Toronto Nathan Phillips Square + Spirit Garden | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto

Tuscani01 said:
The positioning of the stage is terrible for large events at NPS. They should take advantage of the green roof and overhead walkways and use those as a stage. That way the musical acts can be seen from more than one small area. The crowd on Queen Street looked much larger than what the square was able to hold... it's time to spread out the entertainment a bit more so you don't have thousands standing around doing and seeing nothing. (Even more/bigger screens would have helped - Kind of like the Pan Am set-up)
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I wonder if they are looking into just taking them down as they just create a barrier to city hall from the street plus they aren't accessible for poel in wheelchairs and also lugging equipment up to them for a one time show isn't likely to happen.

I get that the architect had some sort of idea about them but sometimes ideas have to be changed with the changing aesthetics of things for example the concert hall in Roy Thompson hall used to be bare concrete and it was ecstatically terrible the running joke was the Toronto Symphony sounded better on the road then at home. They took down all of the baffles and the plastic birdbaths from the ceiling and added wood panels to it and even added wood to the floors all to help with the sound.
 
EastYorkTTCFan said:
I wonder if they are looking into just taking them down as they just create a barrier to city hall from the street plus they aren't accessible for poel in wheelchairs and also lugging equipment up to them for a one time show isn't likely to happen.

I get that the architect had some sort of idea about them but sometimes ideas have to be changed with the changing aesthetics of things for example the concert hall in Roy Thompson hall used to be bare concrete and it was ecstatically terrible the running joke was the Toronto Symphony sounded better on the road then at home. They took down all of the baffles and the plastic birdbaths from the ceiling and added wood panels to it and even added wood to the floors all to help with the sound.
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To be clear, we're only talking about the portion of the elevated walkway that spans from the hotel across Queen St. to the square. There are no current plans to remove the elevated walkway anywhere else in the square itself, and I doubt there ever will be, at least in the foreseeable future.
 
Yes. That's the only portion that the city had considered removing but couldn't reach an agreement on who was responsible for removing it or at least maintaining it. It's also the only portion with these temp supports added to the columns. Someone knowledgeable about demolition and/or structural engineering would be able to tell if the supports are being added for a demolition or a concern with its integrity.
 
The way it looks, the temporary pillars are there to replace the concrete pillars for a time while they're removed in preparation for demolition of the bridge or replaced with new ones.

Here's how I think it could be done: they'd dismantle parts of the bridge like the walls to reduce weight, then cut the deck in pieces corresponding to the division of the pillars, then remove the concrete pillars. The bridge would be supported by the temp pillars at this point. Finally, they'd lower each section of the deck on to a flatbed truck by ratcheting down the temp pillars, aided by a crane to keep it steady and orient each piece onto the flatbed.

Once the walls are removed, the deck is cut, and the concrete pillars are removed, lowering the deck in a few pieces would not take long. They could do it overnight.
 
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Councillor KWT says that the Sheraton is responsible for maintaining that walkway. Looks like they're repairing it.

It makes no sense that they'd repair it now after replacing doors on their end with fixed windows. Sheraton customers can't use the bridge. What's the point in spending money to keep it?
 
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MetroMan said:
Councillor KWT says that the Sheraton is responsible for maintaining that walkway. Looks like they're repairing it.

It make sure no sense that they'd repair it now after replacing doors on their end with fixed windows. Sheraton customers can't use the bridge. What's the point in spending money to keep it?
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Yeah, and it also sucks. Got my hopes up here :(
 
MetroMan said:
Councillor KWT says that the Sheraton is responsible for maintaining that walkway. Looks like they're repairing it.

It make sure no sense that they'd repair it now after replacing doors on their end with fixed windows. Sheraton customers can't use the bridge. What's the point in spending money to keep it?
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Sense or not, it appears that the owners of the Sheraton Centre have a legal obligation to maintain the bridge, whether they use it or not. The agreement was likely signed at a time when the connection was seen as a great feature for guests and it never occurred to anyone involved that they would ever not want/need access to the NPS elevated walkway.

It doesn't mean that at the same time the owners of the Sheraton Centre aren't negotiating to tear the thing down. Although their motivation to do so presumably diminishes once they've spent money repairing it and it is structurally sound for the foreseeable future.
 
There may be a hesitation by the Sheraton to get rid of the connection now that the city is revitalizing the walkways and better connecting them to the square. In a few years, they may become a major feature with wood decks and gardens and the Sheraton can reopen their end and provide a direct connection.
 
MetroMan said:
There may be a hesitation by the Sheraton to get rid of the connection now that the city is revitalizing the walkways and better connecting them to the square. In a few years, they may become a major feature with wood decks and gardens and the Sheraton can reopen their end and provide a direct connection.
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Isn't that aspect/phase of the revitalization effectively dead in the water? I'd love if I've missed an update in that regard...
 
Wasn't the cost of demolition a deciding factor in keeping the bridge up? I'm pretty sure it was decided that it would be cheaper to keep it in a state of good repair than it would to be demolish it.

I believe The Sheraton wanted it gone, and reached out to the city for help with the cost, but the city refused.
 
MetroMan said:
There may be a hesitation by the Sheraton to get rid of the connection now that the city is revitalizing the walkways and better connecting them to the square. In a few years, they may become a major feature with wood decks and gardens and the Sheraton can reopen their end and provide a direct connection.
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Would that this come to be.
 
ADRM said:
Isn't that aspect/phase of the revitalization effectively dead in the water? I'd love if I've missed an update in that regard...
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Delayed, not cancelled. Tory wanted to get on with calling the project complete. The walkways are still very much in the works. This and other items will be built as individual projects that are easier to get funding for than adding to the already over budget and horrendously late revitalization mega project.

The good news is that the walkways must be maintained. The city has to find money for them regardless. If the much newer Sheraton walkways are in need of repair, the original walkways must be due soon as well.

The last I heard, they were considering replacing all the walls with glass instead of just the cutouts in the PLANT proposal. It would be cheaper than trying to restore the existing walls. Some segments need to be replaced entirely and matching them to the original walls was proving difficult. Those sections weren't in the places where PLANT wanted to put glass in. I think it would look quite nice with a ring of glass around the square. It would give us the benefit of more transparency that tear down proponents wanted while being able to keep the walkways that the preservationists demanded.

npspai_walkway2_6.jpg
 
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