Canadian City Proposals II

[river]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Sometimes SSP just makes me want to throw my phone against the wall. I purposely said canopy or was it my spelling error that threw you off to start talking about the glazing. Its a swath of ground floor glazing that UTers complain about constantly. More glass is welcoming. This is just boring and unsympathetic to the star architecture Crystal hence the in vain attempt at the canopy as a buffer. The ROM went and hired an architect at the very peak of stardom. You don't have to be a Liebeskind fan or a Crystal fan to say that this is getting ridiculous like another Batman origin movie.


I don't like stairs out in the elements. They should be avoided whenever possible. These do absolute nothing to accentuate the architecture unlike classical design with columns, plinths and steps.

Agreed, nothing speaks to each other. It's like the classical architecture, liebeskind, and harari are all pulling at separate corners in a tug of war.

[urbandreamer]

This is just lipstick on a pig .. and two steps, I mean decades, closer to total demolition and insertions of towers behind the "heritage" facades. And OMG, the demographics of the renderpeople are off the mark.

[Coldrsx]

Reference ID: Job No 500496662-002
Description: Construction of (a) new building(s), Demolition
Location: 10164 - 108 STREET NW
Plan B2 Blk 8 Lot 146
Applicant: J+S ARCHITECT
Status: Intake Review
Create Date: 2024-02-09T17:25:58Z
Neighbourhood: DOWNTOWN

[WhipperSnapper]

I don't know what is worse. The architecture. Or the ground floor balconies with a patch of grass separating them from the sidewalk. Definitely one that would better with less lipstick and the look of urban main floor townhome units

[dleung]

Originally Posted by Maldive

Royal Ontario Museum - OpenROM Project | Siamak Hariri


UT

150 million and they couldn't spend any effort on making the canopy complementary to the architecture? This is an opportunity to redo some of the failures of the existing design, starting with replacing the shoehorned standard entrance door with something more akin to a crack in the crystals, besides the much-needed weather protection. The canopy could literally be any arrangement of clear glass origami on spider fittings:

[WhipperSnapper]

That's better. Not sure about the direction of this new shard. I don't know why we have to alter the entrance so much and I fully acknowledge It's a hole in a shard. Enlarge the entrance opening so that it's a glassy shard like opening and forget about the weather shield and height lowering stairs

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by dleung

150 million and they couldn't spend any effort on making the canopy complementary to the architecture? This is an opportunity to redo some of the failures of the existing design, starting with replacing the shoehorned standard entrance door with something more akin to a crack in the crystals, besides the much-needed weather protection. The canopy could literally be any arrangement of clear glass origami on spider fittings:

Interesting but I think it's already got a bit of a shard shape. I'm guessing the purpose for the exterior changes is to create a grander entrance then what is currently there. The way it is now the doors don't give any sense of grandeur as you approach the structure. I think my favorite thing about the new entrance will be the exposed structural beams that will now be visible inside and out.

source: ut

[urbandreamer]

I wish they'd tear down that tacky Libeskind addition. I met the son of the man who approved this design and he said he hated it, and his dad realized it was a mistake as soon as he saw the construction specs.

Replace it with an Allison Brooks Architects design: she's Canadian, has excellent taste complimenting new with old, and generally would design something timeless.

I think they want the steps to keep the homeless away and the overhang is because the snow and rain lands on patrons.

[J.OT13]

I absolutely hate that thing as well. It completely overtakes the heritage section and looks horrible all around. The entrance as it exists looks like a tertiary entrance or emergency exit.

[905er]

You know I never really paid much attention to it, but now that you mention it, that entrance does look incredibly underwhelming ... Yeah, not a huge fan of the finishes on the ROM.. The general idea... I don't hate, but the execution of the design is not the best imo.

[MonkeyRonin]

The ROM Crystal is very much of its time. That genre of extravagant, starchitect-designed deconstructivist institution was having a bit of a moment in the 2000s. It was certainly an ambitious project (and much as we might try to deny it now I know most of us here were pretty excited about it back in the day), but it was badly executed and hasn't aged well.

[hipster duck]

I used to think that the interior of Libeskind's ROM crystal suffered from utilitarian materials and bad layout because it was in Canada/Toronto and we value engineer everything until I visited the Jewish museum in Berlin, and saw that they used the same bargain basement fire doors and vinyl flooring.

[Innsertnamehere]

I've never understood the massive criticism of the Crystal - I've always liked it.

I agree that the entrance needs work however and this seems to go a long way on that front.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Edmonton?

[Nouvellecosse]

That wouldn't be so bad if they just cleaned up the design a little and eliminated a few unnecessary details. 1) Get rid of the beam supporting the corner balconies and just have them cantilevered. 2) Don't have so many different colours. Tan, dark grey, and white? And maybe beige? Just make the inset parts grey and the accent colour white. They seems to do this stuff to visually "break up" the building so it seems more like a fine grain streetscape of multiple buildings, but that doesn't work. No one looks at that and sees something akin to a fine grained streetscape. It still looks like a single big building, just one with a messy, non-cohesive aesthetic. A large building is ok if it looks good and offers an interesting pedestrian experience. Some cool window displays, sculptures, maybe a couple wall murals, etc.

[Coldrsx]

Unsuccessful Toronto City Hall proposal c. 1958.

https://www.jkenglish-architecture-p...6s3yov91r4i4lv

[J.OT13]

Long walk from the Council pavilion to the... other Council pavilion?

Tower has an interesting shape,but not a huge stand out. Fairly generic. Doesn't scream City Hall.

Glad they chose the design we have now.

[Metro-One]

Decent proposal for Kelowna.

Looks to be around 130 metres and 140 metres in height.

Originally Posted by JayMi

40 storey tower proposed downtown Kelowna adjacent to UBCO.

https://www.kelowna.ca/homes-buildin...ents/dp24-0027



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[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I've never understood the massive criticism of the Crystal - I've always liked it.

I agree that the entrance needs work however and this seems to go a long way on that front.

It was kind of a cool concept, but the detailing is sloppy (eg. the aforementioned entrance and doors that feel like afterthoughts, weird window treatments, seams that don't align, etc); the finishes are low quality and/or badly implemented (like the mismatched titanium cladding on the exterior); and its basic form is inefficient and ill-suited to use a gallery - it's the antithesis of the notion that form should follow function.

Taste is of course subjective and there are good reasons to like it, but objectively, it's a poorly executed building that performs badly at its intended purpose.

[MonkeyRonin]

Speaking of the ROM - here's a new proposal for UofT's Rotman Commerce Building a stone's throw away at 90 Devonshire:


https://urbantoronto.ca/forum/thread.../#post-2052353