Toronto Hotel X (was Hotel in the Garden) | ?m | 27s | Exhibition Place | NORR

Looks more like a resort. The lake, tennis, pool, club room. How far of a walking distance from the city is it???
 
Depends where you are walking to. 10 minutes to Liberty Village, 30 minutes to the Entertainment District
 
Let's separate the idea of a hotel on the grounds of the CNE (public property), with what is emerging week by week, a building so graceless in its massing, and so dominating of its environment, that the entire equilibrium of what made the CNE special has, I'm afraid, been irreparably destroyed.

The CNE was always a series of permanent pavilions separated by promenades and landscaping. Once a year, the grounds would be transformed with the ephemera of the midway. What rose above base building heights were domes or spires. The site evolved over the years with the Modernist buildings of the 50's and 60's adhering to the same design principles, with the Shell Tower actually terminating the axial view from the Princes' Gates.

All harmony gone now by successive Boards of Governors who were entrusted to safeguard the public's interests and ended up demolishing two of the best buildings on the site (the Shell Tower and the Grandstand) and now inflicting this architectural nonentity (that cladding!) that has too large a floor plate and is too tall. Did this even go to the Design Review Panel? Do the Tall Buildings Guidelines apply on City-owned properties? The fact that it is also built on one of the most significant archaeological sites in the city (the New Fort) is particular galling.

Why did everyone roll over on this one, from the planners to the councillor to the residents? Why was this not a competition like the North Market?

Aerial 1948:

 
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thecharioteer said:
Let's separate the idea of a hotel on the grounds of the CNE (public property), with what is emerging week by week, a building so graceless in its massing, and so dominating of its environment, that the entire equilibrium of what made the CNE special has, I'm afraid, been irreparably destroyed.

The CNE was always a series of permanent pavilions separated by promenades and landscaping. Once a year, the grounds would be transformed with the ephemera of the midway. What rose above base building heights were domes or spires. The site evolved over the years with the Modernist buildings of the 50's and 60's adhering to the same design principles, with the Shell Tower actually terminating the axial view from the Princes' Gates.

All harmony gone now by successive Boards of Governors who were entrusted to safeguard the public's interests and ended up demolishing two of the best buildings on the site (the Shell Tower and the Grandstand) and now inflicting this architectural nonentity (that cladding!) that has too large a floor plate and is too tall. Did this even go to the Design Review Panel? Do the Tall Buildings Guidelines apply on City-owned properties? The fact that it is also built on one of the most significant archaeological sites in the city (the New Fort) is particular galling.

Why did everyone roll over on this one, from the planners to the councillor to the residents? Why was this not a competition like the North Market?
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Your romantic view of the Ex grounds is... puzzling. Have you been there in the last 20 years? The hotel makes perfect sense given what the Ex has become. The Ex grounds is a convention center and public venue space -- what it was in 1948 is irrelevant. The folks hosting weddings at the Liberty Grand, the many, many out-of-towners coming to Direct Energy Centre or the Automotive building or the Ricoh for a game or the Royal Winter will welcome this addition.

Personally, I'd love to be up on the rooftop for the airshow or fireworks or just to look down on the midway -- I'm not a huge CNE fan, but that would be quite the party venue during the Ex, no?
 
Everything you're talking about, RiverdaleRR, is what thecharioteer has asked to separate out. He's not disparaging a hotel on the grounds in that particular post—that's for another post apparently. What is being questioned is how a building went up with what seems to be zero architectural and planning oversight.

The Ex's board did not feel compelled for whatever reasons to apply any tests of architectural worthiness. Apparently they are exempt from the DRP's gaze here, as a City agency they were able to avoid it—but then shouldn't they be the very body to set the example? Very unfortunate that the design that was floated to get the approval in principle for the project was thrown out the moment the project was approved. It all has smell of a dubious business case for the hotel feeding a weak-kneed and easily cowed Board desperate to sign whatever deal they could get so they could get their new facilities, damn the frills like proper design.
 
