Either way, it still looks cheap! That colour will turn brown/grey before construction is even done.
Sadly, probably. But an occasional pressure-wash does wonders to durable precast panels. I can put up with that kind of precast.
This precast is far more durable than the stuff they use at strip malls -- which often crumbles and pokes holes (since they're real stucco slapped on, then painted). This stuff doesn't puncture like that, and are very pressurewash-friendly. In theory, if we fail to get Metrolinx to keep the facade clean, theoretically a renegade local resident with a long garden hose, extension cord, and a Canadian Tire pressurewasher, and that small patch of non-metal precast is sparkling new again in 15 minutes of work in 10 years.
They may have intentionally chosen that type of semi-ugly concrete precast panels, for pressure-washing grafitti without damage. I've pressure-washed similiar material (precast concrete-block topping of a brick wall, sidewalk-material concrete driveway) and they pressure-wash wonderfully well in mere seconds.
At least.... it seems better done than many GO stations. Have you seen the crap quality they're building in Burlington, including weather damage to unfinished sections? It has even worse seams than this station. Compared to that, we're in pretty dandy shape, assuming they weatherstripped well.
Not nearly as concerned about simple dirty-weathering of durable, pressure-washable precast. I am more worried about leaks, rusting sections, vandalism damage, grafitti in non-grafitti-proofed areas (
Especially dastardly glass-scratch grafitti), and rust-streaks, all of which can require expensive fixes or overhauls.
Yes, cheap. But so is a lot of GO's recent station infrastructure, and we apparently got much, much better (on average) treatment of West Harbour. The attention to detail is adequate, could be better, but adequate given the rushing.
Let's put a very critical eye out when we walk through the station in person, and gladly give our "little glitches bug fix" list to the Customer Service booth, and tweet/mail a copy to Metrolinx/GO. They do listen to public feedback even if they don't address them as quickly as we'd like.
