Toronto U Condominiums | 183.79m | 56s | Pemberton | a—A

steveve said:
I agree. It's a really sad project. By the time construction had started, the design was already dated, and the wait killed any form of anticipation. The cladding is a huge let down too (though it's hard to expect much from any new Toronto condo building), it looks like the cladding on Burano, and the shape of the tower can't justify it either.
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'Sad' project? What a silly generalization. What about the design makes it 'dated?' What's more, you've surely long been aware of the shape of the building from the renders released years ago - what difference were you 'anticipating?'

And the cladding on Burano is excellent - in what way is that an insult?
 
ProjectEnd said:
'Sad' project? What a silly generalization. What about the design makes it 'dated?' What's more, you've surely long been aware of the shape of the building from the renders released years ago - what difference were you 'anticipating?'

And the cladding on Burano is excellent - in what way is that an insult?
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The project was announced and designed many years ago. We've seen much more interesting condos go up since then. All I'm saying is that if the project was announced today with it's current design, it would be underwhelming and lacking in visual flare.

As seen with projects like Trump which was announced long before it was eventually built. The final product turned out to be underwhelming to many, along with it's 'dated' design.
As for the cladding on Burano, I don't find it attractive, but it is all based on my personal opinion.
 
The original design is far more ambitious and interesting - but given the record of said developer, I am happy with mere competent at this stage.

AoD
 
steveve said:
The project was announced and designed many years ago. We've seen much more interesting condos go up since then. All I'm saying is that if the project was announced today with it's current design, it would be underwhelming and lacking in visual flare.

As seen with projects like Trump which was announced long before it was eventually built. The final product turned out to be underwhelming to many, along with it's 'dated' design.
As for the cladding on Burano, I don't find it attractive, but it is all based on my personal opinion.
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Much as I dislike the as-built iteration of Trump, it's certainly a bullet-dodged compared to the initial Kirkor embarrassment. Talk about 'dating.' What's more, I think U would do just fine in the current context given that it's just a simple extruded box with some subdued yet elegant details.

AlvinofDiaspar said:
The original design is far more ambitious and interesting - but given the record of said developer, I am happy with mere competent at this stage.

AoD
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Perhaps I'm missing something. Are we talking about the original 3 tower scheme which built on the park at the south end or the current two tower + townhouse version we're seeing go up today? At what point was any 'ambition' lost? I think the decision to mass the project on the north end and preserve (and update) the park was about as ambitious an idea as we might have seen.
 
steveve said:
I agree. It's a really sad project. By the time construction had started, the design was already dated, and the wait killed any form of anticipation.
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Whatever. Most buildings will be around for many decades. You can design the most modern building and in a few years it will become dated anyway when a new fad comes along.
 
Until the balconies are clad on this project we really do not know what the final effect will be here.

I do not buy the 'dated' argument in this case as U Condos would have to look like a bunch of projects from a particular era when finished to be lumped in with them and their time. Will U look like any other project in the city? If the balcony design is strong enough, it's possible that it won't because there are no other projects in this city with anything akin to the ornamental grasses motif which will be applied here. How will anyone 'date' it then, by anything other than the time it is completed?

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ProjectEnd said:
Much as I dislike the as-built iteration of Trump, it's certainly a bullet-dodged compared to the initial Kirkor embarrassment. Talk about 'dating.' What's more, I think U would do just fine in the current context given that it's just a simple extruded box with some subdued yet elegant details.



Perhaps I'm missing something. Are we talking about the original 3 tower scheme which built on the park at the south end or the current two tower + townhouse version we're seeing go up today? At what point was any 'ambition' lost? I think the decision to mass the project on the north end and preserve (and update) the park was about as ambitious an idea as we might have seen.
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The exterior of the towers took on a far stronger tree trunks in the forest motif orginally - see http://urbantoronto.ca/forum/showth...s-(St-Michael-s-College-Pemberton-55s-45s-aA)

AoD
 
There's no reason to doubt that those panels will still be applied. They merely continue the motif established by the glass frits to the ground.

Tuesday%20Walk%20030.jpg
 
Perhaps 'dated' wasn't the best choice of words. My point is that there are certain architectural styles, that, even if built today, are from a different period of time so to speak.
One example is 'Pulse Condos' (one of the worst looking projects in recent memory). This type of wrap-around condo box easily could have been built 30 years ago, hence the 'stale' look.

Toronto-North-York-high-rise-condos-Pulse-Yonge-and-Finch-5500-and-5508-Yonge-St-Pemberton-Group-1.JPG

Source: http://livehigh.com/uploads/condos/...-5500-and-5508-Yonge-St-Pemberton-Group-1.JPG

Whereas recently built buildings such as X Condo (Mies/TD inspired), inspired by very old designs, don't appear stale when they're proposed today because the design is 'timeless'.

x_condos_completed.JPG

Source: http://urbanrealtytoronto.com/wordpressimages/x_condos_completed.JPG
 
Steveve, thanks for the link to Yossi Kaplan's site. That's my photo, and it's being used by Kaplan without my permission.

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I'm pretty sure the panels are still coming, but they might be the last thing to get installed. On the underside of the lowest balconies it looks like there are cast in plates there waiting to receive brackets to hold the panels. Once the balcony glass gets installed you'll be able to see if the plates match the frit, and that'll be your answer
 
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