Toronto Manulife Centre Podium and Streetscape Renewal | 9.75m | 2s | Manulife Real Estate | MdeAS Architects

One of my favourite buildings in the city. To me, this is Bloor's fulcrum point. It has everything we now take for granted about mixed use planning but packaged in an attractively stylized and appropriately massed concrete monolith a couple decades ahead of the curve. And of course there's the cantilevering of the north tower, a rare element in our architecturally conservative city. And the building is inviting at the pedestrian level. The surrounding neighbourhood has grown up around and complemented it nicely. This is concrete done right. Bulky in a way that suggests security, not indifference.

I'm biased though - I lived down the street for a long time and Manulife was one of my top destinations.
 
Wow, well look at that! I never knew that 'urban oasis' ever existed. What a cool spot that was. Thank you for posting that 'ProjectEnd'.
 
maestro said:
This was developed at the height of a massive building boom in Toronto. This was just one of several competing mixed-use complexes at Yonge/Bay & Bloor. It's a rental tower and always has been.
Click to expand...

A rental tower that is far better built and maintained than all the condo buildings I lived in.
 
ProjectEnd said:
The sadly-lost 'urban oasis' idea which juxtaposed hard, unrelenting concrete with plants, trees, natural rocks and water was another hallmark of better brutalism around the globe:
Click to expand...

Definitely a shame to have lost that; Brutalism really shines when it's contrasted with greenery. At least we still have the grotto and podium roof of the Sheraton, for a similar effect.
 
adHominem said:
Definitely a shame to have lost that; Brutalism really shines when it's contrasted with greenery. At least we still have the grotto and podium roof of the Sheraton, for a similar effect.
Click to expand...

I wonder how the the infill got approved (and on whose watch) in the first place.

AoD
 
Bayer said:
From what I can tell in my apartment, the residential tower still has its original windows, manufactured in 1970. Mine are in very good condition.
Click to expand...
Actually, I checked again, and one of my windows is dated 1985, but it is absolutely identical to the 1970 ones.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Nope - wondering if it was done to accommodate Brettton's or predate even that.

AoD
Click to expand...
My cobwebby memory says that it was Bretton's in the expansion first.

42
 
I don't get your direction with this. How was filling in this forecourt any different from filling in the forecourt in front of Ashley or numerous other developments such the Yonge Eglinton Centre?
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top