News   Mar 28, 2024
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Sheraton Centre (123 Queen West, new windows & exterior repairs)

There, fixed that for you! :D

The fix here is to remove the parking garage access; put a new, wide streetscape where that ramp is; and then fill in the under-canopy zone with new commercial space, with a different and better material palate.

Whether the columns are inside or outside the new building footprint, they need some new cladding.

I would disagree with cladding the columns (especially since you will inevitably have a transition to the tower/podium which will never be cladded) - what it need is a proper powerwash and stripping away the really unfortunate paint job. Let concrete be concrete - but make it look good. I wish there is an exterior green wall that actually looks good all seasons - the columns could be a great substrate for climbing vines.

The parking garage entrance is unfortunate and inconvenient, but it is ugly partly because of design and maintenance choices. Replace the concrete with high quality glass and stainless ballustrate; replace concrete sidewalk paving and edging with say granite or even brick (and glycol heated), and repair the said asphalt roadway, and it wouldn't be so much of an atrocity like it is now. Also light it properly - and perhaps creatively.

As to the roof - even the inaccessible portions can use even more greenery (even if it is just unitized sedum).

AoD
 
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Whoa, this last image brings me back: When as a young child I used to visit my Dad's office, I remember always looking down at people on that running track and being so interested in the notion of active uses of rooftops (yes I have always been nerdy).

I remember a time earlier as a kid when my dad had to go to City Hall for some sort of ticket. We parked on the south side of Queen. There was a giant wall next to the sidewalk. Looked into an opening and saw a massive pit being excavated. The basement levels of the Sheraton underway. My fixation with development was sparked!
 
I remember a time earlier as a kid when my dad had to go to City Hall for some sort of ticket. We parked on the south side of Queen. There was a giant wall next to the sidewalk. Looked into an opening and saw a massive pit being excavated. The basement levels of the Sheraton underway. My fixation with development was sparked!

Hi Ed,

You are dating yourself a bit - though not as quite as much as me.

Construction of the Sheraton Centre Hotel was well underway in 1970. You may have been a child at the time, but I was already living out on my own and working, living in an apartment building on Stanley Street in Montreal. The father of the tenant down the hall for me was hired by the Sheraton to be their initial Food and Beverage manager for when the hotel was to first open its doors....

Andrew
 
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