A
Archivistower
Guest
Recently I was in Hamburg and took a stroll through the beginnings of their massive waterfront redevelopment, Hafencity. I'm always willing to believe the best of developments before I go and see them myself, but from the bits of Hafencity I saw I was very unimpressed and it makes me wonder what people mean when they say "waterfront development".
To be fair:
1) the project is just beginning
2) There is lots of construction around, so it's a bit unpleasant to walk in.
3) If retail is eventually to be there, it almost completely absent right now.
So the whole area is a bit bleak. But from the one more or less completed row of new development, which consists of a series of box-like office buildings along the south side of Sandtorkai, I was astonished at how unpleasant I thought it was. Some of the buildings were great, but the entire length of the street was given over to a concrete wall punctuated by garage entrances. Clearly, pededestrians have no place walking along Sandtorkai, and they never will. A series of raised walkways along Sandtorkai are where pedestrian space has meant to be. The street has all the charm of, say, Wood Street.
On the water side of Sandtorkai, there is a long concrete walkway with a long concrete wall (the other side of the parking garages). The box-like buildings hang over this walkway. I can't imagine a more unpleasant place to walk. I wonder if Hamburgians are talking about this row of buildings as blocking the waterfront, somehow, I imagine not.
There are a number of very long and very beautiful old warehouse buildings, and if these are integrated into the development in some way they will be interesting. Right now there's not much in them (except a cheap "Dungeon" museum). What I found odd is that the raised walkways in some cases run only a foot away from the second or third floors of these warehouses, but no connection to the warehouse has been made. I found myself a foot away from a window with a woman working, and I thought if there was a door connecting to the walkway you could have a cafe or something, but they hadn't built that in at all. To be fair, the warehouses seem more potential than reality, the only public use I could see was that a few loading bays were open and had a few carpets displayed.
Sometimes I think I travel to feel better about Toronto, but frankly, Harbourfront is looking pretty good for me right now, in terms of the physical layout and the attractions. I am starting to wonder if Torontonians simply don't have the ability to tell themselves as good a story as other cities do. Yes, some of the buildings at Hafencity are hot, but as a whole the neighbourhood seems very car-oriented and bleak.
Here are some photos of Hafencity. Lest I be accused of being
I also threw in some photos of the Berliner Tor Centre, a complex of buildings that was so lovely that I couldn't stop taking photos of it. I love the use of colour that changes with the light, and I bet BuildTO will as well. I also put in a photo of a Jewish Music School that I thought was great, and some rowhouses that are quite attractive, but which also meet the street poorly.
To be fair:
1) the project is just beginning
2) There is lots of construction around, so it's a bit unpleasant to walk in.
3) If retail is eventually to be there, it almost completely absent right now.
So the whole area is a bit bleak. But from the one more or less completed row of new development, which consists of a series of box-like office buildings along the south side of Sandtorkai, I was astonished at how unpleasant I thought it was. Some of the buildings were great, but the entire length of the street was given over to a concrete wall punctuated by garage entrances. Clearly, pededestrians have no place walking along Sandtorkai, and they never will. A series of raised walkways along Sandtorkai are where pedestrian space has meant to be. The street has all the charm of, say, Wood Street.
On the water side of Sandtorkai, there is a long concrete walkway with a long concrete wall (the other side of the parking garages). The box-like buildings hang over this walkway. I can't imagine a more unpleasant place to walk. I wonder if Hamburgians are talking about this row of buildings as blocking the waterfront, somehow, I imagine not.
There are a number of very long and very beautiful old warehouse buildings, and if these are integrated into the development in some way they will be interesting. Right now there's not much in them (except a cheap "Dungeon" museum). What I found odd is that the raised walkways in some cases run only a foot away from the second or third floors of these warehouses, but no connection to the warehouse has been made. I found myself a foot away from a window with a woman working, and I thought if there was a door connecting to the walkway you could have a cafe or something, but they hadn't built that in at all. To be fair, the warehouses seem more potential than reality, the only public use I could see was that a few loading bays were open and had a few carpets displayed.
Sometimes I think I travel to feel better about Toronto, but frankly, Harbourfront is looking pretty good for me right now, in terms of the physical layout and the attractions. I am starting to wonder if Torontonians simply don't have the ability to tell themselves as good a story as other cities do. Yes, some of the buildings at Hafencity are hot, but as a whole the neighbourhood seems very car-oriented and bleak.
Here are some photos of Hafencity. Lest I be accused of being
I also threw in some photos of the Berliner Tor Centre, a complex of buildings that was so lovely that I couldn't stop taking photos of it. I love the use of colour that changes with the light, and I bet BuildTO will as well. I also put in a photo of a Jewish Music School that I thought was great, and some rowhouses that are quite attractive, but which also meet the street poorly.
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