alklay
Senior Member
The rumours I hear is that there is no money for a CITYTV news channel and that such is not coming any time soon.
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City-TV & OMNI-TV's H.Q. (formerly Torch, Quadrangle)
- Thread starter ShonTron
- Start date
Solaris
Senior Member
Novae Res Urbis
ROGERS REDESIGNS
New home for Citytv, OMNI
FRIDAY • OCTOBER 16 • 2009
Dundas Square has a pair of new neighbours, as Rogers Media Television’s new production centre for Citytv and OMNI Television was unveiled in the former Olympic Spirit building just east of the square. The building was originally intended to highlight Canadian Olympic history.
Quadrangle Architects designed the revamped building, with Urbacon Limited providing construction management on the project. The newly opened building boasts energy efficient lighting and air conditioning, reducing its carbon footprint by about 333 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
By filling in unused space and other openings in the building, including one staircase and two unneeded elevator shafts, the facility now has 10,000-sq.ft. of additional floor space. Citytv began broadcasting from the building early last month and OMNI moved in on blank.
“Our goal was to create a high-tech broadcast facility that meets the diverse needs of OMNI and Citytv, while at the same time reinvigorating a signature building that acts as the focal point at Yonge-Dundas Square,†Quadrangle principal Ted Shore said in a press release issued this week.
“From a design perspective, we’ve really brought this building to life by reflecting the vitality of the Square.â€
ROGERS REDESIGNS
New home for Citytv, OMNI
FRIDAY • OCTOBER 16 • 2009
Dundas Square has a pair of new neighbours, as Rogers Media Television’s new production centre for Citytv and OMNI Television was unveiled in the former Olympic Spirit building just east of the square. The building was originally intended to highlight Canadian Olympic history.
Quadrangle Architects designed the revamped building, with Urbacon Limited providing construction management on the project. The newly opened building boasts energy efficient lighting and air conditioning, reducing its carbon footprint by about 333 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
By filling in unused space and other openings in the building, including one staircase and two unneeded elevator shafts, the facility now has 10,000-sq.ft. of additional floor space. Citytv began broadcasting from the building early last month and OMNI moved in on blank.
“Our goal was to create a high-tech broadcast facility that meets the diverse needs of OMNI and Citytv, while at the same time reinvigorating a signature building that acts as the focal point at Yonge-Dundas Square,†Quadrangle principal Ted Shore said in a press release issued this week.
“From a design perspective, we’ve really brought this building to life by reflecting the vitality of the Square.â€
Tewder
Senior Member
thanks for the info. Some new cladding and curved screens on the tower's cap would easily have provided an instant landmark for the studio, and for the square too. What better branding could any media outlet want than to be so closely associated in the minds of the people with the heart of the city in this way? Still seems like a bit of wasted opportunity.
alklay
Senior Member
This remains one huge piece of grey turd.
EXgeMMy
Active Member
As far as CITY TV not having money for the new channel I've heard various rumblings e.g. delayed indefinitely, canceled all out. The thing about these rumours is I've only heard them from CTV employees. More specifically CP24. These are the same employees that also promised on air people the world if they joined them.
I'm not going to get into politics but rumours are just rumours.
I do though CITY TV has maxed out their budget for the year.
As with the torch. It's still not bad. We should light it with some colour so at least it's not grey at night.
I'm not going to get into politics but rumours are just rumours.
I do though CITY TV has maxed out their budget for the year.
As with the torch. It's still not bad. We should light it with some colour so at least it's not grey at night.
archetype
New Member
As I mentioned earlier, OMNI broadcasts 2 hours of live news every day from Monday to Friday. I work for OMNI.
Torontovibe
Senior Member
Notice how in that rendering they kinda block out those monster HVAC units they put on the roof. lol Yes, over-all, they did improve the building but at the same time, they ruined the backdrop of the square because those ugly units turn up in all my pictures. They need to be covered up. Rogers had a great opportunity to turn an ugly ducking into a beautiful swan and they FAILED! It's not much of a transformation so far. They should have really went for that WOW factor, instead of small tweaks here and there. Put that big torch to some good use.
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syn
Senior Member
Agreed. I know we've read there are more changes to come to the exterior, but based on this rendering (and we all know renderings are usually exagerrated) this will remain a very minor change as far as the exterior is concerned.
I certainly hope they take it to another level at some point in the future because right now this place doesn't' hold a candle to their old headquarters (the exterior, anyways).
ProjectEnd
Superstar
Something changed?
To...
To...
3Dementia
Senior Member
^I see a BIG change....
