H
Hydrogen
Guest
The new base seems to be inspired by the Ritz.
Toronto Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Toronto | 203.9m | 52s | Lifetime | a—A
DaninToronto
Active Member
Really moving away from the incredible design it started with. No surprise really.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
The base looks like the Hell's Angel clubhouse. I believe the codeword here is fortified.
AoD
AoD
simply Dan
Active Member
Too bad those beautiful people will look out from behind all that shiny super-transparent glass and be forced to see that pile of garbage called the Regency across the street.
mysteryman
Active Member
I'm not sure we're looking at the same side of the building. The views on the Aa website are of the car court behind the building and possibly the north facade on Scollard. The cafe on the older renderings seems to be missing in the newer ones, which may be from a different vantage point.
urbandreamer
recession proof
Can you spot the beauty in the location?
Actually there's much ugliness in that area to look down on: parking garage on yorkville, cibc and bay towers, much of the area's newer built form is rather dreary to look at. The good news: one day those ugly lower rise structures will be replaced by condos.
But i have always wondered: why put a hotel (quiet zone) next to a firehall? Especially a high end one? Even triple-glazing won't eliminate the shrieking fire engines. Anyone on urban toronto live in that (rare for the area) gorgeous 18 yorkville condo? What's the noise like? (If i'd paid $5 million+ for a condo i'd like to have some peace.)
Actually there's much ugliness in that area to look down on: parking garage on yorkville, cibc and bay towers, much of the area's newer built form is rather dreary to look at. The good news: one day those ugly lower rise structures will be replaced by condos.
But i have always wondered: why put a hotel (quiet zone) next to a firehall? Especially a high end one? Even triple-glazing won't eliminate the shrieking fire engines. Anyone on urban toronto live in that (rare for the area) gorgeous 18 yorkville condo? What's the noise like? (If i'd paid $5 million+ for a condo i'd like to have some peace.)
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
My first condo was in a corner unit facing both Bay Street and Grosvenor Streets with a fire hall half way between Grosvenor and Yonge. It was a nightmare for both fire engines and Bay Street traffic, namely buses and trucks going up & down Bay Street accelerating once the light at Grosvenor turned green on Bay Street. The windows were double paned but it was as if they weren't there when the fire engines came down the street.
mysteryman
Active Member
I doubt you'd hear much 40 floors up, but it's true, the majority of hotel rooms are closer to the street and will be bothered by all that noise
caltrane74
Senior Member
Thats life in the big city. They will have to get use to it. And they will eventually, they will learn to tune the noise out.
simply Dan
Active Member
The noise level in Manhattan is easily twice what it is here.
Pep'rJack
Active Member
^ At the very, very least. The sheer extremity, absolute incessantness and astonishing ubiquity of nearly incomprehensible amounts of every imaginable (and sometimes unimaginable) kind of noise in NY must be experienced personally over time to be understood and believed - and even then, it is very hard to truly understand and believe. It is so far outside of almost any existing frame of reference anywhere, as to be virtually inconceivable without persistent direct exposure to the phenomenon.
There's a substantial proportion of the species that will *never* be able to indefinitely tolerate certain levels of completely inescapable noise - it is simply not possible for many humans to "learn to tune the noise out", once a maximum threshold is passed. Read about the use of loud, constant noise as a highly effective method of psychological torture, if you doubt this. Imo, urban noise is one of, if not the most underappreciated and insufficiently addressed urban quality of life issues. I predict this will become a much more seriously regarded problem in the coming years for a variety of reasons, and that, 'get over it and get used to it', is not going to cut it for much longer, thankfully. There's always going to be a certain amount of racket in a city, of course - that's unavoidable, and must be accepted. But there's a limit, and it definitely can be - and has been - breached in some places. The situation in TO is manageable at the moment, but it will steadily get worse unless action is taken to rein it in.
