Toronto 300 Front Street West | 156.05m | 49s | Tridel | Wallman Architects

vegeta_skyline said:
Are you suggesting that they do not take that into consideration?

You can't build a world based on hypothetical standards. Absent of any conclusive evidence, which at this time there is anything but, that living x distance away from such a transformer is actually dangerous to human health, there is no evidence to suggest that Tridel does not abide by that moral standard.
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I didn't say that Tridel has failed to build safe housing here; but at various points in time, builders and developers have built substandard housing by prioritizing profit over necessary considerations like health and safety. So in a world where unchecked greed is still treated as something to celebrate in some quarters, we should remember that in reality, the real estate developer needs to be mindful of health and safety among other factors in erecting buildings for profit.
 
First and foremost, I think it is the responsibility of the government to protect people from harmful neighbouring uses through zoning. Secondly, given that purchasers have the most personally at stake here, it makes sense that the obligation be on them to do their own due diligence and come to their own conclusions as to whether it's safe to live there. Those residents presumably know the supposed risk they are taking. As far as I'm concerned, Tridel is third in line for any blame here.
 
junctionist said:
at various points in time, builders and developers have built substandard housing
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True, but in this case there is literally no standard, and thus they aren't doing anything wrong.

Besides which, this isn't like developing on a former toxic dump site, where any danger is hidden from the buyer -- anyone with eyes can see the substation right there.
 
not sure if I'm liking this one so far... it has a very suburban feel to it. Balconies overhanging Front Street just seems out of place and cheap. The amount of spandrel panel facing the courtyard at John Street is obscene! Not liking the mix of colours with the light gray and dark blue on the west side. The only redeeming quality I see so far is the random patterns formed on the shorter tower, yet this is unfortunately achieved through the use of spandrel.
 
from today
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The black glass is still looking great!

And the midrise does look very similar to the scale model we saw photos of back in the day, so I imagine Wallman is very pleased that his intended effect worked out well!
 
Tridel: Mr. Wallman, show us what you came up with
Wallman: *unveils model*
Tridel: Not bad
Wallman: Thank you
Tridel: But where is the spandrel?
Wallman: The great thing about the design is it limits the use of spandrel
Tridel: WE NEED MORE SPANDREL *smashes model*
Wallman: Yes boss :(
 
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Until I started following this board a few months ago, I hadn't realized that "spandrel" was a swear word. I want to thank you all for enlightening me and I need to tell you it's been tremendously useful to me.

Just last week, here in Vancouver, a guy tried to get the last parking space just ahead of me. I rolled down my window and shouted, "Spandrel off, Motherspandrel!"

He backed off.

Then I was in Toronto and a bunch of young men, obviously gang members, tried to hassle me about wearing a belt and suspenders at the same time. (Perfectly sensible, in my opinion. Who wants to have your pants fall off because of the weight of all those loonies and toonies?)

"Eat Spandrel!" I shouted.

They looked puzzled and backed off.

But what really surprised me was when I was in Montreal and a little piece of merde tried to butt in ahead of me in the line for a smoked meat sandwich.

"Espece de calice de tabernac' de spandrel!" I cried out

He held up his hands imploringly, almost wept, and responded, "Ne tirez pas, s'il vous plait!"

And he backed off too.

And it's all due to this forum!
 
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