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Originally Posted by matt602
Also agree the whole thing should be closed between James and John. There's plenty of alleyways and parking lots behind all of those businesses for deliveries and parking, no reason to have the actual street open to traffic in the summer. I'm guessing thats probably why they built this right up to the street, since they anticipate it to be pedestrian only in the future.
Gotta say, the podium doesn't look so bad on King William but on King it just ain't really doing it for me. Kinda wish they'd gone with something different for that side.
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Sadly they can't really close it past that due to the fact cars need to exit from this podium and to make them only turn towards the escarpment and then have to turn around somewhere to go towards the lake would be silly..
..and yeah I was trying to figure out why this looked bad, the white parts , and then it dawned on me, if you look at the corners the "stone" is mirrored on each side - like "L" shapes and squares instead of alternating interlocking rectangles - like long parts are mirrored long parts - it doesn't feel like stone, it feels not only like cinder block, which makes it look horribly unfinished, but it also looks like cinderblock VENEER, which is somehow even worse. It's the same sorta half-assed look they did on the building on the corner of john and main.. You can't "fake" pre-confederation stone like that. It cannot be the exact same size as cinder block for one, and it has to look rougher - it's much too polished. That and it has to be mathematical - you don't just cut it of at weird ratios to punch windows and doors in - that's why they used to be placed at certain even intervals - maybe 2 or 3 "blocks" on each side in succession, then a window, or a door. Not a block and then like 3/8ths of one..
I mean why do the "corners" look like they have mortar in between them? It makes it look like the stone is a tiny veneer on each side.. like someone rolled out a pattern on each side and slapped it on.. that and the cinder block "cornices" are STILL bothering me - they should have gone with actual stone cornices.. this just feels Disneyland - to coin a certain user's phrase on here, but badly done Disney. The red and black brick aren't TOO bad.. but this on all fronts feels like a bad attempt - it's still better, miles better than what we saw in the renders,.. but the front really looks like they just got lazy - esp the black stones on top of the red in the front. Even if they stucco'ed the cornices like they did with the william thomas building, I think would look better.
At least it's faux traditional vs the ultra modern on the other side of the street - between the right house and the Olympia Club, it deserved at LEAST that. I find this is awkward for many of us to swallow - because it's worlds better than Vranich, but it falls FAR short of core urban for the podium. We've kinda gotten used to extremes - really crappy or really beautiful. The fact this is RIGHT BESIDE a beautifully restored Core Urban building, the Olympia Club, does not help either, as you can immediately cross-compare - I dunno, maybe that's a better way to promote Core Urban..
I could understand the white in between to make each "block' look like a different building - but putting them on the corners somehow makes it feel like a building isn't even there, because they've also used it to give the illusion of separation between buildings. I feel this was an ambitious attempt, but many things feel short simply due to.. I dunno.. a lack of understanding of fundamentals?
Also you can STILL see the metal lintels sticking out on the seams of each "floor" - are they going to cap those? I struggle to think they won't rust and then just run down the building.. you can see them if you look close - and I know they are lintels as I saw them apply the stone on top of them.. and what's going on with the gap between this building and the Olympia Club? I am guessing they'll put some sorta vinyl panel or something to cover that up.. are we not allowed to but right up to an existing building anymore? I am a bit rusty on my building code requirements these days so maybe that IS something that is legit..
There's just no consistency, and there is no harmony.. even their weird decisions to block some windows in and have some be recessed balconies on the king William side especially which you can see in the aerial view - the mind tries to find symmetry and fails, and the asymmetry isn't even all that good. This podium will always be a mixture of "mm! and "ugh!" all mixed into one.. raise your hand if you think Core Urban should just do ALL the podiums on big builds like this - save them the trouble of trying to figure out what looks good - leave it to the professionals.
I am curious though - there are a bunch of stones on the side walk with green ty-wraps it looks like around them.. what are those being used for..?