Most Disappointing High Profile Buildings in Your City

[Metro-One]

In Canada the only two that really stick out for me are the library in Edmonton, which is perhaps the biggest architectural fail in Canada over the last decade, looks as if it is part of some temporary military establishment in the high arctic, and the former Trump Tower in Toronto.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

In Vancouver, it's definitely Harbour Centre. It's a ugly concrete bunker and then they decided to put a revolving mushroom on top.

I'm thinking it's good background for the movie industry though, especially when filming anything futuristic or dystopian. It's an OMFG WWTT building.

[dleung]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

My Montreal candidate would be the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). It costed more than 1.3 billion and it's just atrocious. The fact that it is so huge makes it even worst. It's Université de Montréal equivalent (the CHUM) is also a disappointment on many levels, but it has some nice design touches, especially the gorgeous auditorium.

The fact that the CHUM looks more like an office tower than a factory already puts it at the very top of major new hospitals in Canada. I happen to be quite satisfied with the design given the great density required of the site. The new St Pauls Hospital in Vancouver is going to be a clusterf**k more in line with the MUHC

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

In Canada the only two that really stick out for me are the library in Edmonton, which is perhaps the biggest architectural fail in Canada over the last decade, looks as if it is part of some temporary military establishment in the high arctic, and the former Trump Tower in Toronto.

I agree!

[TorontoDrew]

I'd agree with the former Trump now St Regis, except it's not that high profile and not visible from most views.

[biguc]

That's kind of why it's disappointing though. Toronto had been in a long drought when that proposal came out, and the renders made the building look like it would be as tall as Scotia and First Canadian. I mean, it's a dodged bullet in the bigger picture. But Trump had negligible impact on the skyline.

Vancouver's Trump also sucks, like others have said. Its twist isn't even visible; I don't know if it's because the building is drowned in similar looking buildings or its glass colour doesn't give it up.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

A guy stealing $22.5 million is just the icing on the cake. These hospital P3 deals are absolutely terrible for the public partner over the longer term.

Most P3 deals end up to be a bad deal for the public in the long run, and a cash cow for whatever Investment Firm ends up managing it. Been told this explicitly from someone my age who does this for a living, and owns a multi million $ house in the Beach as a result (bought recently too).

I agree that the MUHC looks better than a lot of the new Ontario megahospitals, but it's also in a much more central and prominent location.

[niwell]

Trump Tower / St Regis in Toronto really suffers in the details - it just seems like while many aspects use high quality / expensive materials others are just completely half-assed. Luckily it's barely noticeable from a distance within the bank tower cluster of the financial district.

[TorontoDrew]

I'm sure it's a really nice hotel to stay at though. As for Trump Vancouver, I love that building but yes like many buildings in Vancouver it gets lost in a sea of similar looking structures due to the cladding.

[J.OT13]

The Simpson Tower reclad is terrible. It's like they ran out of materials and fished with a different design. Reminds me of another Ottawa candidate, the Andaz Hotel. It was supposed to be a re-clad with a few additional floors to a mid-century office tower, but they ended up demolishing and starting over because converting the office building would have meant a taller towers (due to higher floor plates).

Old:

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

Aug 26th

Proposed:


https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-byward-market

What was built:

Originally Posted by rocketphish

I still don't like it.



Photo by me.
December 3, 2016

Mix is quite bad. Looks like a reclad of a 50s hotel trying to replicate what was there previously.

Assomption Vie is a pretty generic office block. Not much complaint there honestly.

MUHC looks like a suburban Children's Hospital. A sprawling anti-pedestrian complex. Though in the Montreal context and its location, it's not very prominent.

Halifax Tower hotel is an egregious case of bait-and-switch but again, the location saves it from scrutiny.

Shangri-La and the former T**** tower in Vancouver are generic enough that they don't stand out too much.

The Vuze Halifax, I think I kind of like it? Maybe better than its former life as Fenwick.

That said, Edmonton's Milner Library is the hands down winner for its absolutely dismal design and prominent location IMO, followed by Icon in Ottawa, which had a promising design that was value engineered to death, making its status as tallest and ironic name quite embarrassing.

[esquire]

The Ottawa Andaz is not bad IMO and I wouldn't complain if it had been built from the ground up that way. But man, it's too bad that they had to butcher such a great mid-century modern design.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by esquire

The Ottawa Andaz is not bad IMO and I wouldn't complain if it had been built from the ground up that way. But man, it's too bad that they had to butcher such a great mid-century modern design.

I wouldn't care too much if it was lost in Centretown, but as the tallest building in the ByWard Market, it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.

I do wish they would have maintained the original structure (on a heritage and environmental stand-point), and maybe kept some of its features.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The Simpson Tower reclad is terrible. It's like they ran out of materials and fished with a different design. Reminds me of another Ottawa candidate, the Andaz Hotel. It was supposed to be a re-clad with a few additional floors to a mid-century office tower, but they ended up demolishing and starting over because converting the office building would have meant a taller towers (due to higher floor plates).

