Iron Beauty

The Fitzroy Street Skyscraper may destroy life on earth as we know it, but there’s no denying there’s a certain beauty to its sky-scraping form as it rises, especially on a clear day:

Crane + Building

Comments

John Boylan's picture
John Boylan on March 5, 2009 - 17:50 Permalink

The irony being that it’s more interesting looking at this stage than it will be when it’s finished. Sort of like the Daniel Libeskind crystal at the ROM. It didn’t go far enough and now sits there looking a bit sad and frumpy.

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on March 5, 2009 - 18:58 Permalink

My sense with the ROM crystal is that the public perception — understandable given the name — was that the end product would be more “crystalline.” For example, be made of glass. The fact that it’s not — and that being inside it feels unusually claustrophobic — is disappointing.

John Boylan's picture
John Boylan on March 5, 2009 - 19:14 Permalink

I gather weight and cost were issues with the exterior cladding. A need to cover everything with fire retardant forced them to box in the steel structural elements. Maybe things have improved, but I was underwhelmed by the expanses of sheetrock and exposed screw heads.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Gehry reworking of the AGO. It’s nice to see a name architect doing something other than a rehash of their signature look.

Regular Reader's picture
Regular Reader on March 5, 2009 - 23:24 Permalink

Ever since you posted your photo of the homBORG blotting out the sun, I’ve been wondering what effect this colossus will have on the solar heating/lighting efficiencies built into the much-ballyhooed Jean Canfield building, especially in winter months. When the environment measures and LEED ratings were calculated, did the possibility of a multi-storey building immediately to the southwest ever enter into consideration? I wonder if there is any way the efficiency losses can be counted. A city with a really forward-thinking planning department (ahem) would take changes like that into account when issuing permits.