Duke Tower Kitchener | 39 fl | completed

[LesPio]

UW's School of Pharmacy: I will always be the ugliest building in Downtown Kitchener.
DTK Condos: Hold my beer!

[nms]

I guess this building will be around for longer than any of us. What's the track record for condo towers long term? I can imagine that they can be a pain to maintain once the various major components reach the end of their lives. Condo towers also limit what can be done with the land long-term. At least with rental buildings there is a chance that a landlord can do a full refit or change unit sizes, or even knock the building down and start over.

[jamincan]

I think it's okay to have discussion about aesthetics, but some of these threads seem to turn into a game of how many different ways someone can call something ugly.

I also think the criticism over aesthetics is almost always overwrought. 99% of the time, I think the buildings that you would think was built by Medusa herself by the reactions of some on here are only plain and unremarkable, and that's okay.

[ac3r]

UW's School of Pharmacy: I will always be the ugliest building in Downtown Kitchener.

Hey now, don't knock on the School of Pharmacy haha. It's one of my favourites. It was done by the prestigious Hariri Pontarini Architects by Siamak Hariri himself. The façade they chose to use which illustrates various common medical plants used in the development of pharmaceuticals was a unique and fitting thing to do considering what the building is for.

[Rainrider22]

UW's School of Pharmacy: I will always be the ugliest building in Downtown Kitchener.
DTK Condos: Hold my beer!

I think the School of Pharmacy is brilliant... So there you go...

[Rainrider22]

I think it's okay to have discussion about aesthetics, but some of these threads seem to turn into a game of how many different ways someone can call something ugly.

I also think the criticism over aesthetics is almost always overwrought. 99% of the time, I think the buildings that you would think was built by Medusa herself by the reactions of some on here are only plain and unremarkable, and that's okay.

I am in agreement with you.  I read the negative comments here why some of these building are considered ugly by some, but I don't see it the same way.  Yes some are not the best, but they are still better than the square poured concrete buildings of the 80s and 90s.   But again, it is just my opinion.  I am not school in architecture, I am not very artistic, but I know what I like and what is esthetically pleasing to me.   Chicago we are not, but we are finally getting some interesting buildings...

[Bjays93]

I think everyone would agree they're better than what was built 20-30 years ago. I think the biggest factor in judging these developments is that we've seen what quality buildings look like in 2020. 

Now I dont think anyone in kw is expecting the one to get built here, but I do think it's fair to demand quality buildings when we know they can be made. It's not just about being better imo, any city's citizens should demand the best, of course you won't always get it, but if you continually dismiss mediocrity as ok eventually its mediocrity all around you. 

Of course in the case of condos interiors should be considered just as important as exteriors, since people are going to live there, but especially when this building is going to be so prominent for so long I think it's fair to want something decent looking. 

It's totally valid for someone to like this building but it is still objectively bad. Its incoherent with many different colours some that are only a shade or two different. It has excessive mullions and a smattering of coloured class that, even if it looks ok now, wont in the future. Coloured glass almost always inevitably looks bad. 

That's not to mention the podium which is actually my biggest issue here. The podium does the opposite of good things for the street level. I don't even know if theres ground floor retail but it sure as hell does not look inviting I can tell you that. If the building was ugly but there was at least a decent podium and public realm (a la 100 vic) then its excusable because it still looks good on the street and people are inclined to go there. 

This has none of that. Sorry for the long winded comment lol

[ijmorlan]

UW's School of Pharmacy: I will always be the ugliest building in Downtown Kitchener.
DTK Condos: Hold my beer!

I think the School of Pharmacy is brilliant... So there you go...

Same here. When I first saw the plant windows I was just amazed by how cool it looks.

With the changes to King St. for LRT my only wish is the building’s ground floor engaged with the sidewalk on King St. Imagine a row of storefronts on the King St. sidewalk (portico goes without saying) part of the building, with the rest above, possibly stepped back from the storefronts.

Of course if they had built it like that it would probably be engaging with the wrong (mainline track level) height of sidewalk.