Awww that sucks! Somehow I haven't noticed during recent trips to Ottawa, but that was always a favourite mid-century building of mine when I lived in the city.

They better not butcher City Centre at some point in the future! Though the parking lot situation could use some work.

[trueviking]

Winnipeg: Near misses I would say.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I mean, it's ok, but it could have been so much more. I wish the glass wasn't opaque...and the glass on the tower was clear not blue.



Manitoba Hydro Place.

It was supposed to be 6 floors taller, which would have changed it's bar fridge proportions. Only in Winnipeg would you build a 21 storey, 700,000 square foot office tower.
With normal sized floorplates it could have been twice as tall.
Its a nice building, but with the world class architects that were initially interviewed, the budget and mandate, it could have been a generational icon for the city.
It is a nice building but it isn't that.

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Winnipeg: Near misses I would say.
Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I mean, it's ok, but it could have been so much more. I wish the glass wasn't opaque...and the glass on the tower was clear not blue.

Manitoba Hydro Place.

It was supposed to be 6 floors taller, which would have changed it's bar fridge proportions. Only in Winnipeg would you build a 21 storey, 700,000 square foot office tower.
With normal sized floorplates it could have been twice as tall.
Its a nice building, but with the world class architects that were initially interviewed, the budget and mandate, it could have been a generational icon for the city. It is a nice building but it isn't that.

I'd take both of those in a heartbeat for Moncton.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by niwell

Most P3 deals end up to be a bad deal for the public in the long run, and a cash cow for whatever Investment Firm ends up managing it. Been told this explicitly from someone my age who does this for a living, and owns a multi million $ house in the Beach as a result (bought recently too).

I agree that the MUHC looks better than a lot of the new Ontario megahospitals, but it's also in a much more central and prominent location.

Indeed. It only make sense. The agreements to development the Montreal superhospitals are in another league or so I've been told.

MUHC is next to a massive highway interchange southwest of Westmount. Is it really more prominent than Oakville, Vaughan, North York are to their surrounding residential neighbourhoods?

[MolsonExport]

Revoltingly fugly, and it has high prominence due to its location on a bluff nearby the forks of the Thames. I give you the Middlesex County Courthouse, London, Ontario.


to

It doesn't help that the sky is always grey in London in the Winter. Brutalism looks especially horrible in the winter under the perpetual cobalt grey skies.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Winnipeg: Near misses I would say.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I mean, it's ok, but it could have been so much more. I wish the glass wasn't opaque...and the glass on the tower was clear not blue.



Manitoba Hydro Place.

It was supposed to be 6 floors taller, which would have changed it's bar fridge proportions. Only in Winnipeg would you build a 21 storey, 700,000 square foot office tower.
With normal sized floorplates it could have been twice as tall.
Its a nice building, but with the world class architects that were initially interviewed, the budget and mandate, it could have been a generational icon for the city.
It is a nice building but it isn't that.

Museum of Human Rights is supposed to stand out as stararchitecture. The Hydro Building is meant as more of a Nigel Dancey type design; good quality finishes and high tech design that also functions in improving the building's carbon footprint. Museum of Human Rights is a failure and Manitoba Hydro is a success. Of course, the massing would have been improved with more storeys. 700,000 square feet in 21 storey or less is not unique. Fair to be disappointed over both. I'd gladly add Manitoba Hydro to Toronto's inventory.

[MolsonExport]

Speaking of mega hospitals, London's Victoria hospital is rather untidy, utilitarian and ugly (3Us) collection of buildings.

blackburnnews

If I hadn't been inside, I would assume it was a factory or rendering plant.

ctv

[esquire]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Museum of Human Rights is supposed to stand out as stararchitecture. The Hydro Building is meant as more of a Nigel Dancey type design; good quality finishes and high tech design that also functions in improving the building's carbon footprint. Museum of Human Rights is a failure and Manitoba Hydro is a success. Of course, the massing would have been improved with more storeys. 700,000 square feet in 21 storey or less is not unique. Fair to be disappointed over both. I'd gladly add Manitoba Hydro to Toronto's inventory.

The Human Rights Museum was built pretty faithfully to the renderings and initial concepts IMO. Even though there were several contenders, the one that was chosen was a similar calibre relative to the others so there wasn't really a feeling of disappointment when it was built. If anything, the Predock proposal that was ultimately built is much more vertical than some of the other design submissions.

As for Hydro though, no question it is a high quality building. But the feeling of disappointment there comes from comparing it to the other proposals, many of which called for substantially taller buildings. Given that Winnipeg doesn't get many larger office buildings, the feeling was that it was a missed opportunity for a landmark, skyline-defining tower. Which it could have been had it been built to 40 or more storeys on a smaller footprint.