Toronto Aura at College Park | 271.87m | 78s | Canderel | Graziani + Corazza

Homer said:
add on to 5) ....Could have been a lot better, though. I guess that's what we get in Rob Ford's Toronto
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I hate to jump into the fray with my first ever UT post, but I think Homer's add-on might have been tongue-in-cheek...
 
SP!RE said:
@ Canadian National:

There are lots of cases where the majority of people don't hate the cladding, or the cladding isn't so bad. This is a rare case where the window wall just looks so painfully cheap I don't think we've seen something this bad on a large scale since the cheap silver window frames of the WaterClub condos on Queen's Quay. I'm trying to think of a recent 'fail' on this scale. So I'd say people won't be leaving Stage 4 on your list for Aura.

Anyways, I'm not saying the whole project is ruined for me-- but objectively I can say, this is very cheap-looking for a window wall system. The curtainwall sections look nice though.
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I've been trying to accept the window-wall: it is a hard sell. Cheap was my first thought. Cheap is the persisting impression. If I was standing inside my condo looking at a bar across my expensive window, I'd think *$%#!
 
Actually, maybe CanadianNational's step five is what is going to strike me about this project when it's finished... because already, as more of that window wall goes up, the cheap silver mullions are less noticeable... it sort of just hits critical mass and looks a lot better.

Can we add a Step 6 to the list though? Step 6 is five to ten years later, when the cladding is rusting and staining the windows and we shake our heads that 75 floors of this massive tower already look like weathered, tired old crap after less than a decade.

The design, however, I like. The shape is already quite exciting. I love being down at Gerrard now so I can see the progress up close.
 
College Park said:
I've been trying to accept the window-wall: it is a hard sell. Cheap was my first thought. Cheap is the persisting impression. If I was standing inside my condo looking at a bar across my expensive window, I'd think *$%#!
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Your always going to get some type of "bar" or mullion on residential window walls/curtain walls. The building code requires fresh air, so unless the developer is putting in HRVs there will always need to be operable windows.

Only on office towers do you get true, high quality curtain wall design.
 
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I think you quoted the wrong guy. I've never had anything wrong with window wall... I think even glass with mullion caps can look really good, most of the time. It's the glass on this particular project with its cheap-looking window frames, far too many of them, and silver colour that alarms me.
 
Let's re-interpret the Rob Ford reference. The sort of city that would elect Rob Ford as mayor would approve ugly, oversized monstrosities without thinking through the consequences. BTW, I'm not saying I think Aura fits in this category, but the mess they're dreaming up at Yonge and Maitland certainly does.
 
When we talk about design panels its worth recalling some type of special panel was put together for this project. As I recall, the city wasn`t enthused initially with the plan, perhaps based on the College Park experience. So I think a small group of leading architects in Toronto were invited to meet with and offer encouraging advice to the developer`s staff architect. Some of the ideas were included, but refinement related rather than fundamental.

So the question then is whether expert review panels make much difference if developers aren`t capable or intent of following through.

I am in no way saying I dislike Aura. Its too early to say. In some cases, scale itself is a plus. Yonge Streets some scale.
 
The original design called for 2 much shorter connected towers. It was quite mundane. I think the building sill be quite spectacular when it's finished.
 
Images from this week.

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