Aura [College Park Phase III] | U/C | 78 st | 272.34 m | Downtown

[Taller, Better]

I've seen you giddy! That was fun... hehe...

[isaidso]

Why am I always tipsy when you poke your head around the corner? I'm quite calm most of the time, honest.

[Taller, Better]

hehe.. maybe that was "calm"!

[mdparker]

My favourite building in western Canada is the Wall Centre in Vancouver... If the top section of Aura can come close to achieving the curved-glass effect of that building, I'd be mighty impressed!

[isaidso]

Good eye with the One Wall Centre comparison. It's a gorgeous under rated building for sure. I'll be very pleased if the top of AURA comes off as good as One Wall too.

[Taller, Better]

One Wall was clearly done with flat panels of glass on a curved surface, not curved glass. I would have liked it a whole lot more if the City of Vancouver hadn't ordered a stop work on the project half way up, and forced the developers to switch from the unacceptable **gasp** dark glass to the ubiquitous bland green colour above. The City patted themselves on the back for not having allowed the disaster of a building that looked "dark" and therefore different than everything else that was approved for blue/green or white glazing.




photo by raggedy 13

[isaidso]

It would have looked better with the dark glass all the way up, but it's Vancouver. The goal is to make buildings so bland that you don't notice they're there. They'd make all buildings invisible if they could. I honestly think the Vancouver planning department don't actually like buildings.

[Taller, Better]

Dark glass was completely, utterly banned for the rather bizarre logic that only blue/green or white glass would make buildings look "transparent". In the real world, however, buildings are never transparent because they are great huge hulking things.

[mdparker]

Colour aside, I'm surprised (but looking closely I concur) that it's flat glass panels... On a positive, it would be very hard to tell either way on the top, lighter section... I still think Aura and One Wall have a very similar feel in the way their top sections are designed... I'm like Woody Allen on the subject of awards, but this did win world's top skyscraper back in 2001 (Emporis)... Just a bit of perspective...

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

Dark glass was completely, utterly banned for the rather bizarre logic that only blue/green or white glass would make buildings look "transparent". In the real world, however, buildings are never transparent because they are great huge hulking things.

Agree. How much pot have they been smoking? I just hope Vancouver can reverse some of the mistakes made with that sea of 10-30 floor blue/green glass condos they have. I'm not sure all that much can be done at this point. They're likely stuck with them for the next 100 years.

[MissyC]

Don't you think that the two cities are going to very much look like each other? Toronto and Vancouver are increasingly becoming alikes.

Sheraton Wall Center and the top nudge of Aura VERY much resemble the same patterns and design and all that blue glass, dark or light, doesn't make it more attractive to me personally. But at least they are tall. but sure bland in taste.

[isaidso]

I sense that the 10 year penchant for all glass buildings is coming to an end. I'm optimistic that we're seeing the last of these sterile skyscrapers and the next wave will have more texture, colour, and show more creativity. I like AURA quite a bit though. Wait till you visit then judge for yourself. It won't be as nice as Scotia Plaza, but it's a similar shape and height.

[Mollywood]

Originally Posted by isaidso

I sense that the 10 year penchant for all glass buildings is coming to an end. I'm optimistic that we're seeing the last of these sterile skyscrapers and the next wave will have more texture, colour, and show more creativity. I like AURA quite a bit though. Wait till you visit then judge for yourself. It won't be as nice as Scotia Plaza, but it's a similar shape and height.

I hope you're right and I also hope the grey spandrel thing comes to an end. It's beginning to drive me crazy. Whenever I see a new building going up, I look to see what colour the spandrel is and I'm almost always disappointed with ugly grey. (or grey metal trim, cladding) I wish they would use black instead. Or better yet, NO SPANDREL!

[isaidso]

In the last 6 months we've seen at least 5 proposals that have signaled a return to texture, colour, and creativity. E Condos being the latest although that design was turned down by the Design review council, or what ever they're called.

I don't like spandrel either, but it looks alright on 300 Front Street West.

[Mollywood]

The colour of the grey spandrel on 300 Front Street is better than most. It's kind of a creamy, light grey, so it doesn't look so bad. So far Aura has little grey, so I'm happy about that. I look forward to the large restaurant patios facing Yonge Street. That should be a festive place, especially during things like Pride & Caribana.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by CharlotteJ

Don't you think that the two cities are going to very much look like each other? Toronto and Vancouver are increasingly becoming alikes.

Not at all. Vancouver is a smaller and newer city, which a much narrower range of architectural styles, therefore so much now seems to look the '80's/ '90's blue/green glass now. Also, most of their towers end at exactly the same mid-height level, adding to the "sameness" of the plateau-like skyline. Toronto has a different architectural mix from Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian to present day; the glass buildings are part of it, but they do not dominate the downtown like they do in Vancouver. I'm glad that the newer towers coming on stream seem more playful with finishes and shapes and we do seem to be pulling out of the all-glazed phase.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Mollywood

The colour of the grey spandrel on 300 Front Street is better than most. It's kind of a creamy, light grey, so it doesn't look so bad. So far Aura has little grey, so I'm happy about that. I look forward to the large restaurant patios facing Yonge Street. That should be a festive place, especially during things like Pride & Caribana.

Is that what's going on the Yonge side? That's a relief. I was fearing that Marshall's would take that spot. I heard they sell utter crap.

[AndrewJM3D]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

Not at all. Vancouver is a smaller and newer city, which a much narrower range of architectural styles, therefore so much now seems to look the '80's/ '90's blue/green glass now. Also, most of their towers end at exactly the same mid-height level, adding to the "sameness" of the plateau-like skyline. Toronto has a different architectural mix from Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian to present day; the glass buildings are part of it, but they do not dominate the downtown like they do in Vancouver. I'm glad that the newer towers coming on stream seem more playful with finishes and shapes and we do seem to be pulling out of the all-glazed phase.

I agree, Toronto is coming to it's end of the Vancouver style phase and has come into it's own. We even see more Canadian cities like Ottawa, Calgary, and Montreal using the Toronto style over the Vancouver style these days. What works well in one location doesn't necessarily work in another. Toronto was following the leader when our boom started and that leader was Vancouver. Now as we see other condo makers start to heat up developers may look towards Toronto for design ideas.

Montreal



Ottawa

Toronto


Calgary
image hosted on flickr

Toronto

[Mercenary]

What is the current floor count for Aura?

By my projection of 2.5 floors/month it should be on the 21st floor....

[Innsertnamehere]

its on the 19th floor.