IAN: Oh, that’s horrible.

JOE: I think they do a lot of things wrong with this place, but – the entrance is really bad. It’s really barren, very prominent and utterly barren.

— It doesn’t make much architectural sense, either.

— I like the curved balconies.

— Yeah, well. Oh, go back to that picture. Isn’t that horrible! It’s falling apart already. The curved roof over the entrance is poorly realized and already falling apart. I already said that.

— But I think they have a really good urban treatment of an aboveground parking garage. They have to provide ventilation so you don’t suffocate on carbon monoxide, so they do that with upturned rusticated brick and these edge-on grilles that say “What’s inside is really kind of inhuman, and we’re being totally upfront about that.”

— Or they say “What’s inside is a prison.” Is the parking garage for the residents?

— As far as I know. But I don’t know how you drive in there. From the back? Maybe that’s not what it is. What else could it be? There’s nothing through that grille there.

— It could be a pay-for-parking lot that these poor people have to live on top of.

— I doubt that.

— Hmpf. Vents at the bottom, vents at the top.

— I’ll go over and look.

— What’s all that? Lobby?

— Yeah, that’s why it’s so barren and open. They could have done a lot more with that. Oh, and it’s right at the foot actually of Jones Ave., so every single car looks at it while they’re waiting at the light. Oh, and it’s next to a total dive bar that keeps getting its liquor license revoked.

— This the one across from the park?

— Yup.

— Those balconies overlook the park?

— The front of them do, if you’re pointing that way, yes.

— You of course have noticed the ubiquitous Strip of a Different Colour Brick.

— Hmm. Two.

— Hallmark of postmodernism: Punched windows. Those are the little square windows that really – I think it’s great that the units are given balconies, but it doesn’t help the building. The building looks like a failure. If you’re going to build something curved, make sure it’s truly curved.

— The real postmodern building along that strip is the Maddy Harper Lodge, which makes no sense at all. I forgot to shoot that one.