Public projects should definitely be reviewed by a design panel. However, it shouldn't be the city's Design Review Panel because of the conflicts of interest that would arise.

I think the finished product will look better than the rendering.
 
junctionist said:
Public projects should definitely be reviewed by a design panel. However, it shouldn't be the city's Design Review Panel because of the conflicts of interest that would arise.
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And yet, we find that other City agencies like Toronto Police Services (their two recent award-winning stations in the west end), Real Estate (the North Market) and Parks, Forestry and Recreation (the Regents Park Aquatic Centre), all seem to realize that municipal agencies have an even greater burden to produce excellence in design and are doing so. What happened at the CNE? The Board of Governors consists of 9 members, the Mayor, 4 Council members and 4 members of the public. The politicians certainly could have led the charge but did not.

Imagine if something along the lines of the original Inn on the Park (and I'm not being sentimental; I'm talking about a building typology) had been designed here, in terms of scale, materials, massing, and gardens, enhancing the surrounding heritage buildings, while paying homage to the New Fort precedents. Unfortunately, we're ending up with something more suitable for Highway 7 & 400 than a premier spot on Toronto's waterfront.
 
Gee, lets forget the Doom and Gloom and remember this

The hotel is being built to add new services to the trade show, exhibition, and sports event capabilities of Exhibition Place. The project is located south of the Direct Energy Centre and west of the Allstream Centre to which it will be connected by a skybridge allowing those at the events more convenience and a larger range of spaces with more specialized functions.

The complex will also feature meeting facilities, ballrooms, a 'Cinematech' with 294-seat 3D-capable cinema aimed at the city's film industry and art cinema scene, retail shops, and several restaurants including a rooftop bar and restaurant with panoramic views of the city skyline, Toronto Islands, and Lake Ontario.

The Princes Boulevard side of the project includes a 71,000 square foot sports facility featuring a weights/cardio/physical therapy centre, a yoga/dance/Pilates centre, 10 squash courts including 2 American doubles courts, and 4 indoor tennis courts.

http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/The-Company/Projects/Daily-Top-10/

Very few bldgs, going up in Toronto have this much to offer:cool:
 
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All of which you have bolded is true—the facilities being built onsite will be a boon for Exhibition Place—therefore questions regarding the architecture are not relevant. That's the nitty gritty of your post? You just might be the perfect Exhibition Place board member AG!

42
 
interchange42 said:
All of which you have bolded is true—the facilities being built onsite will be a boon for Exhibition Place—therefore questions regarding the architecture are not relevant. That's the nitty gritty of your post? You just might be the perfect Exhibition Place board member AG!

42
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Indeed. I have no issue with the tower form, but the architecture could be much more sympathetic to the heritage structures in Exhibition Place.

thecharioteer said:
And yet, we find that other City agencies like Toronto Police Services (their two recent award-winning stations in the west end), Real Estate (the North Market) and Parks, Forestry and Recreation (the Regents Park Aquatic Centre), all seem to realize that municipal agencies have an even greater burden to produce excellence in design and are doing so. What happened at the CNE? The Board of Governors consists of 9 members, the Mayor, 4 Council members and 4 members of the public. The politicians certainly could have led the charge but did not.
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The board is too busy worrying about children sneaking into raves, tete a tete with Muzik, etc. Honestly, with GLL, Grimes and Mammo, it's just one step above getting a lobotomy. Let's not forget this project was far more architecturally interesting originally...

AoD
 
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One can only imagine the results if the commission had been won by Siamak Hariri, Don Schmitt or Marianne McKenna (or if an international competition had been won by Richard Meier, Norman Foster or Herzog de Meuron). Attention to materials, massing, integration of indoors and outdoors, harmony with heritage, the list goes on. The tower element could have been even higher and more elegant. The precedents set by the institutional work by HPA, D&S and KPMB lead me to believe we would have gotten a complex we all could have been proud of, not this banal suburban eyesore.
 
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