14 Posted Nov 4, 2015, 3:38 AM GreatTallNorth2 Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 1,129 First the ‘Ribbon,’ now a ‘twisty’ highrise at the forks



A twisting, tapered tower crowns a tweaked plan for a downtown commercial-­residential complex at one of the city’s choicest locations.



For a city wowed earlier this week when the wraps came off a proposed multi-million-dollar makeover of its birthplace, the forks of the Thames River, the latest twist to the planned highrise overlooking the same historic turf is sure to impress.



Originally rebuffed by city hall’s planning committee, the tower — proposed on land along Ridout Street owned by Middlesex County, next to its castle-like headquarters and across the street from Budweiser Gardens — would have soared 30 storeys and contained 200 residential units.



Area highrise residents, including from the twin Renaissance Towers nearby, complained the original concept was monolithic and would block their views of the river.



There also were concerns the tower would overshadow the historic Middlesex building, a former courthouse. Now, the tower has been slimmed and tapered in a design reminiscent of newer landmark buildings around the globe.



It’s not quite like Sweden’s famous Turning Torso tower, in Malmo, but it’s like nothing London’s seen before.



“It will be one-of-a-kind,” said architect McMichael Ruth of Tillmann, Ruth Robinson Architects, which designed the project.



Ruth said the tweak — besides slimming the building and reducing its edges at the bottom, the revision has also made it two stories shorter with almost 50 fewer residential units — is a good fit all the way around.



“It should make the neighbours happier and it is a better design in creating the landmark building the city is looking for,” he said.



While the redo hasn’t yet gone to the politicians on the city’s planning committee, it’s been submitted to an advisory group, the city’s urban design committee.



Ruth said the plan is to move the tower to the site’s west side, closer to the Thames and oriented east-west to reduce blocking sightlines to the river.



“It addresses the concerns of the Renaissance,” he said, referencing the twin towers a stone’s throw away, “But it also makes for a better residential tower that rotates as it rises to directly face the Forks,” said Ruth, whose firm also designed the nearby Fanshawe College downtown campus.



The tower’s base will be about four to five metres thinner than its top and rotate about 10 degrees toward the river.



The original single-building concept has also been altered to include an eight-storey commercial building facing Ridout that will be separated from the tower by an atrium.



Ruth said the shorter structure on Ridout will fit in better with the neighbourhood, and the substantial green space to the north and west will buffer the impact on the historic old courthouse area.



To make room for the new project, Middlesex County plans to demolish the office building on the site which now houses the Middlesex-London Health Unit.



The revised plan will likely go before the planning committee in December and would require a rezoning for the site’s increased density.



Middlesex County chief administrative officer Bill Rayburn said once the county gets the zoning change, it will seek a partnership with a private developer to build and manage the project.



He said the council has no intention of building a “B-class building” on the site.



“It has to be transformational. It’s the No. 1 piece of real estate in this area,” he said.



He said county council has no plans to sell the site to a developer and wants to maintain ownership and control because the building will provide steady revenue in future.



“The county council has been the stewards of this land for a long time and we have a role in transforming the area,” he said.



Will the turning tower take the edge off opposition to the original concept, from area residents trying to protect their million-dollar views? Londoners won’t known until the design goes to the planning committee and council, whose downtown representative could not be reached for comment Tuesday.



The same river forks area where the tower would rise figures prominently in the Back to the River project, a proposal to redesign downtown London’s downtown riverbanks to bring residents closer to the Thames.



Denver-based Civitas and Stantec consultants teamed up in a striking design for the project, chosen by a jury from a short list, that was revealed this week and includes an elevated river forks boardwalk, dubbed the Ribbon, as the centrepiece for the project that could cost millions and take years to complete.



With files by Dan Brown, Free Press reporter



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PROJECT PROPOSAL



Address: 50 King St., at Ridout St.



Underground parking: 188 spaces



Floor 1: retail/restaurant



Floors 2-3: 156 parking spaces



Floors 4-8: Office and common space



Floors 9-26: 144 residential units, 18 floors, eight units per floor



Floors 27-28: eight penthouse units







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THE VERDICT IS . . .



On tapered towers like the one pitched for London:



Visually striking, they depart from unbroken lines from top to bottom. Some are designed to mimic organic life forms, like the human body. Some appear to twist or turn, most famously the Turning Torso in Sweden.

Base-tapered towers, like the London concept, can help reduce blocked sightlines.

Architectural historian Nezar Alsayyad, with the University of California at Berkeley, says the style is based on an approach called parametric design. “It allows you to turn and twist buildings in whichever direction you want using parameters within the equation.” It’s “considered very pleasing for the eye as it provides simple straightforward buildings with a certain dynamism that they may lack.” It’s now part of standard practice for the design of tall buildings, Alsayyad said.

By Dan Brown, Free Press reporter