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If it was going to be as nice as Rome it would be worth the wait.

And "foot-wide pedestrian street-style corridors"? Personally, I prefer more than 12 inches.

Arrrrrggghhh! My interest in it has largely evaporated. Not glass (a plus) but it''s a downer to see 100 high rises go up each year but only 4-5 worth admiring.

It is an improvement but your scratch test for whether something has value would render most things in prominent locations an inefficient use of space. Things have value beyond the utilitarian. If they didn't, we'd tear every such building down and re-locate them inside a modern high-rise.

You'd think Yorkville would be one neighbourhood where beautiful luxe design was necessary to entice buyers. Sadly, this probably means they know not enough people care. Lets face it, we still live in a city where the majority of people are impressed by pedestrian dreck. As far as Toronto has...

The congestion problem isn't due to high population density but the percentage of people commuting by car. I love my car/driving but if I insist on taking 2,000 lbs of metal, plastic, rubber, and glass (my vehicle) with me where ever you go (in a big global city like Toronto), it's my own fault...

The Armouries is far more interesting than 90% of the buildings in this city. That old Sears HQ on Jarvis is another. All architecture eventually falls out of favour with a certain generation. 1950-1990, it was pre-WW2 buildings that fell out of favour and people attempted to demo all of it...

If you look at the renderings a large vertical swath of has no window articulation. I'm assuming that living room interior is in that part of the building.

That 6 floor stone and red brick section on the west side counts as historical recreation. Many argue that historical recreation is destined to look cheap and tacky but it just isn't so. It's easy to get wrong but if one pays attention to proportion, detail, and quality materials there's a...

Agree. Instead of doing away with the motif they'd end up with a more successful design if they re-produced that 4 floor church tower multiple times using the exact same dimensions. A series of arches on the first floor that are the same height, width as seen on the 1st floor of that church...

Thanks very much for the run down. I'm a big proponent of implementing greenery/flowers whenever possible. Perhaps when Toronto's tax base/km2 rises higher we can electrify all our downtown pavement like Oslo has done. They did a cost analysis and concluded that it would pay for itself quite...

With the proliferation of downtown canyons, the worry is that these streets are destined to be treeless or with pitiful looking trees that struggle. Are there species/varieties that can prosper with indirect sunlight? Adelaide West, Richmond West, Wellington West, etc.

Urban parks came into vogue a century ago to offer a green (nature) calming oasis. By that measure, this 'park' fails miserably. It's more amusement park than traditional park. I've been 2-3 times. It's impossible to relax there but it's a nicer place to be than the sidewalk. I'm assuming...

Pleasantly surprised by the fenestration although this is the minimum standard we should strive for on all new builds.

That roof top parking lot would make a terrific green space/patio/beer garden.

I have no issue with one part of downtown being a sensory overload of garish video screens and signs. Love it or hate it, the popularity of it is undeniable and it's arguably become the psychological heart of downtown. The problem has always been the execution: primitive and cheap looking...

Those top 2 rows of 5 windows just need some flower boxes and it will look terrific. Flower boxes are surprisingly rare in Canada. I'm not sure what the cultural disinterest in them is. It's an inexpensive way of injecting visual interest, beauty, colour, character, warmth, and refinement.

That's all one can hope for at this point. Restoration 20-30 years from now.

No heritage building is immune to the wrecker's ball because there will always be someone who doesn't value it. Changing taste is precisely why we've lost 100s of heritage buildings over the last 70 years and will continue to. Once this building goes, how many like it will be left? Or is the...

That wonky tree is very distracting. Can trees at this stage be slowly winched straight?