Pearson T1 - Pier F

[AndreaPalladio]

Of course, it never worked for passengers, for whom it was not designed. The miles of endless walking that flying into or out of T2 makes its destruction a cause for celebration.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Over 90% of the demolition material from the early-1980's ROM Terrace Galleries, demolished to make way for the Crystal, was also recycled. Recycled materials have value, and landfill costs are reduced by recycling. The large Terrace Galleries concrete beams were reused in the Lake Ontario Conservation Program; tons of steel beams were recycled in the U of T's Scarborough campus student centre; steel and rebar was reprocessed through scrap metal facilities to make new steel products etc. I would imagine Terminal 2 will be recycled in much the same way.

 

[Sir Novelty Fashion]

Probably. But waste isn't just in the rubble. Think about the energy that was expended creating the original building, from gathering the original materials, to transporting and assembling them - to say nothing of the stored energy that binds a solid building together.

It's all well and good in an age of cheap and unlimited energy. But that age might not last forever.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Hundreds of construction workers were kept gainfully employed in building it, and in unbuilding it. Maybe some of them did both. I doubt if any of them are complaining.

 

[Jdot]

I have used T2 a few times, and I am not sad to see it go (perhaps because of the US pre-clearance and the long lines at Canadian Customs there), except maybe the terraced parking garage, which was kind of cool. T-1 was much sadder.

One must still pre-clear customs for the US in T1-New. I reallydont like those US customs agents who act like they control what happens at a Canadian airport.

 

[unimaginative2]

The walks for many trips aren't any shorter. For Rapidair, they're significantly longer, especially when the planes periodically arrive at Pier E instead of the commuter pier. It doesn't bother me, but many frequent flyers are quite irritated with the walking distance from car to gate at T1. From the Hammerhead, even I would admit that the walk is quite long.

 

[adma]

Probably. But waste isn't just in the rubble. Think about the energy that was expended creating the original building, from gathering the original materials, to transporting and assembling them - to say nothing of the stored energy that binds a solid building together.

It's all well and good in an age of cheap and unlimited energy. But that age might not last forever.

True, but the unlamented nature of T2 offers a counter-quandary. Is the tragedy more in the current waste of embodied-energy, or the fact that, as a utilitarian quick-fix "temp" solution, T2 was built right at the tail end of that age of cheap and unlimited energy, and in a Brutal-ish mode that epitomized that moment?

Just as 70s cars were gas-guzzlers, buildings like this were embodied-energy guzzlers. Had T2 emerged under similar circumstances 3 decades later, it might have been an Ove Arup-ish series of steel tent/hangar-like structures whose parts could easily be dismantled and reused elsewhere--reflecting how these days, embodied energy is (or at least ought to be) factored in in advance...

 

[CDL.TO]

Back when, Air Canada was to remain in T1 while other airlines were to relocate to the new T2. As such, the terminal was given a unique design: four separate check-in areas and the garage divided up based upon departure zone are a reflection of the original plan. Each of the major airlines moving in to the terminal would have their own garage section, connected directly to their own check-in area, connected to their own gate area. Virtually, 4 little terminals under one roof.

It was not to be.

I've flown out of that terminal more times than I can count, but I'll remember T2 for the memories that it enabled, not the building itself. Farewell.

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(Forgive the quality, photos of slides)

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Abandoned terminal, from December.

The future looms over the T2 parking lot.

 

[MetroMan]

Good riddance! That jammed USA lineup gives me the willies....

 

[Filip]

It's sad to see the optimism that went into the design of T2, along with those renderings and models... Now we look at it in discontent and want it gone. Sad, I'll miss it. My first time in Toronto was in a Swissair back in 1995 - it landed at T2.

 

[Observer Walt]

T2 reflected its times, as most buildings do. But priorities and ways of doing business changed.

T2 carries with it many memories, as airports do by nature. But I really think few will miss this building as a building per se, as it really never did have much to recommend it. I am not shedding any tears.

 

[Urban Shocker]

CDL.TO: Thanks for posting those pictures. I remember that day, when those two enormous hands appeared out of the sky and started moving the cars around with giant tweezers. Ah, memories.

 

[AndreaPalladio]

That was probably the only way to get a giant 1972 Parisienne into a small parking spot.

 

[interchange42]

Pier F High Speed Moving Walkways: still outta commish.

yyzer: What is it exactly that they are doing to the ends of the things that will allow them to put it into operation?

They do look cool, BTW, and I look forward to being able to give them a spin sometime soon...

42

 

[Urban Shocker]

How strange: they were working when I left on June 2nd. They didn't seem to be anything out of the usual, faster than expected or anything - Heathrow has had them for years.