Toronto Underpass Park | ?m | ?s | Waterfront Toronto

[urbandreamer]

Why not build "capsule hotels" for the homeless under the underpasses? I think it would be a brilliantly clever solution.

 

[khris]

Looks like this was from a press conference.

[video=youtube;FxU__33rD_o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxU__33rD_o[/video]

 

[DSC]

I think this is for Underpass Park? (Though it may be for the bigger park on top of the berm?)

Application: New Building Status: Not Started

Location: 515 FRONT ST E
TORONTO ON

Ward 28: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 10 143952 BLD 00 NB Accepted Date: Apr 1, 2010

Project: Other New Building

Description: Permit to construct new Group A building to be used as parks building and canopy -

 

[College Park]

I gave this site a good close look today, and stood underneath those bridges, absorbing the possibilities. Forgive the quality of my first ever stitch, but I wanted to convey the fact that this grim industrial corner has some good views toward the CBD and the bridges are sculptural, if relieved of visual encumbrances.

 

[DSC]

The demolition permits are in for the two buildings on Eastern between St Lawrence Street and the Eastern Avenue bridge. (One occupied by the taxi garage, the other vacant.)

pplication: Demolition Folder (DM) Status: Not Started

Location: 2 ST LAWRENCE ST
TORONTO ON M5A 3N1

Ward 28: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 10 165478 DEM 00 DM Accepted Date: Apr 28, 2010

Project: Other Demolition

Description: Demolition of the existing one storey building located at the southwest corner of the property. This is for a future waterfront development.

and

Application: Demolition Folder (DM) Status: Not Started

Location: 158 EASTERN AVE
TORONTO ON M5A 4C4

Ward 28: Toronto Centre-Rosedale

Application#: 10 165500 DEM 00 DM Accepted Date: Apr 28, 2010

Project: Other Demolition

Description: Demolition of the existing one storey building located at the south portion of the property. This is for a future waterfront development.

 

[DSC]

The demolition has begun.

 

[interchange42]

UrbanToronto recently attended a special presentation on the upcoming Underpass Park as part of Urban Capital’s speaker series ‘River City: The Big Picture.’ The gathering, hosted by Urban Capital’s David Wex, featured an overview of the park by landscape architect Greg Smallenberg of Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg, as well as an introduction to the park’s specially-commissioned public art installation ‘Mirage’ by artist Paul Raff of Paul Raff Studio.

Text by Doug Convoy, Photos by Craig White, Illustrations courtesy of Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg and Paul Raff Studio.

Underpass Park, the most extensive park to be built beneath an underpass in Canada, is an innovative, two and a half acre mixed-use gathering place currently under construction below the Richmond-Adelaide ramps in the West Don Lands. Through various gestures, the park will transform incidental space surrounding the urban infrastructure to create a new sense of place for the community.

Event host David Wex, Partner, Urban Capital Property Group

Underpass Park designer, landscape architect Greg Smallenberg, Partner, Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg, Vancouver, BC

‘Mirage’ creator, artist and architect Paul Raff, Founding Principal, Paul Raff Studio

Underpass Park's context within Toronto’s waterfront revitalization

Underpass Park's context within the West Don Lands

Underpass Park's context within the West Don Lands

Underpass Park's context within Urban Capital’s River City (19, 20, 24) and TCHC affordable housing scheme (23) in the West Don Lands

Underpass Park will function as a hybrid public zone (western block), children's play area-urban room-flex space (central block), and sports-recreational zone (eastern block).

The large gap in the Richmond-Adelaide ramps will feature fifty to sixty Black Locust trees set in crushed granite.

The ground surface of Underpass Park will receive different paving treatments – Ipe wood, crushed granite, recycled rubber, saw cut concrete, and asphalt – to add interest and delineate various areas of activity.

Generous seating, plantings, and attractive surface treatments will transform incidental, ‘leftover’ space around the urban infrastructure into a dynamic community gathering place.

Five to six meters of clearance underneath the ramps creates an opportunity for an urban room – a place for interaction and sipping espresso served from containerised, solar-powered ‘move boxes.’

Innovative lighting will provide security and a sense of wonderment after nightfall. Extruded-concrete ribbon walls with integrated seating will mark out pathways through the park space.

‘Mirage,’ Paul Raff Studio

In creating Underpass Park’s public art piece ‘Mirage,’ artist and architect Paul Raff drew inspiration from the threshold quality of the underpass, its sculptural and monumental piers, and the sheer scale of the immediate urban condition to be transformed. From this, Raff embarked on an exploration of space and light reminiscent of land-art installations 'Displacement' (c.1969) by American artist Robert Smithson and 'Holy Land' (c.2006-2007) by French artist Kader Attia..

Like the Smithson and Attia works, ‘Mirage’ uses mirrors to redefine space, redirect light, and reduce the distance between artwork and viewer.

Large, honeycomb-shaped panels of mirror and stainless steel will be suspended four meters above the ground from the underside of the road deck. In this way, ‘Mirage’ will produce a constellation of reflections via natural and artificial light to engage the viewer at all hours, day and night.

 

[Red October]

Wasn't this where the Pan-Am village was supposed to go? :S

 

[GraphicMatt]

Still skeptical, but if they can pull this off I will be most impressed.

 

[marcus_a_j]

Wasn't this where the Pan-Am village was supposed to go? :S

No. The Pan-Am Village will be located (roughly) in the area of Blocks 10-13 on the map below.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Actually the Pan Am village pretty much constitute most of what's left in WDL, N & S of Front Street. It's a pretty massive project. As to the park - it's not that big or amibitious - if WT can pull off what they did at EBF, this is peanuts in comparison - esp. in relationship to Don River Park in WDL.

AoD

 

[Redroom Studios]

this just in: Rob Ford cancels Underpass Park and sells land to Green P parking corp...

 

[Red October]

this just in: Rob Ford cancels Underpass Park and sells land to Green P parking corp...

And an update: Mayor Ford says that the Pan-Am "gravy train" needs to stop and cuts all funding, sending it to Lima, Peru, and ruins Toronto's reputation forever.

 

[GraphicMatt]

The dude loves sports. He'll be at the sidelines yelling at the Synchro Swimming team and stuff. No way he considers Pan-Am gravy.

 

[jreamer]

I wonder why they didn't extend underpass park all the way up to King Street?