MetroMan
Senior Member
This photo shows that the waterfront is beginning to ...hmm.. look like one.
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This photo shows that the waterfront is beginning to ...hmm.. look like one.
adma
Superstar
That reminds me of Paris Hilton's genital area, somehow...something about funny yellow pustules...
"Mom!" "It's not right!"
Sir Novelty Fashion
Senior Member
So what would that make those little black specks crawling around in there?
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
It looks terrific, I can't wait to get down and see it this weekend.
Is there a plan for bridges connecting the boardwalk over the quays or are they intended to be a walk-around configurations?
Is there a plan for bridges connecting the boardwalk over the quays or are they intended to be a walk-around configurations?
JasonParis
Moderator
Yup, there are planned bridges connecting all the quays/slips as part of the West 8 plan.
BTW, I'm just back from a late-night bike ride at HtO and oh what fun it is! I made myself dizzy whirling around those circles over and over again. The park is great though and I'm eager to do a further dayling inspection.
EnviroTO
Senior Member
The park looks great but it is unfortunate that they cut back the water features from a park named HtO. From the original proposal:
"Water - A series of connected water elements will accentuate the theme of water returning to its source. Each element will be programmed to celebrate the intrinsic qualities of water. These include motion activated sprays, steam and fog, variations in colour and coloured ice."
http://www.toronto.ca/harbourfront/hto_design.htm
"Water - A series of connected water elements will accentuate the theme of water returning to its source. Each element will be programmed to celebrate the intrinsic qualities of water. These include motion activated sprays, steam and fog, variations in colour and coloured ice."
http://www.toronto.ca/harbourfront/hto_design.htm
ShonTron
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I'm down there tonight for an author's forum so I'll get a good chance to check it out, and I still haven't played with Pulse Front so here's my chance.
MetroMan
Senior Member
The park looks great but it is unfortunate that they cut back the water features from a park named HtO. From the original proposal:
"Water - A series of connected water elements will accentuate the theme of water returning to its source. Each element will be programmed to celebrate the intrinsic qualities of water. These include motion activated sprays, steam and fog, variations in colour and coloured ice."
http://www.toronto.ca/harbourfront/hto_design.htm
Good point about the water. It is called HTO after all... so no water features at all were built?
The only water feature I saw was a shower to clean the sand from your feet. Otherwise looks great.
rp07
Active Member
Is the picture displaying the future plans part of the WEST 8 development project?
CDL.TO
Moderator
Against all odds, a beach!
`We had no idea it would take so much time and be so difficult,' HtO designer says of new lakeside park
Jun 09, 2007 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume Star columnist
Are we really as dumb as they think? Are we really so stupid that we can't be trusted with a beach?
Maybe, but certainly the designers of HtO, Toronto's marvellous new lakeside park, had to fight like mad to keep their scheme from being watered down to the point where it barely made sense.
That's why yesterday's opening was two years late. Just getting permission to build the "urban beach" involved a marathon of bureaucracy. Approval had to be gained from city, provincial and federal governments as well as myriad agencies.
There's the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Toronto Port Authority, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the list goes on and on.
"The approval process was really something," says Toronto landscape architect Janet Rosenberg, who with Montreal paysagiste Claude Cormier and architect Siamak Hariri, designed HtO. "Nobody has ever done anything like this and we had no idea it would take so much time and be so difficult."
It's also worth noting that the beach's $10-million budget came from money promised to Harbourfront by Pierre Trudeau in the mid-1970s!
Better late than never, but by any standard three decades is a long time to wait.
Then there's the design itself. In the original scheme, a series of terraces led down to the water unencumbered by any restraints. In the finished version, however, the terraces are gone, and a low railing – a "toe roll" – runs along the edge.
And what about the sand pit that extends almost the full length of the beach? Several years ago, city officials decided it had to be eliminated after razor blades were discovered at another Toronto beach.
That same sand pit is also permanently chained off along its northern perimeter, against the designers' wishes. Though the chain serves no apparent purpose, except to limit access, it has been welded in place by nervous local authorities from the parks and recreation department – just in case.
Among HtO's highlights is a cluster of bright yellow umbrellas that invite visitors to sit down and enjoy themselves. One can't help but notice, however, that they are a little too high. Why? Well, of course, if they were any lower people would be climbing all over them, hurting themselves and damaging the umbrellas.
Who would have thought a beach could be so terribly dangerous?
Who would have thought governments could erect so many barriers to the creation of something as benign, positive and healthy as public space?
This might not be intentional, but it amounts to the same thing.
As deputy mayor and head of the HtO steering committee chair Joe Pantalone pointed out at yesterday's unveiling, "Things never happen easily at city hall."
We have created a culture of anxiety and negativity that pervades our lives. The fear of risk is one thing, but we have crossed a line and entered a zone of paranoia that makes it easier just to say no, to do nothing.
To make matters worse, we have bred a public sector that sees initiatives like HtO as incursions into what rightfully belongs to it, not us. The knee-jerk response is not to enable, say, the building of innovative beaches such as this, but to figure out ways of killing the project. The preferred method is death by a thousand cuts.
In a small but telling detail, the city will have to pay rent to the Toronto Port Authority because HtO extends ever so slightly over the lake, this part of which the port authority "owns." It's rather like what the city is doing up at the Royal Ontario Museum, which must pay a yearly fee to Toronto because the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal occupies air space "owned" by the city.
