Toronto Massey Tower Condos | 206.95m | 60s | MOD Developments | Hariri Pontarini

[Torontovibe]

The historic building just north of this building also has a beautiful interior. I saw pictures of it a while back and I was very impressed. I hope it eventually gets used for some public purpose, as I'd love to get inside that building.

 

[ThomasJ]

Dear MOD Developments,

Thank you. This is already looking extraordinary. Other developers, please take note. Heritage is an advantage and creates a unique, desirable property.

absolutely true. five st joseph is the same (can't wait to see it complete). also 8 gloucester, another example with beautiful heritage component.

yonge street can be preserved and developed at the same time people!

 

[Automation Gallery]

absolutely true. five st joseph is the same (can't wait to see it complete). also 8 gloucester, another example with beautiful heritage component.

yonge street can be preserved and developed at the same time people!

Yeah i know, but come on ThomasJ youve been on UT for almost a year... and know that many people here dont like the old mix with the new
and no matter quality or design, as soon as a skyscraper is incorporated into a heritage site, they vision it as a shit-show.
I personally like the mix and hope to see a lot more of this throughout the city

 

[Mongo]

many people here dont like the old mix with the new and no matter quality or design, as soon as a skyscraper is incorporated into a heritage site, they vision it as a shit-show.

For an example of this sort of thinking, just look at how saving the facade of an historic building, instead of simply demolishing the entire thing, is now derided as "facadism".

 

[Searchlight]

just went to the sales event today. prices were what one would expect. the design is beautiful in my opinion but the problem is that this condo is not in a community unless you consider the Ryerson/Eaton's Centre crowd viable neighbours.

For an example of this sort of thinking, just look at how saving the facade of an historic building, instead of simply demolishing the entire thing, is now derided as "facadism".

 

[gristle]

For an example of this sort of thinking, just look at how saving the facade of an historic building, instead of simply demolishing the entire thing, is now derided as "facadism".

A building is more than a facade. If the aim is to preserve a building, then preserving just the facade is not preserving the building. That should be obvious.

 

[Red October]

Yeah i know, but come on ThomasJ youve been on UT for almost a year... and know that many people here dont like the old mix with the new
and no matter quality or design, as soon as a skyscraper is incorporated into a heritage site, they vision it as a shit-show.
I personally like the mix and hope to see a lot more of this throughout the city

Hear, hear. Case in point: the old Toronto Stock Exchange incorporated into the Ernst & Young Tower.

 

[Red October]

The historic building just north of this building also has a beautiful interior. I saw pictures of it a while back and I was very impressed. I hope it eventually gets used for some public purpose, as I'd love to get inside that building.

It's even better than this one IMO. Go watch the Flashpoint episode "Who's George?", it's filmed entirely inside that north bank building.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

The Architect:

Hear, hear. Case in point: the old Toronto Stock Exchange incorporated into the Ernst & Young Tower.

The old TSE in the O&Y E&Y Tower isn't the greatest example of historic preservation to cite - it is particularly insensitive to the old structure and the the new building is also exceedingly mediocre. Five (particularly re: Yonge facades) is an arguably superior instance.

AoD

 

[Urban Shocker]

That mosaic floor looks stupendous! The cleaning process made it look as if they are uncovering something from the Byzantines.

Acres of featureless smalti with a few Greek key motifs do not a masterpiece make.

 

[Irishmonk]

Acres of featureless smalti with a few Greek key motifs do not a masterpiece make.

You were expecting the Sistine Chapel? It's the freakin' floor of a bank.

 

[Ramako]

Acres of featureless smalti with a few Greek key motifs do not a masterpiece make.

Given your affinity for designs by aA, I'd have thought that you'd consider such a featureless expanse to indeed be a masterpiece.

 

[vegeta_skyline]

Nothing wrong with being contradictory, he's just following Clewes lead afterall;

I do have to say, it's rather ironic for Clewes to say the following - from the Star:

Codifying design

Peter Clewes, a partner with architectsAlliance and an architect who has designed his share of tall towers (most recently Peter Street Condos, the Four Seasons and Pier 27) shares Giancos’ concern.

“The danger is you impose a level of homogeneity that was imposed in a place like the Railway Lands,” notes Clewes, who designed several of the CityPlace towers.

He sees that condo cluster as a cautionary tale that underscores the perils of overly controlled design.

“You get this field of towers with the same facing condition and all with roughly the same floor plates and heights,” he says. “And it’s this level of consistency and banality that really isn’t the city.

“What’s interesting about the city,” Clewes continues, “is that it develops incrementally over time and is kind of a messy growth, but that makes it interesting. You get these conflicts and juxtapositions that make it look organic, as opposed to something that’s planned.

“When you try and codify design, you lose what makes Toronto potentially interesting.”

Not that I am not a fan of his design, but considering the degree to which projects by his firm has been sprouting out in certain quarters of the city...really?

AoD

 

[metroTO]

just went to the sales event today. prices were what one would expect. the design is beautiful in my opinion but the problem is that this condo is not in a community unless you consider the Ryerson/Eaton's Centre crowd viable neighbours.

I feel the same way too. The building looks nice, but the area is very touristy and kind of trashy.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

For an example of this sort of thinking, just look at how saving the facade of an historic building, instead of simply demolishing the entire thing, is now derided as "facadism".

With plans for the tower to sit on the back half of the old bank, will the back half need to be removed and rebuilt or will they be able to build around the entire bank? Does anyone have any insight into this?