I wish this didn't read like so much urban clutter. A tiny street corner seems like the wrong place for such massive objects that provide no actual amenity but take up a lot of space. I'd ditch the glass panels, keep the interesting ground treatment and benches (maybe express the cheese cloth...
I’m also disappointed that Dundas Street will remain disfigured. The design purist in me just wants these three streets to intersect the way they were supposed to – in an actual “Six Points” pattern that would feel like a real crossroads and urban focal point, which is the result we say we want...
My preference is Option C, Transit Promenade.
It allows streetcar boarding without crossing traffic, generous expansion of the pedestrian realm on both sides of the street, and the possibility of some cycling infrastructure that is shared with the pedestrian space on both sides of the street...
The current design makes certain parts of the pedestrian realm into signalized bicycle intersections, without clearly informing pedestrians of the fact.
In several places where bikes and pedestrians cross, the bike movements are signalized, while the pedestrian movements are not.
This is like...
Yes, Downsview to STC please. A rather typical Toronto tale - we started with a good long-term goal, then cheapened it into a stub, and now want to add a different stub onto the original stub. Might be a world breakthrough: stub-on-a-stub transit expansion.
Maybe it's a reference to the original white military barracks structure that stood at that site, the foundations of which will be visible to visitors who walk under the canopy.
From a Globe article describing the project and history of the site: "The foundations of the white barracks...
I think this project is more in keeping with New York’s Union Square than Toronto’s Dundas Square. And that might be partly why it seems to draw criticism.
Look at the gray modernism of the Omni building next door, and the gray expanse of Dundas Square in front. This is the Toronto we’re used...
Actually every side of it seems to look like the back end. It's bafflingly bad all around and my gut reaction - especially to the Queen's Park facade - is to wish for an immediate teardown and redo. Very disappointing for a Hariri Pontarini project indeed.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think a complete ban on cars would actually make King Street less vibrant. Just look at photos of Swanston Street in Melbourne before and after its conversion to a transit mall. The street feels a bit empty and lifeless now, unless a streetcar happens to be...
Agree. Why can't we break away from the same swoopy modernism that pervades almost every recent landscape project. Applying a generic modernism here, in the midst of a strongly historical urban fabric, looks a bit like an uninformed design move. If it must be modern, go for a bold contrast as aA...
People have mentioned that the red/green colour scheme of those lights is completely counter-intuitive and I recently saw proof of this. I was on a southbound train at Bloor-Yonge. The doors opened and a family of tourists got on. They looked at the lights on the map and said 'Okay we want Union...
Those transparent boxes - especially the ones right at the intersection - could end up being built up to heights similar to or even higher than this Westbank project, thanks to the precedent it sets. This is a 'beachhead' project which could serve as a basis for future surrounding developments...
Forgive me, but this terminal design seems so wrong-headed. Why does this park need a vast, undulating concrete structure in it? It just seems overbuilt, impractical, and not very park-like (though totally fitting into the recent trend of Toronto ‘parks’ that consist of bizarre, Modernist...
Yes, the worst part of the winning design is the pedestrian bridge over Hart House Green. It just separates users from the landscape itself. The area under the bridge will become empty and useless, except for having a driveway into the parking garage. I would prefer a design that brings...
Exactly. Right now every intersection on Queens Quay has a bunch of identical-looking traffic lights, with small signs next to some of them saying what each one is for. Is this really the best design, to be putting another sign next to a traffic signal to tell you what the signal means? Every...