The most remarkable aspect of this story is the happy ending; against all odds, HtO survived the bureaucratic onslaught to become the best thing to happen on the waterfront in years.
`We had no idea it would take so much time and be so difficult,' HtO designer says of new lakeside park
Jun 09, 2007 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume Star columnist
Are we really as dumb as they think? Are we really so stupid that we can't be trusted with a beach?
Maybe, but certainly the designers of HtO, Toronto's marvellous new lakeside park, had to fight like mad to keep their scheme from being watered down to the point where it barely made sense.
That's why yesterday's opening was two years late. Just getting permission to build the "urban beach" involved a marathon of bureaucracy. Approval had to be gained from city, provincial and federal governments as well as myriad agencies.
There's the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Toronto Port Authority, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the list goes on and on.
"The approval process was really something," says Toronto landscape architect Janet Rosenberg, who with Montreal paysagiste Claude Cormier and architect Siamak Hariri, designed HtO. "Nobody has ever done anything like this and we had no idea it would take so much time and be so difficult."
It's also worth noting that the beach's $10-million budget came from money promised to Harbourfront by Pierre Trudeau in the mid-1970s!
Better late than never, but by any standard three decades is a long time to wait.
Then there's the design itself. In the original scheme, a series of terraces led down to the water unencumbered by any restraints. In the finished version, however, the terraces are gone, and a low railing – a "toe roll" – runs along the edge.
And what about the sand pit that extends almost the full length of the beach? Several years ago, city officials decided it had to be eliminated after razor blades were discovered at another Toronto beach.
That same sand pit is also permanently chained off along its northern perimeter, against the designers' wishes. Though the chain serves no apparent purpose, except to limit access, it has been welded in place by nervous local authorities from the parks and recreation department – just in case.
Among HtO's highlights is a cluster of bright yellow umbrellas that invite visitors to sit down and enjoy themselves. One can't help but notice, however, that they are a little too high. Why? Well, of course, if they were any lower people would be climbing all over them, hurting themselves and damaging the umbrellas.
Who would have thought a beach could be so terribly dangerous?
Who would have thought governments could erect so many barriers to the creation of something as benign, positive and healthy as public space?
This might not be intentional, but it amounts to the same thing.
As deputy mayor and head of the HtO steering committee chair Joe Pantalone pointed out at yesterday's unveiling, "Things never happen easily at city hall."
We have created a culture of anxiety and negativity that pervades our lives. The fear of risk is one thing, but we have crossed a line and entered a zone of paranoia that makes it easier just to say no, to do nothing.
To make matters worse, we have bred a public sector that sees initiatives like HtO as incursions into what rightfully belongs to it, not us. The knee-jerk response is not to enable, say, the building of innovative beaches such as this, but to figure out ways of killing the project. The preferred method is death by a thousand cuts.
In a small but telling detail, the city will have to pay rent to the Toronto Port Authority because HtO extends ever so slightly over the lake, this part of which the port authority "owns." It's rather like what the city is doing up at the Royal Ontario Museum, which must pay a yearly fee to Toronto because the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal occupies air space "owned" by the city.
The most remarkable aspect of this story is the happy ending; against all odds, HtO survived the bureaucratic onslaught to become the best thing to happen on the waterfront in years.
p5connex
Active Member
That is pretty impressive- I actually thought it was going to be much smaller, but it looks like it could accommodate quite a few people. I am disappointed that they removed the waters-edge element from the end-product, but maybe this is something that can be added in the near future?
On another note, the aerial view really shows how much still needs to be done in order to make the waterfront a continuous and coherent band, as opposed to the patchwork system that is in place now- however, this park is another step in filling in the gap-toothed smile.
It will be amazing (if it ever really happens) to see that same aerial shot, once the West 8 proposal, the East Donlands and the eastern waterfront are complete-waaweewa!!
p5
On another note, the aerial view really shows how much still needs to be done in order to make the waterfront a continuous and coherent band, as opposed to the patchwork system that is in place now- however, this park is another step in filling in the gap-toothed smile.
It will be amazing (if it ever really happens) to see that same aerial shot, once the West 8 proposal, the East Donlands and the eastern waterfront are complete-waaweewa!!
p5
rp07
Active Member
Thanks luvbrka! Can't wait to take a look at the display myself. Our waterfront is slowly but surely changing and for the better. The new HtO park is great! Everyone should take a visit.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
H20 by Night
By night I think some of the lighting is a bit too bright but there is very little lighting (in fact, none) along the water's edge as can be seen below.
By night I think some of the lighting is a bit too bright but there is very little lighting (in fact, none) along the water's edge as can be seen below.
ShonTron
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I noticed that the LED lamps (I thought they might have been cameras) do change colour a bit, and the colour mixes (blues, greens, yellows) give an interesting green glow on each of the lawns.
Here's some day shots (around 5:30) - it was full of families, kids that were enjoying the sand, Afro music playing and gathering a crowd, people walking along the water, at least three or four different uses that I saw at one time.
I am very impressed, though I think a few fountains like at Dundas Square should be there to get people wet a bit.
Right next to the William Lyon Mackenzie fire boat.
Firefigher's memorial next to the marine fire station.