The TTC is planning to send north-bound Victoria Street streetcars racing across Dundas every few seconds past Torched and presumably thru Ryerson to the admissions office.
The TTC is planning to send north-bound Victoria Street streetcars racing across Dundas every few seconds past Torched and presumably thru Ryerson to the admissions office.
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syn
Senior Member
^Don't forget the amazing new Rogers store!
Art Vandelay
Active Member
The lower half of the tower is rounded?
MetroMan
Senior Member
Funny how the rendering completely ignores the stage in the square and its shipyard cranes.
Small news: the glass on the podium has been replaced with frosted glass with Citytv and OMNI logos, pretty much leaving out the original idea of bringing in a radio station studio to the base.
According to this rendering, all that remains to be done is round out the podium's tower (which is now covered in a Citytv/OMNI tarp), complete the LED wrap around, add the logos and install the coloured lighting for the torch.
It leaves a couple of things unclear:
- Are the HVAC units covered or are they just toned down in the rendering? The elevations submitted to the city had them covered.
- The vertical concrete section of the podium facing North-West -- that still sports the Olympic Spirit logo -- is grey in this rendering. Does that mean they're going to leave it as is (in concrete)? The info I last heard from my source was that we'd see accents of red cladding on the podium and I assumed it would go on this space.
I think that most of the investment went into building a state of the art tv station from scratch and there was little budget left to cover the detailing on the exterior. I think we'll see further improvements as time goes by.
The Rogers execs were pretty tight fisted at meetings regarding the building about making this Rogers' flagship location, their face to the city. I don't think they'll want to keep it this bland.
Small news: the glass on the podium has been replaced with frosted glass with Citytv and OMNI logos, pretty much leaving out the original idea of bringing in a radio station studio to the base.
According to this rendering, all that remains to be done is round out the podium's tower (which is now covered in a Citytv/OMNI tarp), complete the LED wrap around, add the logos and install the coloured lighting for the torch.
It leaves a couple of things unclear:
- Are the HVAC units covered or are they just toned down in the rendering? The elevations submitted to the city had them covered.
- The vertical concrete section of the podium facing North-West -- that still sports the Olympic Spirit logo -- is grey in this rendering. Does that mean they're going to leave it as is (in concrete)? The info I last heard from my source was that we'd see accents of red cladding on the podium and I assumed it would go on this space.
I think that most of the investment went into building a state of the art tv station from scratch and there was little budget left to cover the detailing on the exterior. I think we'll see further improvements as time goes by.
The Rogers execs were pretty tight fisted at meetings regarding the building about making this Rogers' flagship location, their face to the city. I don't think they'll want to keep it this bland.
barrytron3030
Active Member
man this building is ugly
mr. hume reports accordingly: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/art...evision-stations-it-s-hip-to-be-on-the-square
Hume: For television stations, it's hip to be on the square
By Christopher Hume
Urban Issues, Architecture
Published On Sat Oct 17 2009
Citytv and Omni have moved into the old Olympic Spirit venue at the east end of Yonge-Dundas Square. (Oct. 16, 2009)
KEITH BEATY/TORONTO STAR
Yonge-Dundas Square is no longer just a square; it's a television studio.
Now that Citytv and Omni are moving into the neighbourhood, Toronto's newest public space has also become virtual space.
The two stations, purchased recently by Rogers, have taken over the premises of what was Olympic Spirit, a showcase for sport. It opened in 2004 and failed instantly, as did the city's bid for the 2008 Games, which went to Beijing.
But as it turns out, the building makes a much better TV studio than it did an athletic attraction. Though it's not much to look at on the outside, it has something even more important going for it than appearance – location. Sitting on the east end of the square on Victoria St., it is fully a part of the city. This is especially important for Omni, the multicultural station that was hidden down on Lake Shore Blvd. W. near Bathurst St.
If that's the good news, the bad news is that the building is barely visible behind the stage and accumulated clutter at the east end of the square. Word is that much of it, including a cheap metal shed that looks to have been purchased from Canadian Tire, will be removed. It can't happen fast enough.
But as architect Ted Shore points out, "Media connectivity is not the same thing as physical connectivity. The location is ideal."
Shore's firm, Quadrangle Architects, has worked for various media organizations, from CBC and Global to Chum and Citytv.
"The idea in this project was to bring the two stations, Omni and Citytv, together," he explains. "The technical components are shared, but the two stations are distinct."
Indeed, those differences can be seen in the architecture of the two newsrooms. Citytv's is exactly what you'd expect, all light and transparency, lined with screens. The equipment defines the space and there's no attempt to create the sort of illusory spaces associated with traditional television programming. Of course, at this point, Citytv has been around long enough that its brand of studio-less TV has itself become conventional.
