[Full Metal Junkie]

I don't really mean this as an excuse, because there are ways around it, but there are a couple things going on here with these types of mass timber projects in particular that are driving some of these design decisions:

1) Bearing capacity for wall systems: Mass timber systems (at least the types typically produced by GTHA mass timber suppliers) have a hard time holding precast panels or hand-laid brick without additional reinforcement, which typically sends the developer into a lighter material (aluminum paneling, cementitious tile of some sort, GFRC, EIFS, etc.); and
2) Window-to-wall ratio and envelope thermal performance: CMHC financing (which is supporting the vast majority of these projects) and TGS standards are forcing higher envelope performance on developers, and the most cost effective way of achieving those standards is often to shrink the size of the windows, which in turn relates to #3 below:
3) Unit planning: Most of these buildings are strictly rectilinear and laid on a pretty strict grid, which allows you to unit plan pretty rationally (which is generally good, but also means that it makes it quite easy to do smaller window on the bedroom part of the facade, and bigger windows on the living space part of the facade, which has a tendency to set the small-big-small-big pattern we're seeing a lot of).

That is all understandable and fine. And even with all those constraints you can still work window widths into some sort of a regular pattern on the facade. Just like the old apartment buildings did it: have mirrored layouts next to each other so that you have bedroom-living-living-bedroom pattern along the facade, resulting in an esthetically pleasing narrow-wide-wide-narrow stripe of windows going up the entire facade.

My biggest gripe with these newfangled designs is that they are trying to create a dazzle camo pattern on an otherwise regular rectilinear facade. And the results are usually less dazzling and more jarring. Just like with Halsa. There are no up-close pictures of it in finished state, so I will try to highlight what I mean on this picture by @YongeBloor :

Even though the windows are actually perfectly aligned in stacks, they are creating an illusion of shifted window sills every 2 floors with cladding colors. Its subtle on this picture but a lot more jarring in person.

As far as jarring goes, at least it's not as bad as what they did over at Verge Condos:

original photo by @Lachlan Holmes

Anyway, I do like myself these geothermal + mass timber projects, but I don't like what they are doing with the cladding. I'm fine with it being lightweight aluminum and having a lower glazing-to-surface ratio. But do they have to be this fecal shade of brown with black windowsills? Our city is already lifeless and drab with all of the shades of cold gray. These dark browns and blacks are just making it worse.

 

[dplainview]

I don't really mean this as an excuse, because there are ways around it, but there are a couple things going on here with these types of mass timber projects in particular that are driving some of these design decisions:

1) Bearing capacity for wall systems: Mass timber systems (at least the types typically produced by GTHA mass timber suppliers) have a hard time holding precast panels or hand-laid brick without additional reinforcement, which typically sends the developer into a lighter material (aluminum paneling, cementitious tile of some sort, GFRC, EIFS, etc.); and
2) Window-to-wall ratio and envelope thermal performance: CMHC financing (which is supporting the vast majority of these projects) and TGS standards are forcing higher envelope performance on developers, and the most cost effective way of achieving those standards is often to shrink the size of the windows, which in turn relates to #3 below:
3) Unit planning: Most of these buildings are strictly rectilinear and laid on a pretty strict grid, which allows you to unit plan pretty rationally (which is generally good, but also means that it makes it quite easy to do smaller window on the bedroom part of the facade, and bigger windows on the living space part of the facade, which has a tendency to set the small-big-small-big pattern we're seeing a lot of).

So don't build mass timber. It doesn't solve any important problem and creates a bunch of new ones, including cost.

 

[NY99]

That is all understandable and fine. And even with all those constraints you can still work window widths into some sort of a regular pattern on the facade. Just like the old apartment buildings did it: have mirrored layouts next to each other so that you have bedroom-living-living-bedroom pattern along the facade, resulting in an esthetically pleasing narrow-wide-wide-narrow stripe of windows going up the entire facade.

My biggest gripe with these newfangled designs is that they are trying to create a dazzle camo pattern on an otherwise regular rectilinear facade. And the results are usually less dazzling and more jarring. Just like with Halsa. There are no up-close pictures of it in finished state, so I will try to highlight what I mean on this picture by @YongeBloor :

View attachment 736642

Even though the windows are actually perfectly aligned in stacks, they are creating an illusion of shifted window sills every 2 floors with cladding colors. Its subtle on this picture but a lot more jarring in person.

As far as jarring goes, at least it's not as bad as what they did over at Verge Condos:

View attachment 736647
original photo by @Lachlan Holmes

Anyway, I do like myself these geothermal + mass timber projects, but I don't like what they are doing with the cladding. I'm fine with it being lightweight aluminum and having a lower glazing-to-surface ratio. But do they have to be this fecal shade of brown with black windowsills? Our city is already lifeless and drab with all of the shades of cold gray. These dark browns and blacks are just making it worse.

1000%. I just want new builds to respect really basic rules of good building design

Like, we know that warm colours (red, beige, tan, cream) are nicer than cold colours (white, black, grey, blue, dark brown). And that 3-dimensional "texture" (real or implied) is nicer than a flat featureless facade. And that symmetry is is nicer than asymmetry.

"Nicer" being meant in the most objective way possible: these things create a more pleasant brain chemistry response.

Now ask yourself: what has been the trend in Toronto architecture over the last 15 years? And what does the building we're discussing hew closer to?