There's a substantial proportion of the species that will *never* be able to indefinitely tolerate certain levels of completely inescapable noise - it is simply not possible for many humans to "learn to tune the noise out", once a maximum threshold is passed. Read about the use of loud, constant noise as a highly effective method of psychological torture, if you doubt this. Imo, urban noise is one of, if not the most underappreciated and insufficiently addressed urban quality of life issues. I predict this will become a much more seriously regarded problem in the coming years for a variety of reasons, and that, 'get over it and get used to it', is not going to cut it for much longer, thankfully. There's always going to be a certain amount of racket in a city, of course - that's unavoidable, and must be accepted. But there's a limit, and it definitely can be - and has been - breached in some places. The situation in TO is manageable at the moment, but it will steadily get worse unless action is taken to rein it in.
Mongo
Senior Member
There will always be a certain level of traffic noise in an urban environment, and always has been. From the descriptions I have read, even pre-automobile cities were plenty noisy, with the clattering of wagon wheels and horse's hooves on cobbled streets.
Sirens today are MUCH louder than they used to be -- there has been a steady increase in their volume each decade that passes, in order to 'cut through the background level'. I think that a big part of that is intended to get the attention of vehicle drivers who are on their cell phones, or listening to their superpowered stereo systems.
On the other hand, there is a possibility that future noise levels might substantially drop. Fuel cell powered autos are basically silent, according to all reports, and I would expect that at some point in time they will constitute almost all vehicles on the street (although maybe not for decades yet). With that reduction in ambient trafic noise levels, sirens could have their volume reduced to non-earsplitting levels -- especially if by that time, they are linked to radio transmitters alerting all vehicles in a given range of their presence, which could alert their own drivers (if any). In fact I would not be surprised if all street-legal vehicles are eventually required by law to have transponders for detecting emergency vehicles, in which case sirens might be eliminated altogether. No sirens, plus fuel cell vehicles, equals very quiet urban streets -- not tomorrow, but a few decades from now.
Bill
Sirens today are MUCH louder than they used to be -- there has been a steady increase in their volume each decade that passes, in order to 'cut through the background level'. I think that a big part of that is intended to get the attention of vehicle drivers who are on their cell phones, or listening to their superpowered stereo systems.
On the other hand, there is a possibility that future noise levels might substantially drop. Fuel cell powered autos are basically silent, according to all reports, and I would expect that at some point in time they will constitute almost all vehicles on the street (although maybe not for decades yet). With that reduction in ambient trafic noise levels, sirens could have their volume reduced to non-earsplitting levels -- especially if by that time, they are linked to radio transmitters alerting all vehicles in a given range of their presence, which could alert their own drivers (if any). In fact I would not be surprised if all street-legal vehicles are eventually required by law to have transponders for detecting emergency vehicles, in which case sirens might be eliminated altogether. No sirens, plus fuel cell vehicles, equals very quiet urban streets -- not tomorrow, but a few decades from now.
Bill
wyliepoon
Senior Member
Don't complain about noise until you've lived in a neighbourhood like this...
I don't find fire trucks to be too annoying with the sirens on, but they can get pretty frightening when they blast their horns.
I don't find fire trucks to be too annoying with the sirens on, but they can get pretty frightening when they blast their horns.
EnviroTO
Senior Member
I don't think we are even going to get rid of sirens. Its not only vehicles that are alerted by sirens that emergency vehicles running at high speeds are coming... it is pedestrians as well. Also, trucks make more noise with their brakes and bouncing over uneven ground than they seem to make with their engine. Road noise on cars seems louder than the engines as well most of the time.
Mongo
Senior Member
I believe that sirens have been getting louder by about 5-7 dB per decade -- I definitely recall that the sirens from the 70s were a LOT quieter than they are now -- even passing right by me, they did not have the earsplitting quality they have now. If all they have to do is alert pedestrians and bicyclists, and not worry about drivers with their pounding audio systems, they could be considerably quieter while still alerting pedestrians.
As I said, there is (and no doubt always will be) other road noise. But even with brakes, tire rumbling, etc, if sirens and engine noise are reduced as much as I think they can be, the overall noise level would be substantially less.
Bill
As I said, there is (and no doubt always will be) other road noise. But even with brakes, tire rumbling, etc, if sirens and engine noise are reduced as much as I think they can be, the overall noise level would be substantially less.
Bill