Toronto 45 The Esplanade | 130.85m | 39s | Republic | Arcadis

egotrippin said:
Nitpicking, but if you remove the columns it's not a colonnade. Sounds like a cantilever as described, unless I'm misinterpreting.
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You are right, it's technically not a colonnade.
 
sunnyraytoronto said:
The worst Colonnade ever designed is the colonnade of the Novotel,... at North York City Centre!
- it's all dark marble granite - limiting any natural sunlight
- pedestrian colonnade sidewalk is dis-continuous and confusing at the Novotel entrance
- pedestrian colonnade sidewalk intersects with hidden driveway for underground parking - entrance and exit,... and loading docks
View attachment 372810

It's so dangerous, City of North York eventually converted their boulevard property adjacent to the colonnade sidewalk from grassy boulevard to gravel boulevard making it easier for pedestrain traffic,... but it was inaccessible to wheelchair.

Gibson Square Condominiums | 137.46m | 42s | Menkes | Rafael + Bigauskas

Aroma Espresso Bar just opened their location in the podium of the south tower (5162 Yonge). Looks nice. Outdoor patio, too. Will try to get some shots unless someone else beats me to it.
urbantoronto.ca urbantoronto.ca
Eventually, after part of it was dug up for the underground pedestrian tunnel between Menkes Gibson Square and North York City Centre which already connects to North York Centre Subway Station underground,.... that City gravel boulevard next to colonnade sidewalk was paved over as new pedestrian sidewalk (as seen in above image) - only for that most dangerous half from Yonge Street to Novotel,.... the grassy boulevard west of Novotel remains
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Those are cool looking shapes though...
 
urbanexplorer said:
This just took an…interesting turn 😅. I don’t think anyone here, including the rep from republic developments has the power to make the kind of sweeping changes to housing policies you’re getting at in your last two posts unfortunately. Have you ever thought about getting involved in local politics?
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With such a low democratic representation? Surely you jest? As for this taking a tangent, it is 3am and I just got up but what the hell. The concept you are talking about is effectively telling the poor of this city that just their mere presence in a building is enough to metaphorically take it out behind the wood shed and shoot it. What do you think another vertical ghetto is going to contribute to the community? That is what a building is for, purpose, service, connection, it's not a brief sales-flurry, it exists for decades if not centuries, it makes a statement about the times and their mentality. Look up Bay Street, you see the relief outside the Design Exchange? It's a statement of service and commerce, united for the common good. And it is carved in stone. It is not the buildings that have the city down it's the people who build them. Toronto has laid down and been screwed too many times to say it's a fad. We are the ones who are permitting this crap, we should be the ones to stop it.
There is no reason to demolish this building. There is no reason to add tonnes of constuction rubble to land fill. It's an obscene waste of materials. It's a disgraceful message to an already downtrodden part of our community.
In the immortal words of Bette Davis -Buckle up it's going to be a bumpy ride.
 
Northern Light said:
Evidence please.

The development you cite is the one I had in mind off the top of my head.

The subway entrance is unrelated to the Colonnade.

There is no existing Colonnade either; the compelling argument here would be a combination of heritage preservation and sidewalk capacity as the sidewalk outside the building facade along Dundas is somewhat constrained.

I'm unaware of another proposed colonnade being shot down by Planning; but perhaps there are some, if so, please offer up examples.

I also didn't suggest the City was pushing for them, merely that they support weather protection for pedestrians, and had approved a colonnade elsewhere (which they have)

While lacking in the historicist grandeur........there are other recent examples.

First, the definition from Mirriam-Webster:

View attachment 372791
I would add for our purposes, contains a pedestrian walkway between said columns and an adjacent building.

This is Monde down on Queen's Quay East:

View attachment 372788

Going back to the 80s we have Waterpark Place:

View attachment 372789

Waterclub also has this design feature:

View attachment 372790

These features are common throughout many developments.
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Don't forget the colonnade on the Avenue Rd frontage of the renovated Park Hyatt. Though a retrofit, it's an excellent application of the concept. In addition to being attractive and practical, it significantly widens an otherwise dangerously narrow sidewalk at this busy intersection (Bloor W and Avenue Rd).
 
Rufus8 said:
With such a low democratic representation? Surely you jest? As for this taking a tangent, it is 3am and I just got up but what the hell. The concept you are talking about is effectively telling the poor of this city that just their mere presence in a building is enough to metaphorically take it out behind the wood shed and shoot it. What do you think another vertical ghetto is going to contribute to the community? That is what a building is for, purpose, service, connection, it's not a brief sales-flurry, it exists for decades if not centuries, it makes a statement about the times and their mentality. Look up Bay Street, you see the relief outside the Design Exchange? It's a statement of service and commerce, united for the common good. And it is carved in stone. It is not the buildings that have the city down it's the people who build them. Toronto has laid down and been screwed too many times to say it's a fad. We are the ones who are permitting this crap, we should be the ones to stop it.
There is no reason to demolish this building. There is no reason to add tonnes of constuction rubble to land fill. It's an obscene waste of materials. It's a disgraceful message to an already downtrodden part of our community.
In the immortal words of Bette Davis -Buckle up it's going to be a bumpy ride.
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lol go off sis. I'm sure the politicians are reading this thread and will take immediate action.

For the record, I like this building and would be happy to keep it in its original form. IMO the city needs to evaluate their strategy of clustering multiple shelters in one area though - I think it's better to mix throughout the city. Otherwise, we run the risk of creating a vicious cycle that looks a lot like downtown east side in Vancouver with no clear solution or path forward.
 
Drewww. said:
Just noticed this image on Republic's Facebook page... 👀

View attachment 373426

Link to the Facebook post here.
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DSC said:
What makes you think these are at the 45 The Esplanade site? republic have quite a few projects on the go.
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I think he's probably guessed correctly.

We know this site is 2 towers

We know it's 36s and those renders are certainly close to that.

We can see massing of 2 tall buildings to either side that doesn't seem inconsistent w/what's there now.

I believe this site is a partnership w/the hotel group ( I could stand to be corrected ) so replacement rooms makes sense.

Could be something else, somewhere else, of course..........

We shall soon see!
 
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