Toronto Eaton Centre (Ongoing Renewal) | ?m | ?s | Cadillac Fairview | Zeidler

[caltrane74]

More of my update of the Eaton Centre Renovation.

For those that don't know the Eaton Centre is in the top tier of Ontario Malls probably preceded by the likes of Yorkdale, Square One or Sherway Gardens. To me I find it's very elegant inside, even though half the people there are gangsters and teenage hoodlums.

All the railings and flooring on these levels need to be replaced with the glass and and flooring of the previous photos.
Still alot of work to be done.

The Eaton Centre was among the first in a new concept of North American Malls, inthat it was built in a downtown centre. Others followed and have tried to duplicate it's success, only a few of those attempts have succeeded.

The Eaton Centre started construction in 1969 and was partially opened from the mid-1970's in stages.

You can see the 1970's mystik in the photo above with the tube railing that gave the Eaton Centre it's distinctive look.

When complete a new look, for a new century. Moving forward into the new age for Downtown Toronto set to take on the other global cities on their turf, of high and low end shopping for young punks - like Shinjuku in Tokyo. Of course those that hate kids, can always go to Yorkville Ginza!

 

[adma]

You know, thinking of this thread and others, I think there may also be a "generation gap" in the perception of malls...a lot of which is based upon how malls themselves used to be designed and conceived. And some of it's based upon a discussion elsewhere of the present lackluster state of the "last of the GTA mall era malls", the Erin Mills Town Centre. I tried framing it in sociological terms of a white-middle concept colliding with an ethnoburban present and future...but maybe the ultimate issue is: that old way of mall building was just too capital-A Architectural for its own good. Maybe in a way that served well at the time, back when anchors like Eaton's and Simpson's seemed as stately and eternal as the big 5 banks...but once that all decomposed, it came to seem an overwrought dinosaur. The new mall/retail order came to be based upon unsentimental, fashionable dispensibility, instead.

Perhaps the more self-consciously "architectonic" quality of Cold War-era "mallitecture" was a vestige of a more civic-minded past--in the mind of mall pioneer Victor Gruen, it certainly seems to have been, Certianly, the open arcades and Modernist pavilions of the 50s/60s, the abstractly prismatic Brutalist brick/concrete forms and Wrightian snowflake/hexagon planning patterns of the 60s/70s, and the high-tech and postmodern galleria'd gaiety of the 70s/80s all seemed to strive for something beyond crass commercialism. Something Higher. Something Architectural. And maybe nowhere more so (and often, more tragically so) in those latter-day attempts to bring civic-minded mall retail into the city via all those Eaton Centre clones and imitators out there.

So, to those conditioned within that period (which also happened to be the period when the heritage movement not only blossomed, but ultimately came to paradoxically encompass modern and recent-past heritage as well), a "heritage perception" of the Eaton Centre 30+ years in is perfectly valid. Because, in Zeidler's hands, it truly did convey itself as an Important Work Of Architecture.

But maybe there's where, to younger eyes, its obsolescence lies--modern retail culture is ultimately meant to be evanescent, after all, and not bogged down by Architecture. To such eyes, campaigning on behalf of the Eaton Centre is as illogical as campaigning on behalf of the West Edmonton Mall.

Which is an interesting case in point; because as I see it, the West Edmonton Mall signified not just a whole new scale of mall-building, but a more materialistic, "architecture-free-zone" approach to mall building. It was "mallness" in its rawest form, entropically style-free--and as such, endlessly adaptable, as it was about "the retail, stupid" (+ whatever other public frills came as a savvy byproduct of West Edmonton's hyperactive sprawl)

Combine that with retail trends that increasingly drew more from the quick-turnover ethos of zones like Asia, and architecture (including pre-existing architecture) came to seem a dispensably obsolete frill, a Cold War artifact. One can't imagine a power centre becoming a preservationist fetish object; it's the ever-renewing realm of rip-it-up-and-start-over. And a Vaughan Mills registers more as a set of SUV-scaled retail tableaus than as Architecture--in fact, if you want anyplace mallish where the Architecture-based ethos still exists in post-Y2K terms, look to mixed-blessing boutiqueish realm of Don Mills, Douglas Coupland sculptural conceits and all.

So, if there are those in this thread who are "bring it on" sanguine about the Eaton Centre transformation...well, that may be why it is. Of course, maybe we should learn from the post-WWII period as to the perils of treating obsolete-age urban architectural artifacts as dispensible...

 

[yyzer]

Excellent post, adma! I wonder if the trend towards dispensible architecture might have some influence on the latest crop of office buildings as well?

 

[Dan416]

When you use the word "disposable" what comes to my mind first and foremost is Heartland Town Centre. It's basically anti-architecture. Nothing at HTC looks permanent. Look at the way original anchors like Staples, Winners, Home Depot and Future Shop picked up and moved across the street when HTC expanded. The old Home Depot was gone in no time. Or look where Petsmart used to be, and now there's Banana Republic and Gap Factory stores, and how the precast panels came down easily and were replaced to make it look different/newer/slightly better. Heartland is just a bunch of precast panels thrown up with a sign showing the name of the store. It's totally anonymous. And it's kicking Erin Mills Town Centre's ass. I wouldn't go as far as saying HTC has been the death knell for EMTC, but it's close.

 

[alklay]

Yes, excellent post. Those who advocated against the preservationists in this thread, certainly argued that retail was paramount.

 

[adma]

Excellent post, adma! I wonder if the trend towards dispensible architecture might have some influence on the latest crop of office buildings as well?

