Toronto David Crombie Park Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto

[AlexBozikovic]

Here, we see the preservation of the cast-in-place concrete walkways with rather sparse bands of brick. We should be using more granite and stone in our public spaces. It lasts a long time and makes for higher-quality public realm. Bare concrete retaining walls look cheap and utilitarian.

The concrete in this park looks very good (though it needs a clean) and it's 50 years old! Not a bad case for the longevity of the material...

 

[junctionist]

The concrete in this park looks very good (though it needs a clean) and it's 50 years old! Not a bad case for the longevity of the material...

That's a good point about longevity, but concrete tends to lose its appeal in landscape design as it ages (and usually after just a couple of years as the clean white look gets stained and turns grey).

 

[Northern Light]

That's a good point about longevity, but concrete tends to lose its appeal in landscape design as it ages (and usually after just a couple of years as the clean white look gets stained and turns grey).

Here's a question for you, not necessarily specific to the concrete in David Crombie Park..........but then again...........

The 'white' you see in typical concrete application in Toronto isn't the colour of the concrete per se; its the curing compound.

But, its entirely possible to dye concrete. It actually dyes quite well and you can a range of colours.

We don't see that done all that often in Toronto.

Here's an image of Cisco Systems Campus, whose landscape features this:

Source: https://www.daviscolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/davis-colors-cisco-systems2.jpg

Would you feel different about concrete as a material if we made better use of this application?

Question 2:

The current Green Streets design the City is implementing features standard concrete curbs around planting areas, but the seatwall is capped in limestone. What about the use of capping (you could think of it as a veneer, the though the seat slab is decently thick). You can cap just on top, but in theory, you can cap on the sides too.

One can also affix other materials. In the Cromibie proposal, you'll see some wooden seating being affixed to some of the concrete seat walls. You can affix wood, or Corten steel among other materials to add warmth or texture to concrete.

I'm not advocating here, just curious on your thoughts.

 

[Skyhighzz]

I genuinely hope this project turns out well. Everyone was so excited by the Nathan Phillips Square revitalization that was focused on restoring the original design but with enhancements.

The end result, while an improvement overall with the stage, restaurant and washrooms, highlighted the weaknesses of the original design as well. There's a vast expanse of concrete in front of City Hall that's sterile and boring. The overhead walkways remain problematic from an operational standpoint and are often closed to this day.

Here, we see the preservation of the cast-in-place concrete walkways with rather sparse bands of brick. We should be using more granite and stone in our public spaces. It lasts a long time and makes for higher-quality public realm. Bare concrete retaining walls look cheap and utilitarian.

of note …If Nathan Phillips Square was the 3rd or 4th big public space in town, then maybe one can look past the cost-cutting, drab, boring, overly concrete unimaginative reno; but the fact that this square is the “Premier Space” in this booming big city is just woeful & shockingly short-sighted by city staff & then council under mayor Tory.
The “Let’s cut 12 mil. from this project and get it down quicker & no one will ever notice the difference” …crew.
May we assume lessons were learned!???

 

[junctionist]

Here's a question for you, not necessarily specific to the concrete in David Crombie Park..........but then again...........

The 'white' you see in typical concrete application in Toronto isn't the colour of the concrete per se; its the curing compound.

But, its entirely possible to dye concrete. It actually dyes quite well and you can a range of colours.

We don't see that done all that often in Toronto.

Here's an image of Cisco Systems Campus, whose landscape features this:

View attachment 569377
Source: https://www.daviscolors.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/davis-colors-cisco-systems2.jpg

Would you feel different about concrete as a material if we made better use of this application?

Question 2:

The current Green Streets design the City is implementing features standard concrete curbs around planting areas, but the seatwall is capped in limestone. What about the use of capping (you could think of it as a veneer, the though the seat slab is decently thick). You can cap just on top, but in theory, you can cap on the sides too.

One can also affix other materials. In the Cromibie proposal, you'll see some wooden seating being affixed to some of the concrete seat walls. You can affix wood, or Corten steel among other materials to add warmth or texture to concrete.

I'm not advocating here, just curious on your thoughts.

Colouring concrete helps to give it a more aesthetically pleasing design for sure. It'll still lack the texture and sheen of granite and other kinds of stone, as well as traditional red paving bricks. It'll therefore still feel inferior to stone but to a lesser extent.

It's surprising that we have so much gneiss and granite in the Canadian Shield in Ontario but almost never see it used for pavements in public spaces here. In terms of curbs, we could use more granite curbs and gutters in the city.

I like the idea of capping concrete retaining walls/benches with stone and warm materials. But the people undertaking the project need to know what they're doing because the veneer can crumble if it's improperly constructed. Many kinds of wood are attractive as accents at first but fade to a neutral and dull brown colour after a few years (unless they're treated regularly). Our public service isn't great at that kind of maintenance, unfortunately.