Project Symphony
Can we get the thread renamed Project Symphony?
Drama looms down by the lake
Mar 01, 2007 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
A showdown is looming on the waterfront. At stake is nothing less than the look, feel and form of future development along Lake Ontario. No one can say how it will end, but already there are deep concerns about whether waterfront regeneration will live up to expectations.
The story starts – as it so often does in this part of town – with TEDCO (the Toronto Economic Development Corp.). The municipal agency has never bought into the vision of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. and has devoted enormous resources to fighting the TWRC, at one point hiring local architect Jack Diamond to prepare a parallel precinct plan for the area known as the East Bayfront.
Now it has turned once again to Diamond's firm, Diamond and Schmitt Architects, to design a building on land TEDCO controls at the foot of Jarvis St.
Though no one will say who the tenant is, it will bring much-wanted knowledge workers to the waterfront. The bad news is the building in which they will work. Given that it will be one of the first buildings constructed in the name of waterfront revitalization, it has to set a high standard. The general consensus, however, is that it doesn't.
"This is the first test of the waterfront corporation," says respected Toronto architect and chair of the TWRC design review panel Bruce Kuwabara. "I guess I thought there was going to be a design competition for the first building. Why wouldn't we have set some design standards for the first building? It's so important to the credibility of the TWRC."
TWRC president John Campbell says the corporation "supports the project." But he also acknowledges that, "We recognize that the first project on the waterfront has to be great." However, he insists, "The design is still at the conceptual stage."
He also points out that the design review panel has established a subcommittee to deal with the TEDCO building, code named Project Symphony.
TEDCO has been a thorn in TWRC's side from the start and despite a memorandum of understanding, its agenda is strictly economic; as an agency it clearly has nothing invested into the idea of waterfront revitalization. Indeed, TEDCO is moving ahead as fast as possible with Project Symphony, and hopes to start construction in June. That doesn't leave much time for the architecture of the building to be redone to meet the expectations of the design review panel.
TWRC officials admit they are frustrated by the attitude and actions of TEDCO. But because it holds the title to the land and because the design panel is merely advisory, it can theoretically carry on regardless.
Members of the York Quay Neighbourhood Association are also unimpressed with what they have seen.
"It's got to be urban," says Kuwabara. "It's got to be sustainable. It's got to be beautiful. It's got to be full of life. When people see mediocre architecture on the waterfront, they will be really angry. It's all about the branding and identity of the waterfront. It will become a very significant issue."
And as Kuwabara makes clear, "They say they haven't designed the building yet, but they're moving ahead with the project."
None of this bodes well for waterfront revitalization. It raises the question of why TEDCO hasn't been reined in by the city, specifically by Mayor David Miller, who made waterfront redevelopment an election issue and who insisted he be given a seat on the TWRC board.
Yes, it's important to get jobs on the waterfront, but it's more important to get things right. With its attitude of let's just get something going as soon as possible with as little public input as possible, TEDCO is jeopardizing the whole point of the revitalization process.
"I've lost a lot of sleep over this, more than anything else," Kuwabara admits. "We've got to start thinking bigger."