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

Spandrel is economical way to clad a building, so it's not going to go away any time soon. The City is pushing for more energy efficient towers, so the days of all vision-glass exteriors are numbered, so much of that insulated external wall that will result will be clad in inexpensive spandrel.
Spandrel can be done well, poorly, or anywhere in between. Just how well it's done is in the eye of the beholder… but as we see more spandrel used, here is hoping that more thoughtful, creative, pleasing, and exciting implementations of it are evidenced on new projects.

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The problem is that spandrel glass almost always comes off looking cheap and temporary. Towers covered in spandrel look and feel as though they're temporary or even incomplete structures. I prefer towers that give off a sense of heft and permanence. Often that sense is created by using materials like stone or brick, but there are other opaque materials out there that can be used to clad a building, such as pre-cast concrete, which comes in many varieties.
 
Mongo said:
You're not the only one. There does seem to be a circular, self-reinforcing dynamic here on UT, where when a certain level of dislike (it's almost always dislike rather than appreciation) for some architectural style or material is reached, the entire active forum switches to that position, in a type of group-think. The irrational hatred of spandrel and even window-wall here is a perfect example.
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Ya, it's kind of funny how one person always chimes in at some point about their hate for something, and then 100 people follow up with that by addressing their hate for the same thing as well. So much drivel could be prevented if people just thought for a second before they post. Anyway, now I'm basically doing the same thing by replying to this.
 
Another gap is filled, this one from Bremner.

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^An electrical substation isn't 3rd world infrastructure, it's just that only a city like Toronto would have one on the main tourist pathway to its main tourist attraction.

It isn't going anywhere, but there should be other ways to disguise it beyond putting up tacky CTV billboards that don't even go all the way up. In the past, electrical substations were housed in elegant Edwardian brick buildings. You could also build a false wall on 3 sides that looks like a regular building from the outside.
 
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