ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM Summary Notes TALL BUILDINGS
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM summary notes TALL BUILDINGS walking tour prepared by instructor Marta O'Brien See the world through a different angle! www.skope.ca We saw Canada's tallest buildings and discussed their architectural elements and materials. Some of the points we discussed are as follows: Toronto's climate is very hot in summer & very cold in winter; some building materials (such as granite) are well-suited to this climate, while others (such as Carrera marble) do not perform well wind is a major factor affecting tall buildings; the very slender One King West condo tower has thick base walls & water tanks on the roof to stabilize it the city has allowed some buildings to build taller and larger than zoning laws allowed if the developers preserved heritage buildings (sometimes just their facades); we saw good & bad examples of heritage buildings being incorporated into new building designs (an elegant example is the Scotia Plaza & Bank of Nova Scotia; less successful is the Ernst-Young Tower & Toronto Stock Exchange) Below are the buildings we covered. In some cases, the building details are in your course book. Unless otherwise noted, all architects are Canadian. CITY HALL 1958-65 Viljo Revell (Finnish) with John B. Parkin Associates see course book for details NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE part of original design with reflecting pool (skating rink in winter), sculpture, & elevated walkway defining the square revitalized 2009-15 Plant Architect Inc & Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners new stage, skate rental & refreshment building, new Peace Garden (west of City Hall) THIRD ("OLD") CITY HALL 1885-99 E. J. Lennox local architect won competition to design sandstone from quarries northwest & west of Toronto architect's name spelled out in corbel stones & his face carved near entrance city-owned building now leased to province as courts, although when lease is up in 2021 building to become Museum of Toronto See the world through a different angle! www.skope.ca BAY ADELAIDE CENTRE West Tower 2007-09 WZMH East Tower 2014-15 KPMB & Adamson Associates Architects 51-storey west tower incorporates facade of 1920s office building clad in Tyndall limestone (from Manitoba; has mottled pattern) north tower is planned by same architects as 44-storey East Tower EY TOWER 2015-17 Kohn Pedersen Fox (American) with WZMH Concourse Building (1928 Baldwin & Greene) main facades rebuilt as base for 40-storey EY Tower (EY is Ernst Young) colourful decorative tiles by important Canadian artists J.E.H. MacDonald, & his painted murals are preserved inside FIRST CANADIAN PLACE 1972-77 Edward Durell Stone (American) with Bregman & Hamann see course book for details TORONTO-DOMINION CENTRE 1963-69 Mies van der Rohe (German) with John B. Parkin Associates, Bregman & Hamann see course book for details in years since 1969, added 4 towers & green roof on banking pavilion originally BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA HEAD OFFICE designed 1920s & 1930s by John Lyle; built 1949-51 Mathers & Haldenby with Beck & Eadie building preserved when Scotia Plaza built in 1980s SCOTIA PLAZA 1985-88 WZMH built taller & larger than zoning laws allowed by preserving the previous Head Office and a small heritage building plus facades of two heritage buildings elsewhere on the block 68-storey tower clad with granite quarried in Sweden & finished in Italy non-rectangular massing, punched windows, stone cladding, and grand entrance all reflect Post-Modern architecture's change from austere rectangular forms of International Style ONE KING WEST condo tower; 2006 Stanford Downey Architects see course book for details See the world through a different angle! www.skope.ca originally CANADIAN BANK OF COMMERCE HEAD OFFICE 1929-31 Darling & Pearson with York & Sawyer (American) at 34 storeys, was tallest building in British Empire until 1962 intricate carvings on exterior & luxurious materials & finishes inside (including marbles, mosaic floor, coffered ceiling) 32nd floor observation deck closed in 1970s COMMERCE COURT 1968-72 I. M. Pei & Partners (American) with Page & Steele • see course book for some details • in 1961, Canadian Bank of Commerce merged with Imperial Bank of Canada to form Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) & wanted new head office • when built – & for some time – 57-storey tower was world's tallest building clad in nickel stainless steel • proposal announced in early 2018 to demolish both smaller buildings • east building to be replaced with 64-storey office tower • south building site will have open space & glass pavilion with PATH entrance (PATH is the underground concourse connecting many downtown buildings) originally TORONTO STOCK EXCHANGE 1936-37 George & Moorhouse with S.H. Maw; murals & frieze Charles Comfort • Stock Exchange for 46 years (1937-83) • pink granite base with pale Indiana limestone above • carved stone frieze depicts workers representing various industries; doors are decorated with cast metal roundels in same style • building preserved & renovated as non-profit Design Exchange (1994 KPMB) promoting all types of Canadian design through programs & exhibits • tower (1991 Bregman & Hamann) unrelated to Design Exchange; somewhat copies original TD Centre towers, but poorly connects to heritage building ROYAL BANK PLAZA 1972-76 WZMH • see course book for details BROOKFIELD PLACE 1989-91 Bregman & Hamann with Skidmore Owings & Merrill (American) Galleria 1987-92 Santiago Calatrava (Spanish) facade of Commercial Bank of the Midland District 1845 William Thomas see course book for details See the world through a different angle! www.skope.ca .