There is still infill going on in Hintonburg.

Lots of it.

Silver corrugated cladding, sometimes accented with black siding, is lowly giving way to new expressions.

 

Here, for example, some infills have bright coloured panels:

I’m a sucker for colour, so I love these. And a bit further down the block, there are some bent metal claddings with some red corrugated sections.

And on The Eddy, a six storey apartment building on Wellington at Spadina,  the exterior is covered in bright flat metal planks, with some accents of red. These look OK, but they are not what I remember from seeing the original plans ( maybe I have SMS : selective memory syndrome. Or FMS. )

I wonder how well the red panels will last. Eventually they will fade. Look at existing buildings over ten years old and see how the black panels have faded to a shitty browny-bronze. Hmm. And red fades more than black does.

Big sheets of corrugated metal are still being used. Here is a reno that modernizes a house exterior quite well. There roof line was thankfully made square to go with the modern look (I’ve noticed others keep the minimal slope original roof eves, which looks bizarre).  There’s even a modern nod to the front porch.

 

But will we still like it in 20 years? Do we like aluminum siding that was stuck on houses in the 80’s and 90’s? Or the insulbrick before that?

The Rideau Centre has mixed colours and mixed textures board siding going up over its brutalist concrete walls, both on the McKenzie King exterior and the (former Sear’s) (former Eaton’s) Nordstrom court side inside. Here’s a house that tries the same:

 

the use of raw wood for the entry I’m sure looked good on the architect’s or designer’s plans, but might prove somewhat snaggy to the occupants. Here’s another view of that exterior:

 

Walking around the west side is entertaining.

Even in winter.

And there’s always hope that in the spring those trees will grow big and green.

note to readers:  i use small digital pocket cameras for my pic.  In very cold weather, the indoor moist air condenses inside the camera when i take it outside. ERGO, dirty lenses, spots, fogging, the lens cover wont fully retract.  Having buggered up three cameras (olympus and canon)  i now keep one just for walking about in the coldest weather, so we must endure crappy pic until warmth returns.