Toronto's Second Supertall?

[TrickyRicky]

Toronto is a city of towers and I have no doubt we will see many substantial and interesting projects moving forward. That said why build supertall? Big buildings get built because of big egos. So what person or organization exists or will exist in this town that will champion statement over pragmatism?

 

[taal]

meh, I have absolutely no lust for a supertall whatsoever. Really! Nothing! My dream is for the CN tower to remain the tallest in Toronto for a long time (but I hope it is also re clad in something).

I'd much rather build out with density, 40-70 story commercial buildings. Rather then 1 100+ story building < which is what happens with supertalls really.

I know someone said it as a joke but if MCC get's a supertall and not us it wouldn't completely surprise me (Well ... okay a little, I don't think it will happen there either). Again though I'd much rather 5+ 40-50 story buildigns then one 200 storey building!

 

[Hipster Duck]

It still amazes me that Toronto, of all cities, built the tallest freestanding structure in the world. Among ironies, that would be up there with Riyadh building the Centre for Religious Plurality and Gay Rights.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I'd love to have seen Claes Oldenburg's Colossal Drainpipe Monument, Toronto ( 1967 ) actually constructed. Here's a drawing of the base, with waterfall gushing into Lake Ontario:

http://popartmachine.com/image_resi...ssal-Drainpipe-Monument,-Toronto,-with-Waterf

 

[Strange Advance]

It still amazes me that Toronto, of all cities, built the tallest freestanding structure in the world.

Yeah, impossible to believe it would be built today. Any potential developer would look at the opposition and red tape, sigh, and say "forget it".

My dream is for the CN tower to remain the tallest in Toronto for a long time (but I hope it is also re clad in something).

But doesn't CN have a projected lifespan of 75 years or something? In that case, recladding it would be a waste of money.

 

[Archivist]

I agree with taal, that I am largely indifferent to a supertall, whatever that is, in Toronto. The moment for North American tallest records has come and passed, and I'm happy that the torch has been passed to Dubai, Shanghai, Taiwan, Kuala Lumpur etc. Let them have their moment in the sun.

 

[khris]

I'd love to have seen Claes Oldenburg's Colossal Drainpipe Monument, Toronto ( 1967 ) actually constructed. Here's a drawing of the base, with waterfall gushing into Lake Ontario:

http://popartmachine.com/image_resi...ssal-Drainpipe-Monument,-Toronto,-with-Waterf

That drawing really makes no sense. I looked at it for a couple of minutes and could not figure out what it was I was looking at.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Yeah, impossible to believe it would be built today. Any potential developer would look at the opposition and red tape, sigh, and say "forget it".

A lot of worldwide citys built look-a-like communication towers exept a bit shorter than the CN Tower,that seemed to be the trend in the 80s-90s.I believe that even Mississauga back in the 90s had a plan for a 1000fter that got shelved.If a communication tower was to be built today i would think that it would have less redtape/opposition than a supertall structure.

 

[wyliepoon]

^ One of the projects in the book Unbuilt Toronto was a proposed telecommunications tower for North York Centre, backed by reeve (later mayor) James Service. For a time North York was competing with Metro Centre over which tower would get CBC's broadcast facilities. Metro Centre won out (with what is now the CN Tower), and the NYCC tower was history.

 

[adma]

A lot of worldwide citys built look-a-like communication towers exept a bit shorter than the CN Tower,that seemed to be the trend in the 80s-90s.I believe that even Mississauga back in the 90s had a plan for a 1000fter that got shelved.If a communication tower was to be built today i would think that it would have less redtape/opposition than a supertall structure.

Actually, the trend t/w such towers was more pre-80s--starting with Stuttgart in 1956--and Moscow's Ostankino (completed 1967) was less than 100 feet shorter than CN. In fact, the advent of satellite made the rationale behind building those kinds of communications masts mostly redundant by the 80s/90s...

 

[egotrippin]

Perhaps we could revive the John Maryon Tower. Toronto certainly did dream big back in the day.

 

[Urban Shocker]

The erection of London's Post Office Tower was a big thing when I was 12.

khristopher: There's another Oldenburg drawing of his Colossal Drainpipe Monument, showing the whole darned thang, but I couldn't find it online.

But it is in the anthropomorphic drawings of objects and the proposals for monuments, begun in the 1960's, that Mr. Oldenburg is seen at the very top of his talent. One of his most beautiful drawings, elegantly colored in diaphanous shades of pale green, is his proposal for the faucet cathedral in Seattle.

More rowdy but equally inventive is his ''Colossal Drainpipe'' monument for Toronto, a piece of pipe supported by a Y column. Done in the mid-1960's, it has spun off several auxiliary drawings, one of them a soft, wimpy version (1966); another a ''Drainpipe -- Dream State'' (1967), which shows a drainpipe morphing into a lively nude as she emerges like a butterfly from the cocoon of the tubing.

Quite a few of his works were built:

http://oldenburgvanbruggen.com/lsp.htm

 

[Automation Gallery]

Toronto World Commerce Tower
In skyscraperpage.com they have this 100 storey building as a Fantasy,The design actully looks pretty good,add a nice podium to it and this thing wouldnt look to bad in the Bloor/Yonge area.

http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=82449

 

[khris]

The erection of London's Post Office Tower was a big thing when I was 12.

khristopher: There's another Oldenburg drawing of his Colossal Drainpipe Monument, showing the whole darned thang, but I couldn't find it online.

But it is in the anthropomorphic drawings of objects and the proposals for monuments, begun in the 1960's, that Mr. Oldenburg is seen at the very top of his talent. One of his most beautiful drawings, elegantly colored in diaphanous shades of pale green, is his proposal for the faucet cathedral in Seattle.

More rowdy but equally inventive is his ''Colossal Drainpipe'' monument for Toronto, a piece of pipe supported by a Y column. Done in the mid-1960's, it has spun off several auxiliary drawings, one of them a soft, wimpy version (1966); another a ''Drainpipe -- Dream State'' (1967), which shows a drainpipe morphing into a lively nude as she emerges like a butterfly from the cocoon of the tubing.

Quite a few of his works were built:

http://oldenburgvanbruggen.com/lsp.htm

Wow thanks for that. I've seen the cherry and spoon before. Some really cool stuff!
Reminds me of the world's largest axe in New Brunswick.

 

[Strange Advance]

Toronto World Commerce Tower
In skyscraperpage.com they have this 100 storey building as a Fantasy,The design actully looks pretty good,add a nice podium to it and this thing wouldnt look to bad in the Bloor/Yonge area.

http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=82449

Not bad, but it looks too much like a dildo. I would do without the tapering and make it a box instead, box junkie that I am.