Although I have never been a fan of CD, thinking that it should/could have been something far more spectacular architecturally given the scope of the project, it has been growing on me more. I find it is aging well from an aesthetic point of view.
i like the annex at Complex Desjardins but it drives me nuts every time i’m in there because the place was built to contain live plants and instead they replaced them all with fake shrubbery.
it truly grates on my nerves every time i’m in a brightly lit, well ventilated, open-space mall that was obviously designed to accommodate living plants but it’s filled with dusty, disgusting plastic trees.
the Complex would have a lot more pedestrian traffic, particularly in the winter, if they used live plants. there’s a reason why 1 million people visit the Biodome every year, one third of Montreal’s population: it’s because Montrealers are DYING for indoor green space in the winter.
Two of the towers should have been a few stories taller to have a real impact on the skyline. Something similar to TD center in Toronto.
Sigh… I so try to like Complexe Desjardins because of the high value placed on people: connected to underground tunnels, entrances all over the place, its central plaza a pretend town square but covered for year-round use, and before the storefronts were added (which I prefer), a heated passageway running parallel to Ste-Catherine. I also like the funky levels on the inside, especially now that they’ve fixed the miserable 70s-dark-interior syndrome (what was that concept, anyway? Guy Faverau is also getting a creatively cheap but effective facelift). True I preferred real treas, although the new fake ones are impressive as fake goes.
But viewed from the outside? The 4 towers just are so, well, blah, even with their varied heights. Even the neat-o spacing of the windows of the hotel isn’t that exciting. Oh, well. It’s better than Place Dupuis, I suppose, but then, what isn’t? :)
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Although I have never been a fan of CD, thinking that it should/could have been something far more spectacular architecturally given the scope of the project, it has been growing on me more. I find it is aging well from an aesthetic point of view.
i like the annex at Complex Desjardins but it drives me nuts every time i’m in there because the place was built to contain live plants and instead they replaced them all with fake shrubbery.
it truly grates on my nerves every time i’m in a brightly lit, well ventilated, open-space mall that was obviously designed to accommodate living plants but it’s filled with dusty, disgusting plastic trees.
the Complex would have a lot more pedestrian traffic, particularly in the winter, if they used live plants. there’s a reason why 1 million people visit the Biodome every year, one third of Montreal’s population: it’s because Montrealers are DYING for indoor green space in the winter.
Two of the towers should have been a few stories taller to have a real impact on the skyline. Something similar to TD center in Toronto.
Sigh… I so try to like Complexe Desjardins because of the high value placed on people: connected to underground tunnels, entrances all over the place, its central plaza a pretend town square but covered for year-round use, and before the storefronts were added (which I prefer), a heated passageway running parallel to Ste-Catherine. I also like the funky levels on the inside, especially now that they’ve fixed the miserable 70s-dark-interior syndrome (what was that concept, anyway? Guy Faverau is also getting a creatively cheap but effective facelift). True I preferred real treas, although the new fake ones are impressive as fake goes.
But viewed from the outside? The 4 towers just are so, well, blah, even with their varied heights. Even the neat-o spacing of the windows of the hotel isn’t that exciting. Oh, well. It’s better than Place Dupuis, I suppose, but then, what isn’t? :)