***Waterfront Development Thread***

[valantino]

was feeling left out with all the recent talk about the east bayfront

http://towaterfront.ca/dbdocs/434bdf4e45f51.pdf

[KingWilson]

this is amazing. the east side of toronto is going to start flourishing. east of yonge still seems strange to me, i don't go there at night.

i used to go to inglenook school so the area has a special place in my heart. If you want to start a coffeeshop or something, buy it in this area because it's on it's way up!

[ssiguy2]

When are they actually going to start building at the Donlands and for that matter the Portlands?

[rbt]

When are they actually going to start building at the Donlands and for that matter the Portlands?

Residential will be sometime in 2007. Parks and various infrastructure starts (roads, etc.) in 2006.

They've already evicted or relocated pretty much everyone in the area (low intensity industrial mostly). Building demolition and berm construction is supposed to start in January and will last until early 2007. It has been tendered.

They cannot legally build residential in the area until it is no longer a flood zone (berm completion).

[TheeBoss]

THREAD REVIVAL!

[p5archit]

PDF link wasn't working-hope this works!

http://www.towaterfront.ca/dbdocs/43f646ffee362.pdf


p5

[camel_trainer]

Thanks for posting that .pdf of the West Donlands. I have been looking at it for a half an hour now and I'm less than halfway through. It's going to be very nice if it all works out. I live around there and pass that area all the time. I defy anyone to show me a place within the city that is in more dire need of redevelopment. What has just struck me, though, is that this really doesn't affect the waterfront at all. It's billed as a waterfront redevelopment but there is zero Lake Ontario frontage here. Is there any more word on when there will actually be work done on the waterfront?

[p5archit]

Camel Trainer:

I believe the significance of this project is because it borders the on the property which IS on the lake- and also on the Don River which feeds into the lake-thus this would/could/should act as a catalyst for further development.

I also think they are taking this approach because it makes the most sense to start the city's most ambitious project with a warm-up project. Because it is not the highly publicized/scrutinized waterfront per se, this will be a good staging area to work out details and make sure the process works.

p5

[rt_0891]

A revolutionary city park
Apr. 21, 2006. 07:42 AM
CHRISTOPHER HUME

A river doesn't run through it, but one will run by it.

When Don River Park is finished in 2008, it will be the focal point of a new neighbourhood to be built at the bottom of the city, on land long since abandoned by its original users.

Designed by New York-based Michael Van Valkenburgh, whose credits include the acclaimed Teardrop Park in Manhattan, the seven-hectare, $17 million green space is a work in progress. But already it seems certain to become more than just a neighbourhood hangout. Presenting his plans to the Toronto Waterfront Design Review Panel this week, he made it clear he has high hopes for the project.

Though Van Valkenburgh admitted it's a struggle to keep up with engineers, who have begun putting the substructure in place, he spoke with obvious enthusiasm about the scheme.

As envisioned, it will represent a new generation of park, one not seen in Toronto, where historically they have been carved from leftover space. To begin with, the idea is to make something that will be used in winter as well as summer. That could mean an "ice feature" and a large outdoor fireplace, in addition to the more traditional skating rink, though that's grown expensive now that Toronto winters aren't cold enough for ice to stay frozen naturally.

"We don't need to improve on summer," Van Valkenburgh says, "so winter is a huge focus .... We want to do something with ice, and there will be a pavilion with washrooms and a café."

But perhaps the main gesture will be topographical; in other words, it will be done through a series of contours that reach from ground level to a height of 10 metres, high enough to see the Don. This is important because the park must also accommodate a berm to protect the neighbourhood against flooding. This area is, after all, in the flood plain of the Don River, and in an age when climate change has made natural disasters an almost daily occurrence, such measures are essential.

Indeed, nearly half the park must be given over to "meadow planting" because engineers insist there can be no trees or shrubs along the east edge of the park, which borders on railway tracks and the Don. Woody vegetation, you see, can act as a conduit for water.

"We're not fighting against the engineers' restrictions," Van Valkenburgh says, somewhat sadly. But, he adds, "the public loves the idea of meadowlands."

Another limitation, one he admits he doesn't like, is that the park forms the climax of a series of roads — Front St., Mill St. and Eastern Ave. — in a manner reminiscent of a monumentally axial beaux-arts approach. Of course, Van Valkenburgh is very much a 21st-century guy and such a 19th-century esthetic isn't his thing. Relax, Michael, you needn't worry that the west Don Lands will end up looking like Paris.

Much more to the point is the fact that the park will be inaccessible from the east. Cut off by water, railway lines and the Don Valley Parkway, it will be so close and yet so far. There has been talk about a footbridge, but of course in this city pedestrians aren't considered worth the added expense.

We should be happy with what we're getting and not ask for more.

