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the Rogers plan is ridiculous - not only does it cut into the square but expands on the biggest obstacle for big crowds - the peace garden

like Plants the best
 
He's "Virilo" Revell in the print edition too.

Maybe an architect/babe magnet?
 
I like the peace garden. It breaks up the excess of concrete in the square. It's a nice juxtaposition.
 
The more I see the designs, the more I like Zeidler.

Before the designs were announced I was hoping for something that could replicate the interactivity of Crown Fountain in Chicago's Millennium Park (fav urban park in the world). I also love the great lawn with over head arches with built in speakers.

In a way, Zeidler has the most potential to replicate this. The ondulating lawn could be a place for sitting watching a concert hosted on the north elevated space right next to City Hall.

I would love to see the current reflecting pool turned into a splash pad by raising the bottom to allow for a 1/2" of streaming water which people can walk on, splash around in and cool off in the summer. It's too bad non of the proposals work on this.

UPDATE: I read the Zeidler description on the city website and I'm further motivated to support this design.

The scheme proposes to enlarge the square by removing the existing objects within the walkways. It is then extended to the extremities of the site. The floor of the square becomes the “canvas†for the site.

A garden is introduced to the west. An insert, designed into the floor of the square, it will provide a linear experience of wonderful sustainable gardens. Its undulating forms will allow support programs to be placed under it and will open onto Queen Street with a restaurant. The garden will create pedestrian access to the walkway level, and will provide a much larger and quieter location for the Peace Garden.

The notion of the “picturesque†must play a role in the new interventions. To this end the concept of a “movable garden†is introduced through a system of fixed and movable planters. These can create patterns for the various seasons and provide ambient light into the square. This system of planters will be used to green the square, the walkway levels and the podium.

Some of the planters will form pedestals for sculptures enabling the podium level to become an outdoor art gallery. Projectors mounted on the two towers will allow the projection of various artworks onto the surface of the square. The pool is extended westward. This new section will be more playful and interactive producing water columns and mist. The extension of the fountain will create two zones for the square, the first more civic and open to the north while the other more dense and active with food kiosks and planters to the south.

The grand existing trees will shelter this section during the warm months. The southern walkway will be reclad in glass on both sides. This added transparency will create better visual connection between the two sections of the square and City Hall. The tour buses will be relocated to Bay Street. The ventilation shafts along Queen Street will be reconfigured to vent into glass tubes that will become works of art. The Queen Street frontage will become once again a strong and welcoming entrance to the square.
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I like the idea that the new pool will be interactive, just as I was proposing. Mist will be fun and cooling in the summer.

I've also warmed up to the moveable planters as they'll break the concrete expanse, green the square and support the ability to stage sculptures.
 
Who wants to walk in a public pond or fountain? Who knows what type of bacteria would build up, not to mention wet bandaids.
 
^^ I strongly suggest that you take a trip down to Chicago. I went there last year at a time of personal struggles and standing on the splash pad in Crown Fountain put a huge incessant smile on my face. :D

I think you're not picturing it correctly. The water isn't knee high or even foot high. It's simply a thin layer, no higher than 1cm that steams across the pad towards grates on the perimeter of the square. This water is recycled, cleaned and redirected back to the fountains.
 
I went back to have a look again at all four proposals. I still prefer Rogers Marvel, but am warming to Plant's proposal more and more. Both are very different visions, but have great plans. I still hate Eb Zeidler's proposal. If anything, the final product should address the east side (at least the Bay/Albert intersection) the way Rogers does.
 
Please read the link I've already provided earlier in the thread.

AoD
 
I fall firmly into the camp of preserving as best as possible the original vision for the square, one which has already proven successful and popular for so many years. NPS is accepted as one of the truly iconic and best-loved spaces in the city. Why would one want to tamper with this by cluttering the space with hokey elements that detract from the original spirit of the place: NPS was designed to reflect the determination, if not quite yet the reality, of a modern, growing urban metropolis, not to reflect some kitschy or charming backwoods cottage mythology. In this light, the plan that works the best for me is Plant's. It feels less intrusive, and less competitive with the original plan. It cleans the edges and improves the flow between the square and the surrounding city, and it gets rid of a lot of the clutter that has been added over the years. In short, Plant's plan complements what is already excellent, corrects for past mistakes, and addresses the neglect which was probably the single biggest issue with the square to begin with.
 
Plant Architects won the day for me - with elements that were playful, mature, helpful, well-integrated and that seemed to have a sort of natural 'common sense' to them regarding the makeup of the square. I'm not sure about the Dundas-Square-style jet fountains where the Peace Garden would have been, for one, and I wish there'd been more thought regarding the western edge of the Square that abuts Osgoode Hall, but aside from that, I think it came out wonderfully. I love the integrated double storey restaurant/facilities pavilion that hooks into the elevated walkway near Queen Street, the prominent bicycle storage pavilion, the permanent landscaped stage.

I shocked by the allsorts stinkbomb that Zeidler Partnership delivered - especially because the firm has had such a keen eye for what has been urbanistically complimentary to Toronto in the past. After having built some real city icons, I thought they would rise to the occasion here - but sadly, no. A gridded acreage of concrete planters.....ugh. The only good point about this plan, I thought, was the restoration of the reflecting pool to something close to Revell's original vision.

Baird Sampson Neuart came in a close second for me after Partners. There's lots I love about this scheme (I for one, love the new walkway extension to the West, the streamlined plaza functions buildings, the expanded reflecting pool), but for me its' much-touted environmental features not only came off as a bit faddish, oddly, but they were not aesthetically helpful, and did not advance the square's programme any. The elevated walkways as cisterns? Erm.....

The last one, from Rogers Marvel, for me also fell with a thud. The massive encroachment on the square by this high-tech hobbit hole, would be a drab landscaped muddiness in winter, and would entail tearing down part of the existing walkway as well. I love the idea of an urban room for people overlooking the square, but I could see it all too quickly falling victim to partitioning and being sold off piecemeal to all the usual suspects - Starbucks, Tim Horton's, etc. A hot drink's perfect when you're ice-skating, right?
I also worry that despite the massive reconfigurations it would make to the West side of the square, there was no permanent stage included. having to put a stage up in addition to this new construction would seriously constrict the square in my opinion.

So there's my two cents worth....
 
Re Rogers Marvel design: "High-tech hobbit hole" certain beats my "Wonderland wilderness mountain" and building babel's "glass-faced lemming cliff." I think we have a winner. The prize? A spot on the selection jury! Congrats.
 
I love the idea of an urban room for people overlooking the square, but I could see it all too quickly falling victim to partitioning and being sold off piecemeal to all the usual suspects - Starbucks, Tim Horton's, etc. A hot drink's perfect when you're ice-skating, right?
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You're right. A Starbucks would be great for a cold day skating or a Frappucino on a hot day on the cement square. The one in the building across the street doesn't have enough space to allow people to move freely.
 
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