:
I remember when Mayor Miller was telling us that Corus Quay would be a great, iconic building to set the tone of what would follow on the waterfront, and then we got the Corus, dull, glass box.
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You know, maybe I'm ok with the current design after all. It'll go well with its lovely neighbour to the south. Twin boxes of "why?" on the waterfront. Beautiful....er, good enough. Next!
 
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Some of the elements seem kinda neat. Still have trouble grasping the real-life look of these buildings. As in, how will the materials look not in some blurry twilight render, but average day, or from Global News' newsroom backdrop. I like the elevated terrace thing, but still with the Innovation aspect think we could incorporate some Hi-Tech/exterior structural aspects. Also don't want to see a lot of blues and whites. East waterfront seems to have a bit much with Aquafina the group of buildings. The sky and water are already shades of blue and white, in both summer and winter. Time for reds, greens, yellows, etc. Not unlike Alsop's ocad tabletop.
 
44 North said:
Some of the elements seem kinda neat. Still have trouble grasping the real-life look of these buildings. As in, how will the materials look not in some blurry twilight render, but average day, or from Global News' newsroom backdrop. I like the elevated terrace thing, but still with the Innovation aspect think we could incorporate some Hi-Tech/exterior structural aspects. Also don't want to see a lot of blues and whites. East waterfront seems to have a bit much with Aquafina the group of buildings. The sky and water are already shades of blue and white, in both summer and winter. Time for reds, greens, yellows, etc. Not unlike Alsop's ocad tabletop.
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I'm expecting the cladding to look similar to what Sweeny used on One York; the renders of that material look quite similar to those for this.
 
Long-time lurker that has registered for no other reason than to ask what I can do to help oppose this building from being built in its current architectural form - is there someone I can email?

Also, what happened at the DRP? While I see articles discussing the DRP's views on a variety of projects, I haven't heard anything about how the meeting went for the WIC. I hope someone stood up and stated the obvious: that this building needs to be architecturally re-designed.
 
Star Fox said:
Long-time lurker that has registered for no other reason than to ask what I can do to help oppose this building from being built in its current architectural form - is there someone I can email?

Also, what happened at the DRP? While I see articles discussing the DRP's views on a variety of projects, I haven't heard anything about how the meeting went for the WIC. I hope someone stood up and stated the obvious: that this building needs to be architecturally re-designed.
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You can always email Waterfront Toronto and the opinion of the Waterfront DRP will be revealed when they approve the minutes of this meeting at their NEXT meeting. (The meetings are open so one can actually attend but we seem to have had no UTers there this time,)
 
DSC said:
You can always email Waterfront Toronto and the opinion of the Waterfront DRP will be revealed when they approve the minutes of this meeting at their NEXT meeting. (The meetings are open so one can actually attend but we seem to have had no UTers there this time,)
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According to @innsertnamehere, the DRP ripped it up:

innsertnamehere said:
Apparently the DRP ripped this one up, to put it bluntly.
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And I believe it already ripped it up once before this round as well. Twice, actually:

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2016/09/revised-design-waterfront-innovation-centre-debuts-online

Oddly enough, I can't seem to find the minutes for the November 2015 meeting, which is the 2nd review (and the first appearance of the current iteration)

AoD
 
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Has Christopher Hume commented on it? Isn’t he our local and most well know critic of archecture and all things urban design related?
 
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