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

The Pilot Coffee Roasters, latest in a series of projects by Williamson Williamson
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isaidso said:
Living in Toronto you slowly start accepting 'passable' as good enough. It's not.... especially in what is supposed to be the most exclusive shopping district in the country. It doesn't take much international travel to hammer home how far we still have to go. This is the only big global city I can think of where the population think this is good enough. Something like this would never pass muster on Bond Street, Park Avenue, Avenue Montaigne, etc. Are we building a top shelf global metropolis or just a giant Winnipeg?

This is shopping mall fare.
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Well, this is a shopping mall.
 
Err...that's interesting, but what does it do?
 
AlexBozikovic said:
The Pilot Coffee Roasters, latest in a series of projects by Williamson Williamson
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The only thing I don't really like in that store is the lighting - I find it a bit dull. It is much more subdued than one would expect compared to that in the mall itself.
 
I'm not sure if I'd call this passable...even with the shlock citizens get used to, this is pretty underwhelming. The more I pass by it, the more this project reminds me of a suburban mall or office park. The design language is really quite poor IMO with glass usage, it just looks sterile, especially in contrast with the building it's adding on to.
 
Well, you have a mall (a usage rarely known for venturing outside lowest-common denominator aesthetics), owned by a company whose entire business profits only on safe bets and keeping costs as low as possible while ensuring returns. Not exactly a recipe for thinking dramatic, inspiring architecture.
Plus, pretty much every render was set at night, making it quite clear (literally) that the all-glass form mattered markedly less than the tenants contained within.

What did/could you truly expect?
 
As a resident I am now used to this questionable expansion (although I have a direct view of the rooftop between the commercial and residential towers, and it has been looking like a dump for more than two years), but since Eataly opened, we have received no updates on any future store openings. There was a rumour about Bottega Veneta, which would be utterly useless for me unless I suddenly start craving $3,000 track pants.
 
kali said:
Oh, that looks lovely. So much better than the exterior would suggest.
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I thought the exact opposite. Soul less and shopping mall like on the outside and the same on the inside. This doesn't feel or look like the most exclusive shopping district in the country. It looks like one of those coma inducing malls in the suburbs. Slapping on some marble and calling it a day? That's about as lazy as one can get.
 
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isaidso said:
I thought the exact opposite. Soul less and shopping mall like on the outside and the same on the inside. This doesn't feel or look like the most exclusive shopping district in the country. It looks like one of those coma inducing malls in the suburbs. Slapping on some marble and calling it a day? That's about as lazy as one can get.
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Yeah, it's a bit sterile. But at least it's clean and polished, unlike so much of Toronto's public realm.
 
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