[ijmorlan]

I guess this building will be around for longer than any of us.  What's the track record for condo towers long term? I can imagine that they can be a pain to maintain once the various major components reach the end of their lives. Condo towers also limit what can be done with the land long-term. At least with rental buildings there is a chance that a landlord can do a full refit or change unit sizes, or even knock the building down and start over.

I believe owners of 80% of the units can agree to terminate or sell the entire condominium.

Note that there is an interesting provision where if the other owners don’t like the sale price, they can demand an appraisal; and any shortfall must be made up by those who voted for the sale.

All of which is to say that a tall condo tower is likely to be there a very long time, but at the point where serious change is obviously needed it takes a significant fraction of objectors to prevent the change; one or two obstinate holdouts can’t do it (unless the building is less than 5 or 10 units).

[jamincan]

I think everyone would agree they're better than what was built 20-30 years ago. I think the biggest factor in judging these developments is that we've seen what quality buildings look like in 2020. 

Now I dont think anyone in kw is expecting the one to get built here, but I do think it's fair to demand quality buildings when we know they can be made. It's not just about being better imo, any city's citizens should demand the best, of course you won't always get it, but if you continually dismiss mediocrity as ok eventually its mediocrity all around you. 

Of course in the case of condos interiors should be considered just as important as exteriors, since people are going to live there, but especially when this building is going to be so prominent for so long I think it's fair to want something decent looking. 

It's totally valid for someone to like this building but it is still objectively bad. Its incoherent with many different colours some that are only a shade or two different. It has excessive mullions and a smattering of coloured class that, even if it looks ok now, wont in the future. Coloured glass almost always inevitably looks bad. 

That's not to mention the podium which is actually my biggest issue here. The podium does the opposite of good things for the street level. I don't even know if theres ground floor retail but it sure as hell does not look inviting I can tell you that. If the building was ugly but there was at least a decent podium and public realm (a la 100 vic) then its excusable because it still looks good on the street and people are inclined to go there. 

This has none of that. Sorry for the long winded comment lol

I think it's okay to discuss and opine on aesthetics, and your post here is definitely an example of positive contributions, even if it's critical. It just gets annoying after awhile to have this thread over-run with low-efforts jabs at the aesthetics of this building. Calling a building ugly for the umpteenth time isn't really contributing anything new to the discussion.

[ac3r]

There's nothing to really left to discuss. It looks bad and we're collectively disappointed we'll have to stare at it for the next few decades. Since there isn't much else to discuss about it anymore, people post the occasional photo, we look at it, sigh and grumble about it for a bit. I suppose we could just let the thread slow down if that's preferable?

[tomh009]

I guess this building will be around for longer than any of us.  What's the track record for condo towers long term? I can imagine that they can be a pain to maintain once the various major components reach the end of their lives. Condo towers also limit what can be done with the land long-term. At least with rental buildings there is a chance that a landlord can do a full refit or change unit sizes, or even knock the building down and start over.

While changing unit sizes in condo building is pretty much a non-starter, major maintenance is not. The Condo Act requires condo corporations to plan for and fund future maintenance for 30 years out, including all major components of the building, whether interior, exterior or mechanical. The onus is on the condo board to drive this and ensure that maintenance is done in a timely fashion, and the building remains safe, up to date and attractive.

The reserve funding is relatively new in Ontario, and was intended to address insufficient condo corp reserves for major maintenance. It will certainly help with that, but it's too new to draw detailed conclusions about it.

[tomh009]

UW's School of Pharmacy: I will always be the ugliest building in Downtown Kitchener.

Hey now, don't knock on the School of Pharmacy haha. It's one of my favourites. It was done by the prestigious Hariri Pontarini Architects by Siamak Hariri himself. The façade they chose to use which illustrates various common medical plants used in the development of pharmaceuticals was a unique and fitting thing to do considering what the building is for.

I quite like it as well.

[jeffster]

I don't know guys -- but perhaps reserve judgement until completion?

[Chris]

I don't know guys -- but perhaps reserve judgement until completion?

Listen Jeff, my digital picthforks are just sitting around collecting bytedust so I gotta use 'em for something...