Toronto One Bloor East | 257.24m | 76s | Great Gulf | Hariri Pontarini

Can we please show a little respect for someone else's work and play nice on UT?

Relax people... If you read what I originally wrote:

I am not a fan of this design and Wyliepoon's rudimentary renderings make it even more hideous than it probably will be. Additionally, those sketch-ups do not portray the "Gently sloping" roof feature they have mentioned, which makes the render look even "boxier" than it probably will be.


I said the building was hideous not what Wyliepoon did. My comment was that a couple of renders made by Sketch-up (Which notoriously is unflattering to buildings) made from one highly-angled original render, plus a missing 'gently sloping roof' feature... all added up to make the design being even more hideous than the building probably will be.

And let's clear this up right now... Just because you don't know the meaning of 'rudimentary'... don't assume it is a synonym for crude or lousy. It means preliminary or a first draft. Before you get all insulted for someone... Buy a dictionary.

Get a grip people... I am not the first person who commented on those renders in that way. Just your closest whipping boy.

I won't even respond to 3D, except to say that I did laugh at the comment
 
I never wanna see that building again. Infact I'd rather go blind than look at it again. My views on Barcelona just went down by one thousand percent......

Traynor, I know what you commented about the sketch up was not a slight against wyliepoon. The sketch up lets us see how the building will look in its context and I'll be the first to find it all amazing, but without all the facts of the design we're just having fun speculating and having a good time doing it.
 
Miami was my first thought upon seeing the rendering as well.

The curved balconies look like a 1980s interpretation of art deco.
 
Traynor, I know what you commented about the sketch up was not a slight against wyliepoon. The sketch up lets us see how the building will look in its context and I'll be the first to find it all amazing, but without all the facts of the design we're just having fun speculating and having a good time doing it.

Thanks Cal for that intelligent dose of reality. The sensitive artist types, jumped to the wrong conclusion about my original comment. You are not the only person who has understood this. Others have private messaged me to say so.

It was Great Gulf's design that I was saying is hideous. Wyliepoon was doing the best he could, with what GG gave him to work with.
 
Relax people... If you read what I originally wrote:

I said the building was hideous not what Wyliepoon did....

And let's clear this up right now... Just because you don't know the meaning of 'rudimentary'... don't assume it is a synonym for crude or lousy. It means preliminary or a first draft. Before you get all insulted for someone... Buy a dictionary.

you're being selective--what you also said was:

"I am not the only forumer out there that has remarked negatively to his rudimentary drawings. You should read the remarks at SSP and SSC."


anyway, as has been previously noted, you have a tendency to sound a bit pleased with yourself, and to be unnecessarily aggressive.
 
Quite frankly, I don't give a flying f*ck about what people said at SSP or SSC - instead of disparaging wylie's work - which is extensive, they are welcome to do their own modeling and share it with the world. For all the whining, they haven't done so. Rather typical.

AoD
 
grey - good to hear another voice of reason... I was thinking the same thing earlier. Not only is the design derivative, but is derivative of one of the worst periods of style in human history, the 1980's
 
Wouldn't it be cool if the architects and developers of N1B actually read and followed threads like this and were using the forumers as a focus group to test out their first design? They would read all the positive and negative views of this first render and be able to use those opinions to further shape their final design.

Obviously this would fly in the face of true architecture experts, who feel we laymen and 'public opinion' have no place in design, despite the fact that we are stuck looking at it for the rest of our lives. Perhaps having taste dictated to us by the select few, is the lot in life for lowly surfs.

As well, I'm sure there are several forumers in their ivory towers of knowledge, that would have it no other way.
 
Honestly.....

People are being way too harsh with their critism of this rendering.

It's not another box. This looks nothing like any of the other box shaped buildings we've been getting. Not sure why this design is causing such an uproar. Here, we finally get something refreshing and people are still bitching.

No wonder we get nothing but boxes. We probably deserve them.
 
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Hmmm, I'm just not sure about this one yet. Until we see a more accurate and comprehensive rendering how can anybody really tell? More to the point, as has already been established throughout this thread context here is imperative and so until I see it rendered in its context I have to reserve judgement. What may look awkward or tacky in isolation may just soar in this particular setting.

Some positive thoughts:

- I like the colour. The blue glass looks like it might sparkle from afar up at Yonge and Bloor and stand out from its neighbours like a diamond. I like.
- The curvy vertical interplay of the glass and balconies almost gives the impression of curtains being pulled apart with an almost theatrical feel. Interesting. Yes, it looks vagina-like too but we already have a penis on the skyline...
- The curves of the design will definitely stand out from the cluster of boxes in this node.

Concerns:

- I would still like to see it taller, and now more so given even the suggestion of 'stumpiness' the preliminary render conveys. Also, this is Yonge/Bloor at the intersection of Toronto's subway system and the crossroads of major city areas (Yorkville, Downtown and Uptown), there is simply no other place more apt for height than here. Lets soar high here. It will be an amazing affirmation of confidence and stability for this city at this time.
- Podium and street level connection. Too soon to tell I take it but these curvy buildings always make me nervous that all thought goes into the spectacle rather than the basics of good urban planning.

Good and bad here, at the end of the day. I guess we have to just stay tuned for more...
 
"This, and that silly Aqua thing, are boxes in denial that they're boxes, that's all"

Every building is in some sense a box, containing and enclosing condos or workspaces. After a couple of days, looking at Aqua and 1BE side by side I'd take 1BE by a mile. Forget Barcelona, it has a rich history of organic design that works fine there. But Toronto is a modern city.

I recall years ago people debating the merits of Pantages and so forth and coming down on both sides. What H&P have offered up is extremely unique by the standards of Toronto and years ahead of most projects. I'm sort of stunned at the response to their effort.

As to insisting they build higher, well, if you can finance and sell the units for GG I'm sure they'd oblige. That's an economic decision not a design decision.
 
"Wouldn't it be cool if the architects and developers of N1B actually read and followed threads like this and were using the forumers as a focus group to test out their first design? They would read all the positive and negative views of this first render and be able to use those opinions to further shape their final design.

Obviously this would fly in the face of true architecture experts, who feel we laymen and 'public opinion' have no place in design, despite the fact that we are stuck looking at it for the rest of our lives. Perhaps having taste dictated to us by the select few, is the lot in life for lowly surfs."


If I were an architect I'd be demoralized and disgusted at half of these responses. Perhaps concluding that an attractive but conventional design like 4Seasons, Shangra-Lai, Trump or Aura is more suitable for Toronto at this point.
 

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