Toronto Forma | 308m | 84s | Great Gulf | Gehry Partners

[renvel]

Block preservation

Good idea, but then again no one in their right mind is going to spend millions and millions of dollars to deal with that crap

...and the Anderson building (if I spell it right) , POW Theatre et all are crap too ?

 

[buildup]

...and the Anderson building (if I spell it right) , POW Theatre et all are crap too ?

The one worth saving, in fact must be saved, is the Royal Alexander. I suspect when the POW was built about 20 years ago folks must have complained about its unimaginative look. I'd be curious to see what was demolished to make way for it.

 

[renvel]

strret wall

The one worth saving, in fact must be saved, is the Royal Alexander. I suspect when the POW was built about 20 years ago folks must have complained about its unimaginative look. I'd be curious to see what was demolished to make way for it.

...But I still would prefer to build up the empty lots ( parking or others) & run down areas of Downtown first and to think about demolition of not so many remaining well preserved street wall streches of this town later...

 

[ushahid]

tomorrow will be a big day.

 

[adma]

The one worth saving, in fact must be saved, is the Royal Alexander. I suspect when the POW was built about 20 years ago folks must have complained about its unimaginative look. I'd be curious to see what was demolished to make way for it.

(a) It was a parking lot pre-PoW; so, no demo involved (at least, not immediately), and
(b) the PoW was actually quite positively received in the architectural press. Mind you, it was still the pre-starchitect age of postmodern contextualism...

 

[jaycola]

I guess a key question is whether these buildings are worthy of saving in perpetuity? Are these buildings going to protected forever or are we just delaying the inevitable for a few years or decades?

If you can concede that these will eventually be replaced, then we are only dealing with the Mirvish-Gehry project on it's merits. Maybe this project is simply not good enough for the required demolition?

If you believe these buildings can and should be preserved forever, you better get working on your preservation community group because this will be an uphill battle.

 

[middeljohn]

Just cause a building is old doesn't mean it matters.

 

[TrickyRicky]

"Just cause a building is old doesn't mean it matters."

This is true however building age, like location, is a potentially intrinsic souce of value. Something being new is not a source of intrinsic value because you can always build more new stuff. A famous designer (such as in this case) is in my opinion a pseudo-source of intrinsic value because fashion tastes change over time. Most of the catalogue of Gehry's buildings will not survive into the next century. This is not a knock on the architect or his designs, history just suggests this will be the case. At the ever accelerating speed of urbanization and urban renewal around the globe I expect that maybe 50 years will be considered a good run for a building to survive even by our most famous contemporary designers.

 

[interchange42]

That's pure conjecture with no actual basis in fact. One could also foresee that Gehry's buildings will be treated the way that Frank Lloyd Wright's are, where every building he designed is the focus of quite the controversy when any are proposed for demolition.

42

 

[johnwood]

torontonians love boring and dull and will always be boring and dull. they build crap and when theres a chance to build something pretty they find some excuss to not build it. toronto is ugly because of the people.

 

[ardwold1]

torontonians love boring and dull and will always be boring and dull. they build crap and when theres a chance to build something pretty they find some excuss to not build it. toronto is ugly because of the people.

Ugh, how tedious.

 

[Lenser]

torontonians love boring and dull and will always be boring and dull. they build crap and when theres a chance to build something pretty they find some excuss to not build it. toronto is ugly because of the people.

Your statement is ugly. I'll leave that to you to decide why.

 

[argus]

torontonians love boring and dull and will always be boring and dull. they build crap and when theres a chance to build something pretty they find some excuss to not build it. toronto is ugly because of the people.

The ugliness lies in your remarks. Had you even bothered to let it register, you would have noted that there are many conversations regarding the visual merits of new developments on this forum. There are differing opinions on the matter, but no one advocates building ugliness. Few of us have any control over the decisions of developers, so to blame what you find ugly on everyone who lives in the city is childish whining.

 

[SP!RE]

torontonians love boring and dull and will always be boring and dull. they build crap and when theres a chance to build something pretty they find some excuss to not build it. toronto is ugly because of the people.

You must be a hit at parties, eh?

 

[Red October]

torontonians love boring and dull and will always be boring and dull. they build crap and when theres a chance to build something pretty they find some excuss to not build it. toronto is ugly because of the people.

I feel sympathy for your obvious eyesight condition, but if you think Toronto is so ugly why are you here?