This tower is solidly 'ok'. There's little wonder it is better appreciated when seen from afar or at night. It's a shame it's not better though, given the size and prominence of location. We throw around the word 'landmark' or icon here a lot but this was arguably the best location with the most potential for one, it only required some more refined design and attention to detail. This could have been Toronto's 'Empire State' moment, so to speak.
Perhaps the tower part is "ok", but everything else about this project is a testament to the utter failure that has been Toronto City Planning. Fire the lot of them John Tory...starting at the top (send small-town thinking Keesmatt back to Perterborough where she belongs). That's what you get when you hire a chief planner with
zero experience.
So what do we have to show for Aura (not including allowing Canderel Stoneridge to build 1200 units on site previously)....A dog's breakfast for architecture, big box retail above ground, a rabbit warren asian flea market below ground. They couldn't have made the underground connection to the existing College Park more complicated if they hired someone to do so.
You'd think after all that we would at least have a much improved Barbara Ann Scott Park. But wait...it isn't. I guess they had to drop the
Barbara Ann Scott part, seeing as it wont have a skating rink any more. The city let the condo residents decide the usage, so it will basically be for the condo residents interests...not the public's. But we don't have anything, as it's been sitting there derelict and run down for
years.
And this project got a hight and density
bonus???????????????????????????????????
While Mirvish-Gehry gets trashed???????
We can have nicer things if we fire the idiots, that the idiots we voted for hired.