Buckminster Fuller Toronto Project

[xania13]

What is this project - is there a thread for this - What is this photo by WyliePoon

 

[Marcanadian]

It was one of the failed projects featured in the Unbuilt Toronto exhibit at the ROM and in the book.

 

[SP!RE]

Use Google.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

named after him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminsterfullerene#Buckminsterfullerene

 

[CityPlaceN1]

Could have been neat. Mind you I think Union Station was going to come down for this.

 

[wyliepoon]

^No it wouldn't have required the demolition of Union Station. The famous photomontage of the plan still shows Union Station untouched, except for a low-rise over the west end of the train shed. Interesting to note that much of the project was to be built on top of railway tracks.

Most of the destruction called for by Project Toronto would take place south of the Gardiner. Land south of the Gardiner would be flooded by Lake Ontario and Habitat '67-like communities would be built over the water (I did not render those structures in my Sketchup model).

Page on Project Toronto at TOBuilt

 

[Whoaccio]

I still have trouble understanding this. It is so big and un-toronto. A pyramid? The Pan-Am building? Quasi floating waterfront settlements? I quite like the idea of extending University Ave. south to the Waterfront. That is about the only part of the project I can visualize. I like the idea for floating communities, in theory at least.

 

[Edward Skira]

It is so big and un-toronto.

You mean like the CN Tower, Skydome or Eaton Centre?

 

[junctionist]

Metro Centre took Project Toronto off the radar, since it was less radical and actually proposed by a developer. It was the massive redevelopment scheme that would have replaced Union Station with octagonal office towers and built a new station south. It would have been interesting if Eaton worked with Buckminster Fuller and created the Eaton Centre as a glass pyramid with other elements from Project Toronto.

This I know from Unbuilt Toronto, which is a great read. At times it's almost painful to see the beautiful proposals which never made, particularly in the time of the City Beautiful movement. Other times, it's quite a relief to see what didn't make it.

 

[Edward Skira]

Rendering by wyliepoon.

 

[Edward]

What would the pyramid house?

 

[CityPlaceN1]

While it looks neat I think it would have been a major disappointment if actually built.

 

[Hipster Duck]

I heard that this project was cancelled.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I heard it was going to the OMB.

 

[junctionist]

While it looks neat I think it would have been a major disappointment if actually built.

Fuller was brilliant, and would have paid attention to innovation in the details. The crystal palace/shopping mall to be built beside the extended University Avenue probably would have been exquisite. The cities on the lake could have been remarkable to this day if built as planned.