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

Diamond is gonna hang himself.. lol

I just don't think that Jack is up to the task. He's not about spectacular buildings.. his architecture is about fitting in, it's about compliance to the norm...

That's painfully obvious when Jack Diamond ran desperately in vain to copy architects and artists with pizzaz like Foster and Kapoor.

I wouldn't be surprised if at the next meeting we see Diamond presenting a Crystal structure with organic titanium ribbons sorrounding it.

I don't think the design review panel will ever get anything from him that pleases them and that's great... maybe TEDCO will give up and just get one of the architects that Jack is trying to get inspiration from.
 
Not likely. Jack is here to stay.

I am not terribly convinced that this one building, even though it is the first in the new development, should have to be dazzling. As long as it fits into the scale of the area, an OK building is fine with me. The important thing for me is that the Masterplan for the entire block is executed well. We dont need iconic buildings at the foot of every street along our waterfront. We dont need to be bombarded by stunner after stunner. Something that fits to scale, is built with quality materials, and brings animated street life to the area is good enough. With the reaction to current designs, one would think that the future of arcitecture in this city is dependant on this one building.
 
I would definitely take this buillding over the flashier Pier 27 any day of the week. At least it has uses to attract members of the public down to the waterfront, like a restaurant and that studio space.
 
The TWRC Design Review Panel was told that there will be 1,100 employees for Corus Company with TV studios, restaurants and radio stations at the ground floor to interact with the surrounding public space. One rendering showed a TV studio that opens to the park on the west as a stage for outdoor public concerts, kinda like CityTv.

Christopher Hume's recent column in The Star seems to take his usual negative shots at Diamond and TEDCO -- who are atleast bringing us something real and LEED "green" to the waterfront. At the end of the day, Hume will have the Corus "egg" on his face.
 
There was a picture in the Star with Hume's article (he seems to just repeat himself...but hey, its the Star). The picture shows an even uglier building than the last version. And I mean, Markham/404 ugly.
 
^^ Yah, I just saw it.. ughhhh.. it's 100% office park material.

Who the hell decided that Jack Diamond is a prime architect? Why does he get so much work in this town? If that's all he can come up with, seriously... there are far more talented architects in our city eager for that kind of prime land.

This is city funded, the citizens of Toronto should have a word on what the building will look like.

Out with Jack! Out with Jack!
 
Of course, there are good glass boxes, bad glass boxes, even great glass boxes. Though few if any of the latter can be found in Toronto, one can always hope. But given the fact that the agency behind the project is TEDCO (the Toronto Economic Development Corp.), which has little interest in architecture, the waterfront, city or much beyond its own financial needs, it's hard to believe the building will be among the best.
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Good point by Hume. It's always so easy to blame the architect for a bad design, when the client should really be getting an equal amount of blame. After all, it's the client who is paying for the design, and it's the client, not the design panel, not Diamond, who will have final say over what the finished product will be.

Diamond should be blamed for not bringing his A-game to this project, but TEDCO should also be blamed for having no ambition for better architecture.
 
Its probably best to give the benefit of the doubt at this early stage. TEDCO selected Diamond+Schmitt who have done excellent work around the city and elsewhere. At this early stage the criticism sounds a bit hysterical.

As for TEDCO, check their website (http://www.tedco.ca/newsroom1.php) - you will find that they are the only city entity to have actually built a LEED green building (Canpar in south-west Toronto).

The new Corus development is also reported to be LEED; and an old Imperial Oil tank farm in the port lands is becoming a new film studio on TEDCO's lands.
 
Well, Jack Diamond is so well connected in this city, that he doesn't need to have excellent work- I am not saying that some of his work isn't- the Bahen Centre at UofT is a perfect example, but all in all, he gets the work he does, because he knows a lot of people- he is not a great architect, nor is he a bad architect- he does some pretty average work. I have however, heard some noise that Donald Schmitt is starting to call some shots now and he is supposedly a bit more progressive in his design executions..

Just a quick reference to Gehry- forget it- I also don't think the argument that he hails from Toronto and therefore has a sentimental attachment to such projects, aka AGO- holds any water- it is good for us to hear in Canada, but in all honesty- how Canadian is he? He is who he is because he moved to the states- not because he stayed here.

Also, i think its time that we look beyond the borders of the same 10 architects and maybe try something new- there are thousands of great architects out there, just waiting to get their break, and instead we continually turn to the same people...



p5
 
Also, i think its time that we look beyond the borders of the same 10 architects and maybe try something new- there are thousands of great architects out there, just waiting to get their break, and instead we continually turn to the same people...
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I wholeheartedly agree! Before all the stars were famous, they were unknown and waiting to be discovered. Time to open up the field for some competition from outside the recognized collection of names.
 
It really does shock me that you guys are expecting the world of this office building. Sure, it is the first in a new development area, it is being partially funded by the city, but it IS still an office building. Look around the rest of the city and tell me if all office buildings are landmark buildings. Sure, there are some, but the vast majority are not. This is a film studio and office building. It doesnt need to be a landmark for the city. It doesnt need to be gorgeous. Something that fits the masterplan for the area, that works well at street level, that interacts with the public who walks by, and is made of quality materials is really all that should matter for this building. If we were building a cultural institution, I would agree that the design should be opened up to an international competition, but this is a building that will, and should, blend into the other buildings which will grow up around it.

I would pay more attention to how the streetscape is designed, how individual buildings interact with each other, and how transit/roads/pathways etc bring people there, and flow people from one part of the city to the next. That is what is more important here.

The success of this area does not depend on this one building. It depends on how the entire development area is laid out and how the groupings of buildings/land uses interacts with each other and the rest of the city around it.
 
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