Toronto Sun Life Financial Tower & Harbour Plaza Residences | 236.51m | 67s | Menkes | Sweeny &Co

1 Bloor St. East, seems to have spawned a number of slightly deformed offspring. Are the architects in this city that lacking in ideas, that they need rip off a rip off?
 
Passable architecture here just isn't good enough. By Toronto standards a 70 floor tower is huge, two of them is twice as huge! Towers of this size must be offered to superior architects or contests, because they will partly define the city fo years to come.
 
...or duplicates of those same bland glass boxes within the same neighbourhood. But, if you like your architecture devoid of questions, meaning, soul, human-scale design, colour, innovation, personality and a sense of place, well - this area is just fine.

There's a lot of new construction to get worked up about in Southcore - but not a lot to be proud of.
It would have been good to see this one go to an international competition, due to its prominence and location. I think it would only help Toronto to have all buildings over a certain size do so. It would keep things percolating, and bring fresh ideas before the public's eyes.

I think it's fair to say that Toronto architecture has found it's new general rut (or norm) in the generic condo towers going up - a type as bland, dateable, mediocre and easily tiring as the beige precast boxes of the '70's. Where once a shot of downtown saw a brownish sea of modernist concrete panels - now we see a greenish-blue expanse of modernist glass. Nothing wrong with fads in vernacular. But, despite exceptions, when it's tired, it's tired. Even proposals like 1 York make a bit of a joke out of the virtues of minimalism. The temperature could be turned up - and the bar raised - on what constitutes 'normal' architecture here.

It's not just a luxury to demand more interesting and social buildings than this, it's our right. They're something we all have to live with. The developer has a responsibility to the city and the public to make something that will contribute culturally, aesthetically intellectually - and not just to their own pocketbooks. Not every building need be a standout. But even modest buildings can be excellently done. And when a building is going to truly stand out, or is poised to hold an important location - it should be held to the highest possible standards.

I'd argue we need more 'world' in that 'world class' line of ours. International competitions for notable buildings would help cirumvent the possible insularity of a civil design panel, as well.
 
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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.”
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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
 
Awful. Absolutely awful.

Bland, uninspired bore that will destroy the classic view of the skyline from the islands. Clewes needs to go back to kindergarten and get a refill on some creativity.
 
The_Architect said:
Awful. Absolutely awful.

Bland, uninspired bore that will destroy the classic view of the skyline from the islands. Clewes needs to go back to kindergarten and get a refill on some creativity.
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I dont know about awful...i figure there will be another 1/2 dozen or more 250 meter builds towards the east, in which time this so called classic view of the skyline from the islands will have to be viewed from a different location...Hey, there will be a new more modern skyline viewed from the islands, which is all good..

Here is the bigger picture of this development ....




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Oh by the way, i like the way they have included the park there to substitute the York St. off-ramp....lets keep our fingers crossed
 
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This time, even I'm going to say we need more than a rectangle with tricky balconies. Back to the drawing board.
 
Are we 100% sure these are newer than the barber-pole round of renderings? Recalling the Ten York experience where the "revised" renderings turned out to in fact be older, rejected ones.
 
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the office tower reflects the more recent zoning application of 37 floors, rather than the old renders reflection of the original 31.
 
The excitement of all the construction is fading, as developers replicate existing buildings and more of the same sprouts up. With few exceptions, and little deviation from the norm, when a new development is announced, we all know what to expect. Too bad, as Toronto has the chance to show the world what it's made of, but nobody wants to step up. The boom will be over in a few short years, and Toronto will be left with cookie cutter condos for generations to come.
 
bmiller said:
but nobody wants to step up. The boom will be over in a few short years, and Toronto will be left with cookie cutter condos for generations to come.
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Yeah, its unfortunate that no one has the balls to step up...thats unless these rumoured big shots from the UAE come to town, thats all we are going to get.:(
 
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