The workstations, small and open, seem designed to encourage the organized chaos that is the newsgathering process. No one would want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary actually sitting at one of these desks.
Then there are the views; to the west, Yonge-Dundas Square and the whole commercialized apparatus of giant video screens, billboards and 24-hour-a-day advertising. There's no more succinct an image of the North American big city in the 21st century. To the east, an equally urban vista looks down Dundas, where corporations aren't quite so interested in filling every available surface with their ads. It is a grittier landscape, more real perhaps than the corner of Yonge and Dundas.
The Omni newsroom, one floor below, feels more ordered and hierarchical. It is a more self-contained space, quieter and subdued.
The street-level studio looks onto the square. Without MuchMusic, however, which remains at Citytv's former premises on Queen West, there's a noticeable absence of kids; they're all over at the square tossing basketballs.
The obvious problem with the remake is the façade, which has little street presence.
"The new Citytv building needs to have a front door on the square," argues architect James Brown, whose office, Brown and Storey, designed the square. "Citytv should claim the square and create a better image of itself."
That may still happen; though the new owner, Rogers, isn't known for its architectural intelligence, the project is far from finished. Stay tuned.
mr. hume reports accordingly: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/art...evision-stations-it-s-hip-to-be-on-the-square
Hume: For television stations, it's hip to be on the square
By Christopher Hume
Urban Issues, Architecture
Published On Sat Oct 17 2009
Citytv and Omni have moved into the old Olympic Spirit venue at the east end of Yonge-Dundas Square. (Oct. 16, 2009)
KEITH BEATY/TORONTO STAR
Yonge-Dundas Square is no longer just a square; it's a television studio.
Now that Citytv and Omni are moving into the neighbourhood, Toronto's newest public space has also become virtual space.
The two stations, purchased recently by Rogers, have taken over the premises of what was Olympic Spirit, a showcase for sport. It opened in 2004 and failed instantly, as did the city's bid for the 2008 Games, which went to Beijing.
But as it turns out, the building makes a much better TV studio than it did an athletic attraction. Though it's not much to look at on the outside, it has something even more important going for it than appearance – location. Sitting on the east end of the square on Victoria St., it is fully a part of the city. This is especially important for Omni, the multicultural station that was hidden down on Lake Shore Blvd. W. near Bathurst St.
If that's the good news, the bad news is that the building is barely visible behind the stage and accumulated clutter at the east end of the square. Word is that much of it, including a cheap metal shed that looks to have been purchased from Canadian Tire, will be removed. It can't happen fast enough.
But as architect Ted Shore points out, "Media connectivity is not the same thing as physical connectivity. The location is ideal."
Shore's firm, Quadrangle Architects, has worked for various media organizations, from CBC and Global to Chum and Citytv.
"The idea in this project was to bring the two stations, Omni and Citytv, together," he explains. "The technical components are shared, but the two stations are distinct."
Indeed, those differences can be seen in the architecture of the two newsrooms. Citytv's is exactly what you'd expect, all light and transparency, lined with screens. The equipment defines the space and there's no attempt to create the sort of illusory spaces associated with traditional television programming. Of course, at this point, Citytv has been around long enough that its brand of studio-less TV has itself become conventional.
The workstations, small and open, seem designed to encourage the organized chaos that is the newsgathering process. No one would want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary actually sitting at one of these desks.
Then there are the views; to the west, Yonge-Dundas Square and the whole commercialized apparatus of giant video screens, billboards and 24-hour-a-day advertising. There's no more succinct an image of the North American big city in the 21st century. To the east, an equally urban vista looks down Dundas, where corporations aren't quite so interested in filling every available surface with their ads. It is a grittier landscape, more real perhaps than the corner of Yonge and Dundas.
The Omni newsroom, one floor below, feels more ordered and hierarchical. It is a more self-contained space, quieter and subdued.
The street-level studio looks onto the square. Without MuchMusic, however, which remains at Citytv's former premises on Queen West, there's a noticeable absence of kids; they're all over at the square tossing basketballs.
The obvious problem with the remake is the façade, which has little street presence.
"The new Citytv building needs to have a front door on the square," argues architect James Brown, whose office, Brown and Storey, designed the square. "Citytv should claim the square and create a better image of itself."
That may still happen; though the new owner, Rogers, isn't known for its architectural intelligence, the project is far from finished. Stay tuned.
CodeMonkey
Active Member
It seem less likely as time went by that a radio station would move in. The Fan590 was a bad choice to move in there anyways, CHFI or KISS-FM would have made much more sense seeing that they aren't always needing studio space.