Toronto Corus Quay | ?m | 8s | Waterfront Toronto | Diamond Schmitt

[torplanner]

I wonder if there are discussions regarding the risks of an explosion at Redpath. A sugar refinery in Georgia blew up about a year ago. Might not be the best idea to put a nice new glass people stacker too close.

 

[syn]

Syn: Who has dismissed any of p5's comments? Not I - I haven't responded to them.

You may not have responded to him directly, but the idea was certainly shunned:

"Grey is the most versatile colour, made up of equal amounts of the primaries, and has a strong ability to shift in tone. It will, for instance, absorb a colour placed next to it and shift to the complementary colour of that colour, creating harmony through successive contrast.

While expressions of personal taste for other colours ( the bright red Cor-Ten steel planned for Filmport that Project End loves, for instance ... ) are passably interesting - as is grey's power to provoke a sense of moral outrage - this development uses colour differently ... and well. "

As a fan of grey, I can't say I disagree. However, the idea that grey adds "colour" is kind of silly. It's pretty obvious people aren't referring to colour theory. It's like me telling a client who requires a certain colours that they should just go with black since they'll get C, M, Y and K.

"There are no Forbidden Colours - just colour poorly used, or used well. Relying on bright colour to add spectacle to a lacklustre design won't improve it, and is a lazy approach. It's also reasonable to hold up the Waterloo Pharmacy building as an example of how overdesigning something ( in this case applying chintz ... ) adds nothing to a building that's already quite handsome."

What a surprise. You found a way to dismiss the idea as simply adding spectacle.

 

[Urban Shocker]

There you go again - I've never said that grey "adds" colour, merely that through successive contrast it can shift to the complementary of whatever colour that is placed next to it. There have been a number of comments about grey, including the absurd claim that it isn't a colour, so helping people understand how versatile it is, and how it works, is perfectly reasonable. You raise black, but it's quite different from grey - there's only one black, but many greys.

Spectacle has no inherent qualitative value - it merely means that the eye is drawn to something. Adding colour can create spectacle, but it doesn't automatically improve a design; sometimes it can reduce a good one to something less than it was. Compare some of the gaudily painted and stuccoed storefronts in Mustapha's Then and Now thread to see how perfectly fine Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian buildings along our main streets have been ruined by a screaming-match of retail signage and poorly thought-out colour choices.

 

[Peepers]

I wonder if there are discussions regarding the risks of an explosion at Redpath. A sugar refinery in Georgia blew up about a year ago. Might not be the best idea to put a nice new glass people stacker too close.

I'm surprised that this has not been brought up before. In a plant such as this there will allways be the potential for a catastrophic explosion (caused by dust). I would not want to live or work directly beside this plant.

 

[syn]

There you go again - I've never said that grey "adds" colour, merely that through successive contrast it can shift to the complementary of whatever colour that is placed next to it. There have been a number of comments about grey, including the absurd claim that it isn't a colour, so helping people understand how versatile it is, and how it works, is perfectly reasonable. You raise black, but it's quite different from grey - there's only one black, but many greys.

"Buildings change owners, so why the matronly discomfort with the idea? The entertainment industry changes, and will continue to do so. It's as ridiculous to suggest that ownership and use of this place will never change as it is to suggest that only a building that offers Filmport-like spectacle should go here, or that the most colourful of colours - grey - is morally wrong."

-UrbanShocker, post 1085


"Grey contains all the other colours, so it's the most colour-full one. It contains elements from across the spectrum and therefore accessorizes better than any other colour. That's why grey-clad buildings such as Corus and the opera house adjust to the ambient lighting conditions throughout the day."

-UrbanShocker, post 1087


To argue against the use of other colours because grey is the 'most colour-full of colours' (along with your usual description of it as 'spectacle') is like me telling clients to use black or a shade of grey because it contains the more colours. We both know when people say 'colourful' on this board (or generally speaking) they aren't referring to grey and black.

