Collingwoodbuildinglover
Senior Member
I actually really really like that
- Thread starter golodhendil
- Start date
nightstreak
Active Member
Yeah, it's kind of subtle for Frank Gehry but maybe he's finally figured out at the age of 96 how to be expressive and impactful without being loud.
A funny realization just dawned on me. This is the exact opposite to how I described his earlier work:
From a distance, Forma doesn't really look like a Gehry. It's when you get close that you see the wavy cladding panels and at the base, those wavy Gehryesque awnings are virtually invisible from afar, only experienced when up close. I'm relieved to see that this isn't a repeat of 8 Spruce St.
Rimawi
New Member
Love the design of the base. But still wish they retained the brick buildings that stood where these are going up. At at least in part. If they removed the paint and restored the original brick it would’ve brought so much charm to the area
Doppleganger
Active Member
This is certainly understated for Gehry, but in this case, that is a good thing. The towers are wonderfully sculptural, and this restrained(for Gehry)street-level treatment allows them to shine. IMO, the worst thing we could end up with at street-level would be something akin to his treatment of the AGO's Dundas St. facade, his first Toronto commission, which I've always found monotonous and forced(granted, the pre-existing brutalist structure somewhat constrained him, but that's still no excuse).
Doppleganger
Active Member
In just about any other instance, I'd argue for keeping the old structures, but these towers will be a game-changer for Toronto. For the 96-year-old Gehry, they may very well be his last Toronto project. In much the same way that the CN Tower did fifty years ago, these towers could help define Toronto's skyline for generations to come and, in doing so, will (hopefully) raise the standard for subsequent highrises. As such, I believe they deserve a blank canvas.
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GenerationLee
Senior Member
Agreed in full. It's something that still bothers me about this project. Duncan street is one of the rare examples of mostly well kept, formerly industrial/warehouse stock left in the ED, and while a token facadism may have been awkward for this project, I think it would've been better to respect the site's history.
I'm not enthusiastic over two more corners of King being turned over to shiny soulless boxes for podiums.
Civdis
Active Member
Phew! I was getting worried about the street level design based on some of the posts above. I like this, understated but fits the building. Bring on the taller tower 2 (I realize in this market we may be waiting a long time).
UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
Yeah...that doesn't appear to have those subtle curves at ground level that was indicated in the model. Likely adding to the cries that this is too generic, lack of being engaging and even fairly conservative for who is behind this design wise.
nightstreak
Active Member
I'm with @Doppleganger on this. These towers deserve a blank canvas. King Street needs more open lobbies as you approach University and the financial core. The brick building would've been too opaque — literal brick walls. You may be romanticizing the brick building with rose coloured glasses. This was not particularly worth keeping and came with accessibility challenges that would've resulted in a completely different brick building had they had to bring it down to ground level.
The AGO is a cautionary tale supporting the above argument. Gehry didn't have a blank canvas there and had to compromise. Nonetheless, I think you're discounting Galleria Italia which is a wonderful space, both inside and outside. The misfortune is that it seems to have been created in Gehry's LA studio rather than living in the space. Dundas is a bit too narrow to appreciate it from across the street. It probably worked well in isolation viewed on a 3D model from the sky. The solution is that the block of old townhouses would make a beautiful park, a Grange Park North if the city had the ambition to bring more park space to a part of the city that desperately needs it.
I would still like a "real Gehry" in Toronto, a Fondation Louis Vuitton in the Portlands perhaps, but reality sets in: Mr. Gehry is sadly out of time.
The last best chance was if the AGO had gone back to Gehry to build an offsite AGO for the new modern art gallery instead of their upcoming extension. I still can't believe they went to Diamond & Schmitt for that.
Cyrobyte
New Member
Monday:
ImmenselyMental
Active Member
I also noticed you updated this project's title on its Wikipedia page and uploaded your above photo to that page today.
Anyways, here are a couple of photos I took of Forma earlier this evening:
The chief Design Architect for the latest AGO extension is New York-based Selldorf Architects, with Diamond Schmidt mostly acting as Architect of Record, so if you're not liking the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery Extension, then it's Selldorf's design you should be unhappy with.
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UtakataNoAnnex
Senior Member
^Edit: Er...thanks for taking care of that then. /bows
ProjectEnd
Superstar
You'd like a building designed specifically for Paris, sited in one of their most important public spaces, designed with close input from all levels of government and only made possible at unknown expense (it didn't cost $135M) by a multinational luxury-goods Moloch, to get shoehorned behind some shitty condos beneath a flightpath to a regional airport?
evandyk
Senior Member
For the last decade or more, my phone wallpaper has been a closeup I took of the skin of the Guggenheim Bilbao.