Toronto Fashion House | ?m | 12s | Freed | Core Architects

johnr said:
Freed reps have told me the laneway will be pedestrian only with patio area for the corner restaurant that will be opening. Vehicles accessing FashionHouse will have to go through Adelaide, there will be no vehicle access allowed from King St.
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Really, are you sure about that? That's great news, and a change from the original plans. I spoke about it with Adam Vaughan last year and it didn't sound like they would consider it, but I hope you're right.
 
innsertnamehere said:
The exact opposite actually, at least historically. Toronto's planning has traditionally been extremely strong armed. There is a reason we are the only city in NA not to rip up most if not all of our streetcar network.
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No, the exact opposite is not true. It is true that Toronto is strict in enforcing a meaningless book of data, (setbacks, height, density, land use etc., all of which can and do get contested and overturned at the OMB) but that does not amount to a comprehensive growth strategy or an urban vision. Toronto's history is one of growth in fits and spurts, with almost no idea of what it was to become. It's growth has been determined by and large by private interests responding to market demands. Only relatively recently - as a do or die move - has Toronto made an effort to contain it's out of control urban sprawl with the establishment of the greenbelt. Moreover Toronto's haphazard growth has occurred in the virtual absence of heritage planning inventories and controls. This year, for the first time, an effort is being made to establish meaningful heritage inventories and controls.(which Ford in his wisdom voted to kill as part of his recent round of proposed tax savings).
 
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I have also read in many newspaper articles that Toronto's planning department is under funded and under staffed. How can it pay attention to all the details, when it's flying by the seat of its ass, just trying to keep up?
 
Torontovibe said:
I have also read in many newspaper articles that Toronto's planning department is under funded and under staffed. How can it pay attention to all the details, when it's flying by the seat of its ass, just trying to keep up?
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Precisely. Planning controls get in the way of short term commercial interests, and the big players want to keep things the way they are.

This is why we have Rob Ford.
 
A bit old but ... 15 Feb 2014
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The "blankie" 'round the old building is gonna inspire the NimbyTect one day! :D
 
^^^ There were rumours a few years ago about an entertainment facility being considered at that corner including the first House of Blues in Canada. But I don't think there has been any developments recently.

BTW, I passed by Fashion House at night recently. The jog of the lighting and curtains where venting/bulkheads occur along with the harsh cold LED lighting looks very unfortunate.
If they went with a much warmer colour of LEDs (yes they do exist) and went with a series of spot lights rather than a fluorescent-like wash, it would look so much better, just like in the rendering.
It just looks very commercial, but in a bad way.

It will be interesting to see how it looks when people start occupying these units on the lower floors.
 
atodaso said:
I suspect the rationale is that it's a sort of homage to the garment - er, fashion district.
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The lit curtains idea could've been interesting in the ground floor lobby, that double height floor could've been utilized to great effect. Continue the red theme with a patterned red glass inserts on the residential levels.

interchange42 said:
…and I don't think as a resident I would want to be looking at the outside world through red windows.

Looks like they have to tone down that lighting however!

42
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The red glass would/could just be accent panes, like at M5V, and not the entire vision glass area of a unit. I think it'd be a lot less intrusive than this lighting, and not much different than older houses that feature stained glass windows.
 
We would not want to be looking out of red or any other stained glass. The curtains look fantastic. It's the lighting here that needs to change. I'm sure it will. Likely just testing it for now.
 
johnr said:
Freed reps have told me the laneway will be pedestrian only with patio area for the corner restaurant that will be opening. Vehicles accessing FashionHouse will have to go through Adelaide, there will be no vehicle access allowed from King St.
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From what I recall, permission to use King Street for accessing the Fashion House parking facilities was allowed by the city. This matter was covered t the first set of community meetings some years ago. The building could not have gone up without the parking matter being settled. The lane was created for access to the garage and as a pedestrian through-way. Presently, vehicles are using King Street to access the parking garage, not Morrison. If such access was denied by the city, that would not be occurring. Moreover, local residents would have received notification of such a change. This hasn't occurred.
 
That's my understanding too. All of the plans show King St. as the primary driveway entrance, except for trucks, which enter from Morrison.

This was bad planning. King St. should never have been made the primary access when Morrison was an option.
 
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