Probably not to the same degree, since there remains a certain non-retail "gravitas" mindset behind office buildings--and even more importantly, they tend to retain their expression as "architecture", by architects, as opposed to being by anonymous development or design/build conglomerates. (But judging my past framing of SmitherPants vs Ford as a race btw/ the "architects" and "design/builds", maybe there *is* some cultural influence seeping into politics.)

In any of these regards, I'm wondering if the writings of Rem Koolhaas have left their mark on attitudes out there...

 

[adma]

Yes, excellent post. Those who advocated against the preservationists in this thread, certainly argued that retail was paramount.

But there does remain a certain baby-with-the-bathwater myopia/amnesia regarding the existing premises of said retail--particularly in the case of something as informed by a civic architectural spirit such as the Eaton Centre (the urban-clearcut way in which it came to be notwithstanding)

It'd be like a hypothetical Urban Toronto thread of 40-45 years ago arguing on behalf of the proposed reclad of the Simpson's store in tune w/Parkin's tower.

 

[AHK]

More of my update of the Eaton Centre Renovation.

...... To me I find it's very elegant inside, even though half the people there are gangsters and teenage hoodlums.

......
Moving forward into the new age for Downtown Toronto set to take on the other global cities on their turf, of high and low end shopping for young punks - like Shinjuku in Tokyo. Of course those that hate kids, can always go to Yorkville Ginza!

What can one say to words like this? Almost like Fox News being fair and balanced. To me, comments like this speak far more about the person saying them (make your own opinion here - I'll keep mine to myself), than to the point they are trying to make.

AHK

 

[adHominem]

When you use the word "disposable" what comes to my mind first and foremost is Heartland Town Centre. It's basically anti-architecture. Nothing at HTC looks permanent.

I thought immediately of Pacific Mall; the entire interior is modular. Most of the stores inside could be removed and replaced overnight.

 

[Parkdalian]

Yeah, great post adma.

It does bring up interesting questions about how architecturally neutral these new power centres are. They often have some vestigial remains of some PoMo thinking - a turret or clock tower or gabled roof to give a vague feeling that this place is in the lineage of "town square." I almost wish they'd get even more bare - cut out any pretense to decoration and embrace the bare forms. It's like they are backing into modernism - not approaching it as a positive source of beauty, but as something you've discovered when you have thrown everything else away.

And perhaps this will change? Commerce works on cyclicly pinning consumers into certain corners and then "discovering" the obvious flaws in the existing product so as to create demand for a new one. Perhaps destination power centres will eventually become a new trend?

 

[adma]

Yeah, great post adma.

It does bring up interesting questions about how architecturally neutral these new power centres are. They often have some vestigial remains of some PoMo thinking - a turret or clock tower or gabled roof to give a vague feeling that this place is in the lineage of "town square." I almost wish they'd get even more bare - cut out any pretense to decoration and embrace the bare forms. It's like they are backing into modernism - not approaching it as a positive source of beauty, but as something you've discovered when you have thrown everything else away.

And perhaps this will change? Commerce works on cyclicly pinning consumers into certain corners and then "discovering" the obvious flaws in the existing product so as to create demand for a new one. Perhaps destination power centres will eventually become a new trend?

In a way (and as I've suggested), there's already a model at Don Mills

...which, given present reductivist retail trends, may be a little too "high concept" for its own good, even if it's paradoxically more tied in with the "enlightened" thinking behind early Yorkdale, et al. (And the failure of McNally Robinson is an emblem of why it's so.)

I mean, true w/the "vestigial remains" in present power centres--after all, that was a key part of the pitch for what SmartCentres planned for Eastern Ave. But we're talking about something so purposely vestigial, it's like PoMo pumped full of MSG and other lab-based additives so there's nothing "natural" remaining--otherwise, it's like forcing the shoppers to eat their carrots...

 

[Bayer]

I walk in the Eaton Centre every day as I rent office space in the complex, and the more I look at the renovations, the more I think of them as a disaster. All that glass and metal, combined with a cheap, bland and very dirt-revealing matte flooring, creates a dull and depressing atmosphere. The new railings don't lighten up the place at all; on the contrary, they make it more austere.

 

[taal]

Disaster is going a little bit overboard in my books

At worst, it may appear not much has changed (which may be a plus to some). Also, I quite like the tiling on the top floor - I know it's grayish but it's quite nice and pulls off that upscale look.

Regarding the rest - the tiling is very similar to what used to be there - take that for what it's worth. Regarding the glass / stainless steel - it's OK, I find the stainless tends to get dirty so I'm not really in love with it.

I think other the food court when everything is said and done we won't notice a huge difference. Compared to say Yorkdale after the renovation which was for the most part a changed mall altogether.
btw don't forget the eaton center renovation is 120 million - I think that's the most of any of the recent renovations so they are spending a lot of money it seems.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I didn't mind the new railings or flooring that much - not exactly heritage, but certain beats cracked terrazzo and chipped steps. What I am slightly concerned about is the rough edges around the reno (e.g. along stair railings) where the old and the new isn't quite polished.

AoD

 

[taal]

I didn't mind the new railings or flooring that much - not exactly heritage, but certain beats cracked terrazzo and chipped steps. What I am slightly concerned about is the rough edges around the reno (e.g. along stair railings) where the old and the new isn't quite polished.

AoD

I noticed some of this but it looked as if they'll be comming back to fix these - at least I hope so.