Huh.  There’s something about this new condo tower proposal for Toronto that piques my interest.  Skyscrapers are an interesting lot – they’re so tall and big that we begin to view them more of an object (akin to a chess piece on a table) than we do of other buildings.  And so their design language tens to be different.  Which also means things that may not work at other scales work for them.

I can’t put my finger on it, but something about the squishy lattice work here works for me.  It manages to be a bit sculptural and even a bit ephemeral, the thick grid making it almost seem like it could be hollow inside.  And with the subtle indentations and the flare at the top, it also kinda does look like some fancy contemporary chess set piece (which I, at least consciously, wasn’t noticing when I made the analogy above).  I wonder what it would be… the bishop, probably?

One thing know I’m keen on are what appear to be double-height terraces or winter gardens both at the swoopy bit when the building narrows as well as the squishy ring near the top.  More greenery is almost always great.

Overall, I think it’s a solid design.  As it’s been submitted for planning approval, if you want to see the plans you can gander at them here.

The 55 Yonge project by BDP Quadrangle & Partisans Architecture (who, interestingly, did this sauna I wrote about some months back!).