07-12-2023, 08:20 AM
(07-11-2023, 06:09 PM)ac3r Wrote: I can't name any because they're almost all bad in Waterloo Region. I especially can't name any modern student building that looks good...I mean look at them. It's all the same generic precast rubbish and weird designs. Many are already visibly degrading. There is no thought that goes into the design at all for any of these projects and no will to ensure they either look good or are constructed well.
It's true for the rest of the region too. Really, none of these new condo or apartment buildings look that nice. A few have good designs like the upcoming Station Park towers, the skyscrapers going up around Park Street and the one where the bike shop is but most everything else is just awful or really generic. Look at Duke Tower for example...that was the first true skyscraper and it is absolute shit.
There are a lot of old buildings in the region that are really well done for sure, though we can kind of group those in a different category due to their age. But to me there are almost no new buildings I can honestly say look good. I like 345 King West, Idea Exchange Post Office, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, UW Cambridge Architecture Campus, Idea Exchange Hespeler, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, John M. Harper Branch of WPL, Balsillie School of International Affairs and some others not mentioned. Some of these are even quite old, such as the Clay and Glass Gallery which was opened in 1993 but because it was designed by a real architectural firm - Patkau Architects - you can walk into it today and it looks like it could have been designed yesterday.
I know I'm a snob when it comes to architecture, design and art but...that's what I do I guess, so I can't really look at a building and genuinely give it any points for not being as bad as it could have been. Best I can say about some of the new ones is that they aren't offensive.
I mean, fair enough. I agree almost everything built here is utter shit and I do find it disappointing and frustrating.
Even the first phase at station park, while a lot better than most others, is still the epitome of mediocrity. I can’t really think of anything in this city that falls into the high rise category that I actually think is well done. There’s a fair amount of decent looking midrises including relatively new ones like Breithaupt Block or 345 King West.
That said, this building really doesn’t bother me all that much. It’s not great but if I had to point out one high rise I like, especially in Waterloo, this would be it.
I really do wish we would get some higher quality builds tho. At bare minimum I want some decent podiums and street level integration. In general though I’d just like to see bigger Toronto firms that are not TF and Kirkor working in the region. Yes there better then local firms, but they’re still bottom of the bell barrel (at least these days) when it comes to Toronto. Give me IBI at least.