Art Vandelay
Active Member
If there is a place downtown to put a green roof, the train shed is it.
I don't care if it's feasible, building on top of the train shed would be a travesty. Union is the main gateway into the city, and it needs to be treated as such. For comparison, 43.3 million people passed through Union Station in 2004, while Pearson saw 30.9 million passengers in 2006, and the Gardiner (by my estimations) brings fewer than 23 million vehicles into downtown per year..
I don't care if it's feasible, building on top of the train shed would be a travesty. Union is the main gateway into the city, and it needs to be treated as such. For comparison, 43.3 million people passed through Union Station in 2004, while Pearson saw 30.9 million passengers in 2006, and the Gardiner (by my estimations) brings fewer than 23 million vehicles into downtown per year.
The Union trainshed needs to be replaced with something that provides an uplifting entrance into the city and fits the important role that Union plays.
Every other station in the world that built on top of their trainshed regrets it to this day (that I'm aware of). I'll take Gare de Lyon over Gare Montparnasse, Liverpool Street Station over Charing Cross Station, or old Pennsylvania Station over new Pennsylvania station.
However, building on top of the railway corridor on either side of Union is something I support fully.
My thinking was that if we built over it, it would improve connectivity from the downtown to the waterfront. At the moment, there is like a 200m gulf between the downtown and the waterfront. Putting office towers and commercial real estate on top of the shed could, in my mind, pull the downtown down. Architecturally, the idea is so abstract that I couldn't really suggest anything to prove that it would be attractive and an appropriate 'gateway' (which I agree is essential). In 2008 though, I don't see why an aesthetically pleasing design couldn't be created for a platform area that is, effectively, subterranean.
EDIT: I would be supportive of building a park of sorts on top of the shed. I mainly want something to bridge the gap between the financial core and the area south of tracks.
Every other station in the world that built on top of their trainshed regrets it to this day (that I'm aware of). I'll take Gare de Lyon over Gare Montparnasse, Liverpool Street Station over Charing Cross Station, or old Pennsylvania Station over new Pennsylvania station.
That's a nice idea, but the train shed isn't subterranean at all. It's elevated. York, Bay, Yonge, and PATH all pass under the tracks. The first floor of any office building would actually be at the 4th floor level. Building offices (or even parkspace) on top of the shed couldn't possibly do anything to link downtown with Harbourfront.
I still think that keeping a 50,000 sq.m. dead space, even an aesthetically pleasing dead space, on the cities most important real estate is a mistake. Even more so than the Gardiner.