Spectacle has no inherent qualitative value - it merely means that the eye is drawn to something. Adding colour can create spectacle, but it doesn't automatically improve a design; sometimes it can reduce a good one to something less than it was. Compare some of the gaudily painted and stuccoed storefronts in Mustapha's Then and Now thread to see how perfectly fine Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian buildings along our main streets have been ruined by a screaming-match of retail signage and poorly thought-out colour choices.

No one has suggested spectacle. In fact, you're pretty much the only person who brings it up. The creative use of colour, which would be quite appropriate for this purpose-built Corus building (their own branding makes ample use of colour - and I'm not talking about grey and black) does not necessarily imply empty spectacle.

But as I've been saying, any suggestion that is contrary to what Diamond has done is automatically put in that category.

 

[alklay]

I guess that everything that is not a grey box is 'spectacle' and a moral and creative failure. Interesting.

 

[ganjavih]

I guess that everything that is not a grey box is 'spectacle' and a moral and creative failure. Interesting.

To be fair, I think glass boxes are sometimes acceptable. Although, we should try not to deviate from the ideal...

 

[ProjectEnd]

Lots of 'grey' branding here...

...though in Shocker's defense, I will say that the logo looks pretty dated. About 1997 I'd say. Come to think of it, another particularly 'grey' brand started developing software around that time as well. I wonder how they're doing?

 

[adma]

Hey, who says an adhered Corus logo can't form nice counterpoint to the, er, "greyness"? Just like so many so-called "bland" 50s buildings were enhanced by the signage (case in point: Redpath--albeit less so than a few years ago)

 

[ProjectEnd]

You're right, I guess it does work.

 

[Urban Shocker]

As adma indicates, a grey building is the perfect complement to the Corus logo.

Grey is the most versatile colour - both subtle and strong.

There's a wonderful painting that's all about grey at the AGO ( gallery 229 ), Yves Gaucher's B-V-V 0/68, painted in 1968, from his Grey on Grey Paintings series.

There's also a powerful work by Toronto artist Stephen Andrews in gallery 502. Untitled is from his Sonnets series. From 1993, it's a work about identity, disempowerment, and the AIDS crisis - a pixellated paper collage created from a number of different greys. The accompanying videos are worth watching.

Then there's Charles Comfort's Lake Superior Village ( 1937 ), which stopped interchange, Archivist and I in our tracks in gallery 229 when we visited last year. A stark, bleak landscape with a limited colour range and powerful shadings of grey to define the water and the mostly unseen stormy sky gathering above.

And there's Ed Pien's Spellbound ( 2007 ) in gallery 506; Betty Goodwin's Tarpaulin #8 in gallery 510; Richard Artschwager's Table and Two Chairs II ( 1974 ) in gallery 116; Robert Smithson's Gravel Mirror Corner Piece ( 1968 ) in gallery 407; David Diao's Untitled ( 1969 ); Juan Menoz's Painted Hands ( 2001 ) in gallery 504; Georg Baselitz's Gruppe 13 Nude and Tree ( 1970 ) in gallery 507 etc. etc.

 

[syn]

Hey, who says an adhered Corus logo can't form nice counterpoint to the, er, "greyness"? Just like so many so-called "bland" 50s buildings were enhanced by the signage (case in point: Redpath--albeit less so than a few years ago)

No one says it can't. All that's being said is that other legitimate, viable options exist. An interesting use of colour (not grey) would've been very appropriate for this building.

 

[lxmoss]

March 15th.

 

[adma]

No one says it can't. All that's being said is that other legitimate, viable options exist. An interesting use of colour (not grey) would've been very appropriate for this building.

Yeah, and it's like saying that Gropius/Parkinesque 50s Modernist buildings would have been better off if they used more green or orange glazed brick...

 

[syn]

Yeah, and it's like saying that Gropius/Parkinesque 50s Modernist buildings would have been better off if they used more green or orange glazed brick...

Sorry, I should've been more clear. I didn't mean a better use of colour for this particular design...but for the project in general.

Now that I think about it though, some colour might've looked good on this design too.