In fairness, that wall is right on the property line, is barely visible from the street, and is going to get hidden if/when Oddfellows does its expansion.

Now, the cheap, backpainted grey spandrel on the *north* side of the building, facing Grenville...

Edit: No, I take it back, that's going to be extremely visible from the street, at least based on the scale model:
YC-Condos-scale-model-629x1024.jpg

(From buzz buzz homes)
 
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This grey wall of spandrel looks ugly. I was hoping that I'd have a better view.
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More grey ugly spandrel on the north side as well.
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I'm not that optimistic. Condo budgets will come up with every creative way of extending the life of the window wall. The irony is that curtainwall glass is raining down on city streets. I don't think there has been a single glass pane that failed from window wall.
 
Don't worry, it will fall off in 25 years and need to be replaced. That's what I tell myself with two-thirds of the buildings that go up. Some how it makes it easier to stomach.

Too bad property management will give less of a damn than Canderel and likely put the exact same crap up.
 
Too bad property management will give less of a damn than Canderel and likely put the exact same crap up.

The Condominium Board, not Property Management will (or certainly should) call the shots on this issue - it is the owners who will be paying for it, through their Reserve Fund contributions, or a Special Assessment. Unfortunately, every building with even a modest number of units, will have at least some owners who consider anything spent on the outside side of their own individual unit, unless it is essential maintenance for ongoing building operations, to be a waste of money - esthetics be damned. If the Board is controlled by, or panders to owners with that attitude, crap is what they will decide.
 
(Still going to wait till it's at least half clad and or even till it's near completion when all comes together to really judge it, but I'm the minority I guess at the moment and will say it's 'ok' so far.)
 
I'm not that optimistic. Condo budgets will come up with every creative way of extending the life of the window wall. The irony is that curtainwall glass is raining down on city streets. I don't think there has been a single glass pane that failed from window wall.

That's because curtainwall often uses structural caulking to hold the glass in (that seamless "mullion free" look that everyone on the forum seems to prefer), while window wall tends to use pressure pads and caps with weather seal caulking underneath. With the structural caulking if the adhesion of the caulking to the glass fails (easy to happen if the glass was dusty, or if there was moisture / water at application) you're going to lose the glass, whereas the weather seal caulking will just let water in but the glass will still be retained by the pressure pad.

And in terms of quality the window wall has far more issues with sealants, it's just that when it fails it tends not to fail in a way that makes the 6 o'clock news. Instead you get water / moisture penetration through the building envelope, which will eventually manifest as mould, rotting insulation, damage to interior finishes... But I can assure you, if we're talking about the total number of failed units, the window wall fails far more often (and probably results in far greater damages / losses) than curtainwall
 

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