Vertikal (471-481 King St E) | 23 & 19 fl | U/C

[jamincan]

I guess everyone is different but not sure how you can care less about the design towers? Do you not live in the area or do you not travel to the downtown often? These towers will be a fairly visible part of our skyline.  Maybe I am the only one that cares about the look of a building? 

I will admit that the retail level is actually looks like it will be a functional use of space along what I assume is king street. 

This development is huge! It is a whole city block and the podium will dominate what the area is going to look like for a long time. The best they could come up with is brown and orange accent colours on what i assume will be brick/ stone precast veneer? Not sure what the random use of glass is at the bottom left? is it actually part of the structure or is it just artistic accent fastened to the veneer? a random fourth floor that is set back just enough to match up with the towers but is a different design then the podium and the towers.

My point is I know these are cheap rental towers, but you can do cheap with a coherent design. 

These developments are allowed to have good street presence and a decent design it doesn't take much.  

I can understand and appreciate a building or structure in multiple different ways. Aesthetically I don't find this building particularly remarkable. I don't find it objectionable, but I don't find it beautiful either. My tastes are also different from the next person and change over time. I don't really think it should be the primary basis for critiquing a building, especially in the context of building approvals etc.

My understanding of whether a building is 'good' or 'bad' is rooted more in its functionality. A building is a long-term alteration of the landscape and we should expect to live with it for over 100 years. Aesthetics will change many times in that period. Good quality materials matter to me then. If it looks like crap in 10 years, I don't care if the original aesthetics of the building were appealing. More importantly, how I interact with the building on the street has a much larger overall impact on our built space. I love the aesthetics of Le Corbusier, but his ideas are just not functional.

So for this building, I like its street presence. It excels there were a lot of buildings are deficient. I think the comments about poor material choices are definitely concerning. But the aesthetics is not really any more consequential to me than differing beer preference is.