Toronto CAMH Queen Street | 60.3m | 7s | CAMH | Diamond Schmitt + KPMB + TreanorHL + HOK

From today. So far the new CAMH buildings still feel apart and unintegrated with the city. I'm really curious to see if future phases change that.

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Amazing picture, yonderbean.

I've noticed that too. But I think in my case its more psychologically disconnected/segregated from the surrounding area than it actually is physically.
 
Physically, it's quite different from the area around it, which is no surprise since it was built all at one time, but one of the ideals of demolishing the old hospital complex and building a completely new one was to integrate it into the city. The surrounding neighbourhood is quite aesthetically different than this collection of New Modernist midrise buildings. It's low-rise not mid-rise, and Victorian not New Modernist. There will likely always be a perceptible boundary. But the new "district" does look quite good. I wish we could build neighbourhoods with this kind of built form: side streets with mostly low-rise and mid-rise apartment buildings built close to the street with at least decent architecture and streets lined with trees between the sidewalk and the curb. The major streets would be lined with mixed-use buildings as done in one instance as part of this reconstruction. It's a scale and form of design that feels more satisfyingly urban than the typical New Urban subdivision of rowhouses, but not overpowering like the high-rise dominated 'Southcore'. It's too bad that they're not saving any of the old buildings. At least one restored campus-era building would look good in the district, giving it more of an organic element of old and new.
 
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As I understand it there are three more buildings yet to come down, including two of the "pod" wards. The master plan has no indication of any plans as of yet to demolish buildings 2 & 4, I'd like to see them modernized inside and retained too. I imagine it's all contingent on financing once they get to that point.
 
I believe that was is keeping from feeling integrated is more that there are no through-streets. There is little reason to go through and past the buildings because you don't come out the other end. The (admittedly lovely) wall will keep the area feeling separate.

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interchange42 said:
I believe that was is keeping from feeling integrated is more that there are no through-streets. There is little reason to go through and past the buildings because you don't come out the other end. The (admittedly lovely) wall will keep the area feeling separate.

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I believe what interchange is getting at is that a wisely-planned built-form can only get one so far. If there is nary a reason to enter a place other than to patronize it (as do the patients of CAMH) or examine it (as many of us do with our cameras), few will.
 
yonderbean said:
From today. So far the new CAMH buildings still feel apart and unintegrated with the city. I'm really curious to see if future phases change that.
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It doesn't feel like a part of the city because its not finished. You can build a grid of roads, but it will never feel like a seamless neighborhood if those roads aren't lined with buildings.

The most important parts are yet to come. There is only one building on the strip along Queen St. When the project is completed, the entire stretch -- with the exception of the park on the corner of Shaw -- will be lined with buildings and continuing down Ossington will be like crossing any other street in the city.

It is too bad that they couldn't build the grid as far south as King but Adelaide will eventually go straight in to the new campus. If I were a driver going down Ossington and looking to get to downtown, I wouldn't turn left on Queen. I'd keep going down Lower Ossington which curves into Adelaide and proceed East.

Give it time, almost all the new buildings will have retail at street level, even the ones deeper inside the campus. The Shoppers Drug Mart and the Starbucks are already doing wonders to this intersection. Add the new condos and rentals here with the TD Bank and Swiss Chalet and this place is guaranteed to be buzzing.

Give it time. It's not done yet.
 
This is the future of retail on downtown Yonge Street, only highrises
 
I hate the fact that just about all the retail spaces in new condos are franchises and corporate. Is this the demise of small, independent stores and restaurants? They are what make Toronto different from large American cities, which are basically all chain stores in the core. New York City used to be full of quirky, interesting, independent stores but now it's mostly bland franchises. Times Square has become a big, boring, corporate cluster f#*k and I don't like it at all. I'm really afraid the same thing is starting to happen here.
 
There are exceptions but, yeah, the retail spaces at the base of new buildings are purchased in bulk and will not risk leasing to small boutiques. The future for these establishments in new apartment buildings is live/work.
 
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