Reply With Quote^Their mcmansions are all over NJ like horses***. This one is a pleasant surprise.
AFAIK, Toll was known mostly for single family McMansions. Since the SF house implosion, they seem to be getting more into urban multifamily. Maybe they feel in that market architecture sells, especially if you looking for big numbers.
^Their mcmansions are all over NJ like horses***. This one is a pleasant surprise.
Loos a bit fake and suburbanish.
I wonder how will they treat this blank wall.
The blank wall is really unfortunate.
As for the rest of it, I'd agree with you about it looking a bit fake-ish. However, I feel the presence (and prolific nature) of Gene Kaufman in New York has left us all cowering like prisoners. Any development site that gets cleared -- I'm scared to death that it'll be a Kaufman, and if it's anything (really, anything) else, I'm happy.
For that matter, compare this to pretty much any high-rise built in the UES east of Park since 1950 ... despite the fancy address, they really are the worst architecture you can get for that kind of money in America. ... Thus, knowing the horrendous alternative possibilities of what could have been, I'm pretty satisfied with the Touraine.
This looks like a McMansion in Laval. Just because it's got French-style architecture doesn't mean it's not a McMansion.
Compare 204 Avenue de la Seigneurie, Laval, Quebec, Canada (http://g.co/maps/52tpd).
Except that it's a 15 story tower with 25 apartments in it, so basically the opposite of a McMansion in every way... Buildings like this, generally, only look fake-ish, while under construction. Similar buildings, such as Superior Ink (or really any RAMS building that's panelized), look much better when finished. I think it's because watching what looks like individual stones go up in large chunks doesn't have the gravitas of being laid. As long as there aren't wild seams in the end it works out.
Maybe it does have that sort of look to it, but it seems that to a lot of architechts the alternative is a glass box even thought it doesn't have to be. And who is going to have the guts to put up gothic, Roman, baroque, even something with a space-age flourish, saleable square footage be damned? Jeez I'll even take the Sokolow Building with that white frame over another glass box. If they want to use all glass, just do something different with it so everyone out there can say "Yep, that's a NYC building."
Wow blank wall is unreal, are they expecting a new building on that side?
I can't put my finger on it, but something feels off about this building.
I see nothing wrong with this one so far.
I think what makes some of you feel funny about this building is that it doesn't fit in with the other buildings on the block. However, if you imagine its neighbors were just as large, you would not have that same feeling.
Eventually, those other smaller walkups will be gone unfortunately and replaced with a glass box and this one will be the best one on the block.
I'm half-surprised that Lucien Lagrange is the architect of this building. It's his usual vernacular, but not served with the usual over-the-top cheese you see in his Chicago work. This actually shows a little restraint, which means he gets fewer details wrong.
29 July 2012
The clad walls look better than the render. That blank wall is really unfortunate. Hoping they'll do something with it, but not counting on it.
It looks a bit like it's from the architectural firm of Barbie&Ken.
(But it's still better than most)
This building is now almost complete and it is looking as good in the flesh as it does in the architectural renderings - this one is definitely not a 'typical' toll bros development. Website here - http://www.tollbrothers.com/NY/The_Touraine
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