Canadian City Proposals II

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by zoomer

Looks like the developers desire for density, green space and views on that plot of land has produced an awkward looking building. Perhaps a slimmer octagonal tower with a better podium (cascading over 3 to 5 floors) would have worked better on this site?

Yeah, the Ottawa gang seems very excited, but I'm less so. The podium needs to be slimmed down to give the heritage home more space to breath, along with set-backs on the tower in exchange for more height.

An earlier proposal had a shorter tower behind the heritage home. I preferred the materiality and overall built form. It sort of cradled the house and made it a central part of the development, though it would have been shaded much of the day.

Originally Posted by Tone

For Rimouski, Le Phare and the Convention Center expansion are the new projects I'm most interested in.

Happy New Year!

Le Phare is quite nice, but the convention centre not so much. Is it a suburban exhibition hall or is it supposed to be a downtown convention centre? The former is forgivable, but not the latter. Hidding the parking, greenspace and a hotel would make it better.

[TorontoDrew]

I was curious what it would look like at night, as long as they use soft lighting in those hallways, I think it will look decent.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

OtawaProposal_001 by Andrew Moore, on Flickr

[zoomer]

haha, damn that's cool even if you AI'd it. Wouldn't it be nice if architect renderings had more humour in them and or more easter eggs. Set them at Halloween, Diwali or Easter speaking of eggs, perhaps some shady looking adults on kids bmx bikes (ok, that might not help sell the neighbourhood and building).

As for the original proposal I would have preferred if they cut it down the middle significantly to make two distinct building on a shared podium with 17 and 13 storey heights. Not sure if it would feasible at that point with such skinny towers.

[TorontoDrew]

Ha ha ya I never thought about it like that. I'm just trying to figure out integration of A.I with my VFX background. But A.I will be the tool of almost any computer job in the very near future.

[zoomer]

/\ true - instead of tweaking a bunch of sliders, meticulously using a mouse or a lasso tool, cloning, applying filters, etc. etc. it will be easier to use AI prompts and I'm just thinking of photography. Pros and cons for sure but making the creation of communication/visual products easier for those who don't have the time or training invested to do so is ultimately more 'democratic' if we put aside the AI slop for now. That said I don't do much editing of my photos - but then again they are just the digital representation of what my Sony Corporation camera has captured.

[TorontoDrew]

I've been using it myself to clean up images and improve lighting. It's like Photoshop on steroids.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

I was curious what it would look like at night, as long as they use soft lighting in those hallways, I think it will look decent.

They had provided some night and winter shots: https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...5&postcount=26

But yeah, what you did there looks cool as hell.

[MonkeyRonin]

210–222 College Avenue East in Guelph, ON:


https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2026/01...t-living.59752

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

This one should be in the 'Ugly' thread.

[koops65]

I respect your opinion, but I totally disagree, and think that looks excellent.

[Coldrsx]

Very Scandinavian awesome. With the right lighting, this could be a star.

Love it.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by zoomer

As for Rimouski - Le Phare will have a nice modern impact; where is the convention centre located?

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Le Phare is quite nice, but the convention centre not so much. Is it a suburban exhibition hall or is it supposed to be a downtown convention centre? The former is forgivable, but not the latter. Hidding the parking, greenspace and a hotel would make it better.

Yes I could've mentioned the Convention Center is located right next to Le Phare, in the downtown east side.

Here the western tip of the Convention Center portion (before expansion) appears on the background right


Here the view is basically if we were standing above the north east corner of Le Phare


The project also includes a new U/C wing on the hôtel portion (more like a cube) seen here behind the U/C Quartier Maritime phase I west building:

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

Originally Posted by koops65

I respect your opinion, but I totally disagree, and think that looks excellent.

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

Originally Posted by Tone

Yes I could've mentioned the Convention Center is located right next to Le Phare, in the downtown east side.

Here the western tip of the Convention Center portion (before expansion) appears on the background right


Here the view is basically if we were standing above the north east corner of Le Phare


The project also includes a new U/C wing on the hôtel portion (more like a cube) seen here behind the U/C Quartier Maritime phase I west building:

This building is a very nice addition to Rimouski. I'm wondering, does Rimouski have a pier? I'm thinking in terms of White Rock, BC which would be a lot less interesting if it didn't have a pier. I imagine that ice in the river might be a challenge, but likely there's a design or engineering solution to ice.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by koops65

I respect your opinion, but I totally disagree, and think that looks excellent.

Chances are extremely high it won't look anything like the rendering if it manages to be built. That works in favour of the very glassy lobby which I find jarring to the rest of the building design. Developer using two storey tall panes of structural glass minimizing mullion caps and back painted spandrel glass panels ain't happening. The floor plates also appear huge unless the rendering is hiding an L shape. Works for 1000 plus average unit sizes but, that's a unicorn in today's Ontario. FYI, I considered the cutouts in the floor plates.

First thought was a similar Calgary project that end up nothing like the rendering so I'm a little biased

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by koops65

I respect your opinion, but I totally disagree, and think that looks excellent.

I agree with you here. This proposal looks great to me.

[Maldive]

TOronto


479R-487 Duplex Avenue | 135.6m | 40s | Zucker | Studio JCI l pre-construction

Nice massing from a very good firm.


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135 St Clair West | 170.3m | 49s | Fitzrovia | Hariri Pontarini l pre-construction


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58 Atlantic | 172.96m | 51s | BGO | BDP Quadrangle l pre-construction


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[GeneralLea]

Wow, that Duplex project is huge. Like, huge compared to its immediate surroundings, but, it'll blend in soon.
I'm stil used to that area being somewhat lowrise in nature. It's good to see intensification, but here's hoping the city starts taking seriously the instrastructure improvements that will be necessary in this area very soon.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

210–222 College Avenue East in Guelph, ON:


https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2026/01...t-living.59752

Love this.

[WhipperSnapper]

Of course the west side of Liberty Village will eventually be built over with skyscrapers like everywhere else (well, at least virtually). WHY oh WHY oh WHY do Canadian cities allow developers to propose adding a 3 storey glass box on top of the old warehouse when they're proposing a massive amount of floor space in a huge tower.

Sure the overall appearance of Duplex has balance to it but, that doesn't take away from the girthy 40 storey tower height and a big boring block sized podium supporting it. 6 to 10 storeys with more articulation and complimentary but materials and designs at street level but, it's just a pretty people warehouse at 40 storeys sitting on a podium box without one inch of space to spare. Toronto's problem isn't competency from local or visiting architectural firms. It's everything else with real estate development.

Those brand new buildings down by the Distillery District are prime examples. Competent design and finishes but, the outcome so far is oppressive, cold, and, uninviting. There's some hope with the landscaping to soften it up a bit however, there's so much concrete that has already been poured in the open spaces between the ominous building forms.

The Canadian city that loves cast in place concrete landscapes the most is still up for debate. Toronto is definitely a front runner and British Columbian entries have no chance. My gut tells me it's Calgary's to lose.