yyzer
Senior Member
some interesting artwork has been installed behind the building.......pics by Taller, Better at SSC...
Main door is on St Thomas, pretty hard to miss.
I hope no one has mentioned this on one of the previous 48 pages of this thread, as I haven't been able to read them all, but as someone who walks past this building often, the one thing that strikes me is its contempt for the area in which it is situated. As far as I can see, there is no major door leading to either street on which it is situated.
Though it is situated in a walker's dream of an area, the preferred means arriving at this building seems to be my car. The major entrance seems to be off an enclosed driveway, with its back turned towards the community.
The main door with reception is tucked away in the back of the building off a large driveway.
Even more puzzling in a forum that is full of intelligent people is that it is rare in any of the building threads here for anyone to mention anything about the social impact or town planning effect of any of the many high rises that posters rhapsodize about. It suggests the narrow focus of architects, and those who would like to be, that the social effects are seen here as of little consequence.
Many homes have a private driveway, so why can't a condo?
It's true that the building is very inwardly focused at ground level.
What kinds of social effects are you concerned about with this building?
All condos that I've seen have private driveways. It's not just that they have a private driveway. The remarkable thing about this building to me, is that, though it is situated in a great walking area, visitors seem to be expected to arrive by car. To confirm what was the main door, I walked through the driveway. As I did so, I had dodge an oncoming car, whose driver acted as if no one had any business walking there. There is a smaller door on St. Thomas, but that was locked, and presumably is only usable by residents.
Now that most people are trying to de-emphasize the car that seems odd.
My remarks about the lack of attention paid the social effects of condos was more about the general content of this forum, then to this specific thread. That huge subject is what I hoped to learn about here. In order to reply to your post, I relooked the topic on google, and I still couldn't find anything. The social effects of this massive change of intensive condo construction that has occurred lately isn't covered anywhere that I can find.
The thing I've noticed is on Bay Street north of Gerrard to Bloor. That is an area I've always found like a dead zone with few pedestrians, and struggling stores which seem to be crying out for custom. Over the last decade, as condos have sprung up, we kept waiting for the street life which we thought they would bring. Having 10,000's of people living on the street hasn't made much difference. Proximity to Yonge St. may be a factor here, but not the only one.
The idea of gated communities that we find in the suburbs has repulsed many people. Condos, and some heavily protected apartments, are like vertical gated communities. They add little to the community around them. As you pointed out, this building is one of the most inward looking of them all.
I read on some post here that this forum was inspired by Jane Jacobs. Surely she was interested in the way that our constructions influence the kind of lives we live.
ManuLife looks magnificent.