Toronto 301 Queen Street East | 65m | 17s | Berkeley Events | BDP Quadrangle

AlbertC

AlbertC

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http://www.rawdesign.ca/#window/312

301 Queen

Unique. Fresh. Playful.

The Queen of Berkeley is an exceptional building that enhances the original and heritage qualities of the Berkeley Church. Fresh without being trendy, playful without being disrespectful, we propose a form for this site which gently inflects to the church linking the retail environment of Queen St with the established and thriving event space of the church. The new structure is linked to the church by a landscaped atrium which acts as the new entry to the church/event space and doubles the area available for events and performances. The angled walls will be a simple rainscreen of fibre reinforced cement panels. This allows for a wide range of colour and texture choices and will result in an affordable but expressive exterior façade treatment. The Queen of Berkeley will strike a unique and memorable image to provide a place-making landmark on a crucial but neglected portion of Queen Street East.
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I just got married at the Berkeley Field House last summer. I didn't expect to see it go so soon. It's a surprisingly charming event space. Taddle Creek runs right through the garden.
 
n/v mind - here's the render

wBDuF22.jpg
 
The ground/retail level suffers from the "neutered" look that many projects in Toronto suffer from, but otherwise it's nice to see something different like this. Good massing is everything!
 
modern™ said:
The ground/retail level suffers from the "neutered" look that many projects in Toronto suffer from, but otherwise it's nice to see something different like this. Good massing is everything!
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Yup, the ground floor does seem a little disjointed given the unique look of the tower. Why not have the texture and materials of the tower carry down to the ground level retail façade?
 
Why does all retail in Toronto have to consist of just flat glass? Is there some kind of weird regulation I don't know about? Why not just continue the same attractive design, right down to the sidewalk? I find the ubiquitous, retail wall of glass, disappointing. Almost every new development is giving us this same, sterile, generic design. Why not give us a little texture, colour and some creative alternatives? It's so frustrating.
 
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I think there actually is a regulation that retail spaces have to have a certain percentage of their frontage be glazing. But I don't know if that only applies to Avenues, nor can I recall what the percentage is. Not so much that it has to be a wall, at any rate, I'm sure. It would be nice to extend some of those piers downwards. Other than that, this is a very interesting and promising proposal. I'm glad that we're seeing so many interesting mid-rises, at least, to help offset some of our bland high-rises.
 
Wow, this is cooool. And yes, mid-rise produces the most interesting architecture in Toronto.
 
Interesting! I'm all for it...interesting design, plus it may help revive the area. Any development on Queen East between Church and Parliament is a good and much needed thing.
 
adHominem said:
I think there actually is a regulation that retail spaces have to have a certain percentage of their frontage be glazing. But I don't know if that only applies to Avenues, nor can I recall what the percentage is. Not so much that it has to be a wall, at any rate, I'm sure. It would be nice to extend some of those piers downwards. Other than that, this is a very interesting and promising proposal. I'm glad that we're seeing so many interesting mid-rises, at least, to help offset some of our bland high-rises.
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Oh yes, I agree, Toronto needs all the mid-rises it can get, not only downtown but especially in the strip mall suburbs.
 
I'd love for midrises to start making up a significant portion of the condo market, it takes 6 or 7 midrises to equal the amount of units in a building like 10 york. If you want Toronto to really change in feel over the next decade, midrises are the way to go.
 
I'm loving the new mid-rise boom with beautiful & interesting architecture.

I have nothing against high-rise, but generally the mid-rise proposals recently seem much more interesting architecturally, it's not just glass balconies around a glass box.

B-Street, Nest @ St Clair West, DuKe in the Junction, SQ condos, all look amazing. I wish we had more proposals like those around Yonge & Eg.
 
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