417 King St W | 55 fl | Proposed

[cherrypark]

Render is on the application file now, though appears the documentation is having issues linking through on the portal.

Personally think the tower is fine, if not a bit boring as usual. Would really like to see what is planned in detail at ground level. The podium design is not much to look at and doesn't seem to have much imagination for how to integrate with the green at the corner or seem to really activate King at all which is a shame. Parking podiums remain a big barrier to making the street wall activated and that seems like a missed opportunity on King.

[Bjays93]

Render is on the application file now, though appears the documentation is having issues linking through on the portal.

Personally think the tower is fine, if not a bit boring as usual. Would really like to see what is planned in detail at ground level. The podium design is not much to look at and doesn't seem to have much imagination for how to integrate with the green at the corner or seem to really activate King at all which is a shame. Parking podiums remain a big barrier to making the street wall activated and that seems like a missed opportunity on King.

Looking on from the front here it looks ok, but boring. I am quite concerned about the potential spandrel fest that the wall on the right could be. 

Kitchener and Waterloo really need to start demanding better.

[Lebronj23]

** docs are up

https://app2.kitchener.ca/AppDocs/OpenDa...682573.pdf

[westwardloo]

Podium looks great in my opinion. The tower isn't a show stopper, but still probably one of the best in the Region. Hopefully this is approved and proceeds quicker then some of the other proposals in DTK.

[SF22]

Podium looks great in my opinion. The tower isn't a show stopper, but still probably one of the best in the Region. Hopefully this is approved and proceeds quicker then some of the other proposals in DTK.

Totally agree about the podium. Love that they've added those long curves instead of having everything be sharp and squared off.

[Lebronj23]

I think it’s great for Kitchener. Yes the balcony pattern has been done 1000 times but it’s the first of its kind here in the region. It’s not a mash of different colour spandrel (DTK) so definitely a step up from what we’re used to. I think materials will dictate how this looks, especially if the balcony glass is high quality and not a toothpaste colour it could really stand out. I wish it had a square floor plate since everything here seems to be a rectangle, oh well. This tower is going to look absolutely massive coming from the east and north at 180 metres tall (179.83)

[ac3r]

Now we just wait for the next developer + architecture team who wants to out-do VanMar and Vive. :'P 60 floors in 2024!

[cherrypark]

Now we just wait for the next developer + architecture team who wants to out-do VanMar and Vive. :'P 60 floors in 2024!

Hey, Tower E is still there to outdo themselves architecture wise...

[westwardloo]

Now we just wait for the next developer + architecture team who wants to out-do VanMar and Vive. :'P 60 floors in 2024!

Kitcheners skyline is really going to start taking shape in the next decade or so.

[CP42]

I find it interesting that VanMar switched from Kirkor to Turner Fleischer after towers 1 and 2 to do towers 3 and 4 at Station Park, but is using Kirkor for this project.

[ac3r]

I find it interesting that VanMar switched from Kirkor to Turner Fleischer after towers 1 and 2 to do towers 3 and 4 at Station Park, but is using Kirkor for this project.

Seems like they've both worked with VanMar on some projects together. Another upcoming project the three have been working on is 6 Regina North & 24 Erb West in Waterloo - much more modest in size, though...it's Waterloo, after all.

[Bjays93]

I find it interesting that VanMar switched from Kirkor to Turner Fleischer after towers 1 and 2 to do towers 3 and 4 at Station Park, but is using Kirkor for this project.

I’d take TF over Kirkor tbh. 

What I’d really love though is to see some of the better Toronto architecture firms come to the region. I’m not asking for world class architects like Foster & Partners or WilkinsonEyre but getting something from HP, or even A-a or IBI would be much appreciated.

[ac3r]

IBI is doing Victoria and Park which was approved by the OLT late March, thankfully! It's a gorgeous project that I was able to participate in to some degree and got to see the more detailed choices as well as see in depth things like material choices. But it was a shit show. Our brilliant politicians who sided with the NIMBYs and rejected that project ( which is what made the developer appeal to the OLT) ended up screwing everyone over - particularly our most vulnerable people - because Dov Capital not only got the project approved, but slashed the financial commitment of 2 million dollars which they were going to donate to the Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life as well as to affordable housing units in the city. By half. So council wasted tens of thousands of the developers dollars and our tax dollars on lawyers and proved to everyone they care more about a tiny handful of wealthy property owners downtown, rather than trying to find as much possible help to assist struggling individuals and families who do not own a home and have to try to rent in a world going through dire economic struggles. I'm of course speaking nonsense here but I like to imagine it was their way of saying 🖕 to the City of Kitchener council.

But anyway...I think it'll be a long time until we see a firm like Hariri Pontarini do anything here haha. Hiring talented architects is extremely costly, so until the local market attracts more big time developer groups, we're mostly stuck with more modest companies that only have so much financial resources to put into hiring good architectural designers. However even so, there are a lot of smaller firms out there who have great work and aren't as costly as some of the major architectural firms out there, so either way we'll start to see nicer buildings as we move forward.

Kirkor or Turner Fleischer? They're so similar it's hard to pick one over the other. Turner Fleischer will somehow do an okay building like Nobu in Toronto...but then they also do stuff like The Barrelyards, which look like any generic Drewlo building in Ontario. Or then Kirkor will do something very unique like 415 Yonge in Toronto but then do something like this junk in Hamilton.

[cherrypark]

Reminding me that Debbie Chapman once again took the position of "we shouldn't be afraid of the OLT" at the Lancaster proposal vote too. No doubt this one will bring the same fight, though TEK Tower set a pretty easy bar to clear in comparison.

[Bjays93]

IBI is doing Victoria and Park which was approved by the OLT late March, thankfully! It's a gorgeous project that I was able to participate in to some degree and got to see the more detailed choices as well as see in depth things like material choices. But it was a shit show. Our brilliant politicians who sided with the NIMBYs and rejected that project ( which is what made the developer appeal to the OLT) ended up screwing everyone over - particularly our most vulnerable people - because Dov Capital not only got the project approved, but slashed the financial commitment of 2 million dollars which they were going to donate to the Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life as well as to affordable housing units in the city. By half. So council wasted tens of thousands of the developers dollars and our tax dollars on lawyers and proved to everyone they care more about a tiny handful of wealthy property owners downtown, rather than trying to find as much possible help to assist struggling individuals and families who do not own a home and have to try to rent in a world going through dire economic struggles. I'm of course speaking nonsense here but I like to imagine it was their way of saying 🖕 to the City of Kitchener council.

But anyway...I think it'll be a long time until we see a firm like Hariri Pontarini do anything here haha. Hiring talented architects is extremely costly, so until the local market attracts more big time developer groups, we're mostly stuck with more modest companies that only have so much financial resources to put into hiring good architectural designers. However even so, there are a lot of smaller firms out there who have great work and aren't as costly as some of the major architectural firms out there, so either way we'll start to see nicer buildings as we move forward.

Kirkor or Turner Fleischer? They're so similar it's hard to pick one over the other. Turner Fleischer will somehow do an okay building like Nobu in Toronto...but then they also do stuff like The Barrelyards, which look like any generic Drewlo building in Ontario. Or then Kirkor will do something very unique like 415 Yonge in Toronto but then do something like this junk in Hamilton.

Yikes I didn’t realize they were barrelyards. I may take that back then. It’s also funny I agree Nobu is ok and it’s not exactly TF fault that the developers cheaped out but good lord the material choices on that building are absolutely awful and it’s saved purely by a somewhat decent overall design.