Toronto Richmond Adelaide Centre: EY Tower | 188.05m | 40s | Oxford Properties | Kohn Pedersen Fox

188m is pretty good. This and INDX being around the same height is cool, it will create a nice dense lead up to the taller towers adding to a mountain range effect.
 
Parking lot behind 100 Adelaide is now closed. The multi-level garage at 22 Sheppard is also closed. Must be starting demo soon.
 
100 Adelaide its starting - PCL on site, will be handling both the demolition, and construction of the new building. Demolition activities start today. The demolition permit is in hand - literally. It was in the hand of the PCL supervisor on the Adelaide sidewalk this morning, as he was about to post it.
 
Awesome! It's going to be really exciting to watch this and indx rise together.
 
SHAME ON YOU TORONTO

Demolition of one of our few art deco office buildings is inexcusable.
 
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Ugh... how much of the building is being destroyed? I dearly hope not the southern facade, at least; it's one of my favourites in the city. What ever happened to heritage designation? Why is this always allowed to happen? Plus, once again, contemporary architecture amounts to a giant shell of crystal. So unbelievably boring.
 
2 exterior walls will be 'recreated'. Everything else, the ceilings, Thunderbird murals, interior walls, floors, detailing, will end up at the city dump. 1 less old gem for Doors Open.

urbantoronto-7528-25923.jpg


An Utter Disgrace!
 
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I couldn't agree more. At this point in time in Toronto's history stripping and demolishing the bulk of this building is shameful and unnecessary, we have plenty of prime space available to build on and plenty of stock that could come down and be redeveloped. I'll restrain myself from using caps but I'm equally outraged and disheartened that redevelopment of this site actually came to fruition.
 
I couldn't agree more. At this point in time in Toronto's history stripping and demolishing the bulk of this building is shameful and unnecessary, we have plenty of prime space available to build on and plenty of stock that could come down and be redeveloped. I'll restrain myself from using caps but I'm equally outraged and disheartened that redevelopment of this site actually came to fruition.

To repeat what has been stated earlier - attempts to rework the existing 100 Adelaide structure proved to be futile. The major issues included floor to ceiling (slab-to-slab) heights which do not meet contemporary standards for effective offices, and inability to meet accessibility requirements. All the washrooms are on half-floor levels accessed via the stair wells. The facade with its decorative elements are to be incorporated into the new structure - the difference being that with the greater floor to floor heights of the new building, the existing sixteen floors of the facade will map to thirteen floors in the new building.
 
To repeat what has been stated earlier - attempts to rework the existing 100 Adelaide structure proved to be futile. The major issues included floor to ceiling (slab-to-slab) heights which do not meet contemporary standards for effective offices, and inability to meet accessibility requirements. All the washrooms are on half-floor levels accessed via the stair wells. The facade with its decorative elements are to be incorporated into the new structure - the difference being that with the greater floor to floor heights of the new building, the existing sixteen floors of the facade will map to thirteen floors in the new building.

I appreciate the logic and the sincerity behind this rationale, but its a reductio ad absurdum argument akin to saying that because we no longer use the Lower Bay Station, we should demolish it. There's nothing wrong with a new tower here; it should have been built on top off, not in place of, this textually-superior building.

The barbaric truth is that we're so jaded in Toronto by the commodification of culture that we don't even recognize the vandals in our own midst.
 
I'm as disappointed as anyone to see this go, but what was the alternative? It has to be viable for current needs. It is not. As others have mentioned previously, it would either sit empty and decay, or become viable through what you are seeing happening now. If someone had the money to preserve it as a museum piece, that would be nice, but it's not going to happen.
 
Redlom:

There is merit to the argument - but Concourse Building in itself is also commodification of culture, par none. It wasn't like the building was built for any purpose but with profit in mind or that this building just popped out of a greenfield - I am sure whatever it replaced will have heritage value if it is still extant today.

In any case, it wasn't like there haven't been multiple attempts to save the building in its' entirety. Was the current plan to preserve it perfect? No, but at least it is meaningful given the aesthetic value is mostly retained. Personally, I am counting the small mercies of what's been proposed over the PoMo horrors that were the previous development schemes.
 
2 exterior walls will be 'recreated'. Everything else, the ceilings, Thunderbird murals, interior walls, floors, detailing, will end up at the city dump. 1 less old gem for Doors Open.

urbantoronto-7528-25923.jpg


An Utter Disgrace!

Where did you read that the thunderbird designs are being sent to the dump? The article you took that photo from clearly says otherwise.
 

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