Toronto Bridgepoint Hospital | 61.87m | 10s | Bridgepoint Health | Diamond Schmitt

College Park said:
Look at how the hospital massing sets a precedent against the backdrop of Riverdale. Are we seeing the start of a density push across the river? Between Scarborough bluffs and downtown, there is a large march of suburban neighborhoods.
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You can't really see the old hospital, but it's not bigger (8 stories, but with a parking garage below that sticks out from the hill toward the DVP, so it looks bigger.) It doesn't set a precedent for anything but this site; having said that, they're planning on destroying the old hospital and the 'new' jail, both of which will be developable properties that will probably be permitted to be the same height (give or take) as the hospital. This campus will be as many as six buildings if they develop all the greyed-out squares on the original site plan I saw.
 
adma said:
What do you mean by "slightly creepy"?
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The hospital itself, with curved balconies always struck me as having a forgotten Hollywood vibe about it and not in a good way. For me the jail was always okay, just the hospital as a long term facility struck me as not cheery or well kept. Having a modern long term facility in the Riverdale Park is a real positive for the people who are there and I believe meshes with the myriad of uses the park has. I still think the view from Cabbagetown doesn't do the site justice and in the end it is and will be good.
 
brianmac said:
Having a modern long term facility in the Riverdale Park is a real positive for the people who are there and I believe meshes with the myriad of uses the park has. I still think the view from Cabbagetown doesn't do the site justice and in the end it is and will be good.
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I agree that this general location is great for this kind of facility. My objection to the project has nothing to do with the general site, or even the building itself, just how it is situated. The view from Cabbagetown (and from the Viaduct) makes it clear just how much this building projects down into the valley and dominates the area in a way the old hospital didn't (it was set farther back from the valley and parkway, and thus partially hidden by the trees). The impact this building has is not going to change as the project progresses.
 
Tulse said:
I agree that this general location is great for this kind of facility. My objection to the project has nothing to do with the general site, or even the building itself, just how it is situated. The view from Cabbagetown (and from the Viaduct) makes it clear just how much this building projects down into the valley and dominates the area in a way the old hospital didn't (it was set farther back from the valley and parkway, and thus partially hidden by the trees). The impact this building has is not going to change as the project progresses.
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Gotcha, makes sense. You are probably right, the same building in the spot of the old hospital would likely be a whole lot less domineering. I guess it's the reality of the situation having to build than replace. Either way, I don't think it spells doom for the park and in fact is a long term positive.
 
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I'll give KPMB's building this, compared to Chapman and Hurst's half round, that it sets up a more interesting dialogue with William Thomas's Don Jail. The half round created a dead zone by turning away from the Jail.
 
From my POV today

 
One of KPMB's most satisfying exteriors when considered as pure form, I think. Crossing the Dundas bridge ten minutes ago by streetcar, before signing in here at the library, I was much taken by the sculptural west side of the building - images of the grey, overcast sky and scudding clouds icily reflected on the muted glass, fractured by the play of vertical and horizontal elements that form the building's surface. That large, vertical component of the facade, itself faced with vertically oriented glass panels of different tonal ranges, was a particularly striking feature.
 
brianmac said:
The hospital itself, with curved balconies always struck me as having a forgotten Hollywood vibe about it and not in a good way.
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I really like the "forgotten Hollywood" description.

It's exactly how I always thought of this building in Hamilton, the aptly named Beverly Hills tower, complete with Googie design of the entrance.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
You can't really see the old hospital, but it's not bigger (8 stories, but with a parking garage below that sticks out from the hill toward the DVP, so it looks bigger.) It doesn't set a precedent for anything but this site; having said that, they're planning on destroying the old hospital and the 'new' jail, both of which will be developable properties that will probably be permitted to be the same height (give or take) as the hospital. This campus will be as many as six buildings if they develop all the greyed-out squares on the original site plan I saw.
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I was wrong about the height of the new hospital -- it's a solid three-four stories taller than the old hospital now. Definitely a bigger presence.
 
Very nice article today, UT, on the topping off!

One other cool thing: The Governor's House is also getting a reno to become a children's hospice:

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/l...hildren-s-hospice-to-reclaim-governor-s-house

And the derelict house on Gerrard seems to be getting a makeover, too? Now, if we could just get the owners of the beautiful old mansions on Broadview (most cut up into crappy rooming houses right now) to renovate, this corner would be one of the jewels of the city once it's all done.
 
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