Raise the Hammer

Hi Jason, My name is Paul Vermaat, I'm the designer for the White Star Group. Thanks for the positive article.

I'll add a few things if I may. Yes, myself and the White Star Group would have definitely preferred a much taller building. But after this long trying to get something done down at the West Harbour, this will do. So far, all we've concerned ourselves with is trying to come up with a conceptual design that will dictate our design parameters down the road, and allows for a solution to the long running dispute about noise from the CN shunting yard, hence the glass atrium along the entire back of the building to mitigate noise. I believe having a glassed in garden atrium for the residents of the building will be a very unique selling feature of the building. The White Star lands down on that end of the west harbour with its unique topography including upper and lower lands presents a very unique opportunity to offer that neighbourhood a really beautiful development. So far we've only worked on a conceptual plan for the upper lands, because that was the point of contention. Now we will be hard at work designing a complimentary development for the lower lands that will be a tremendous addition to the area. We truly believe that this area needs to be a place for people to enjoy, so we are going to be very mindful of making it beautiful, and pedestrian friendly.

I understand your critiques of the materials used in the design presented so far. At the end of the process, the look of the building may be far different from what is presented now. Many considerations for materials will be taken, as well as costing of different glass and atrium technologies which will determine much of how the final design will look. We will surely keep updating the whitestargroup.org website over the coming months with some exciting announcements, but of course we'll be keeping some of the designs under wraps. No one wants to ruin the surprise right?

Cheers, Paul Vermaat PV Imaging/the White Star Group