Then there's the question of Bayview Ave., which will be rerouted to cut between the park and the neighbourhood to the west. If engineers get their way, Bayview could become another obstacle, on the west side of the park, where it will be dangerous as well as irritating.

Such considerations are all beyond the scope of Van Valkenburgh's project, which is restricted to the park itself.

"We're looking for a mix of passive and active recreation," he explains. "We're also trying for an ambiguity of scale along the sides to make the park seem large. But it's very much in process. Things will change a lot."

No doubt about that.

[Bertez]

Let the revolution begin

[CrazyCanuck]

All news, photos and disscussion pertaining to the waterfront should be contained in this thread. That way everything about the waterfront will be contained in one easy to find thread.

[Taller, Better]

Excellent idea! We needed this thread.

[taal]

Well I passed by HTO today and (Unlike my previous statement, in which i thought there was no contruction underway) it was quite underway! - I'm not sure but it looked like they were pouring concrete, good be wrong

[Jackhammer]

I was going to recommend a sticky for this. I think many people overlook how huge the effect the Toronto Waterfront Revitilization Corportation (TWRC) will have on this city. They have done enormous amounts of work to study the waterfront and develop a clear plan. Many of the visions are now moving into development phases and there will be a lot of exciting activity in the next few years.

The projects are in various phases from planning, to site preparation to completed. When all projects are completed, the city will be left with huge beautiful parks, recreational facilities, extravagant boardwalks, well planned communities supporting all income levels, dynamic tourist destinations and a waterfront the world will envy.

I have laid out a general overview of the plans. Each of the areas displayed can be viewed in further detail at www.towaterfront.ca where I gathered all the information and photos.

In addition to the areas below, the TWRC will also be addressing issues such as the Gardiner/Lakeshore corridor, assisting in pursuit of the University of Peace (likely to be developed at the Jarvis Street slip), Marine Strategy studies, Union Station Subway platform expansion, Front Street Extension, Ontario Place improvements, Cultural infrastructure, Waterfront Festival sites and Port Union Waterfront improvements:




CENTRAL WATERFRONT:






EAST BAYFRONT:










WEST DON LANDS:








DOCKLANDS:




COMMISSIONERS PARK AND DON LANDS NATURALIZATION:












LAKE ONTARIO PARK:






HARBOURFRONT:




WATERCOURSE FACILTY:




MIMICO WATERFRONT LINEAR PARK:

[myredhotcar]

That is a start. Nice pretty renderings. Fingers crossed.... Will reality be this good? (sorry for rambling about waterfront issues elsewhere; i just noticed this thread.)

[rise_against]

This project is huge! The floating restraunt off of spadina interests me...anyone got more info on that?

[Marcanadian]

I love everything about this project. I just hope it gets built soon enough.

[Martinsizon]

http://www.towaterfront.ca/dbdocs/44c76f76d66b4.pdf

WEST 8. DuToit Allsopp Hillier, Schollen & Company, Diamond + Schmitt Architects, Arup, Halsall Associates, David Dennis Design


The jury for the Toronto Central Waterfront Design Competition unanimously recommends West 8 as the winning design team.
The jury appreciated West 8’s bold and unified design concept proposing the creation of a continuous water’s edge and a re-conceptualized pedestrian and bicycle friendly Queens Quay Boulevard and their insistence on a generous civic scale for both. This team proposed a clear, simple and strong idea that can be implemented in the near future to create much needed public access to Toronto’s Central Waterfront for the citizens of the Toronto area.
The West 8 scheme addressed the competition brief’s number one goal by proposing the creation of a continuous 18 metre wide water’s edge promenade made up of a generous wooden boardwalk, granite pavers, a double row of native trees and series of new bridges across the ends of the slips. The jury appreciated the designer’s interest in building with enduring materials and a simple yet consistent palette. The jury felt that this design concept could provide an excellent blueprint for future city building in other areas of Toronto’s waterfront.
The jury supported and applauded the idea of a series of new bridges providing much needed east-west continuity, but the jury also discussed the important role the bridges should also played in framing open views of the water in the north-south direction, particularly at Spadina Avenue. The jury felt that the West 8 team needs to be given the latitude to explore innovative ways of opening or manning selected bridges to accommodate existing uses along our central waterfront.
West 8’s scheme addressed the competition brief’s number two goal of alleviating the current pinch points at the heads of slips while simultaneously creating a continuous public promenade along the south side of Queens Quay Boulevard. Their proposal was the only one of the five competition schemes that chose to keep the streetcar lines in its existing location while also creating a generous pedestrian promenade parallel to a new portion of the Martin Goodman Trail, an allée of trees to the south, one lane of west and east bound automobile traffic, and some parallel parking spots to the north, where space permits. This practicality has enormous advantages. Many technical details need to be resolved to make this work, but the Jury believes that by choosing not to move the streetcar tracks along Queens Quay Boulevard, the West 8 team put forward a scheme that could be implemented immediately.
7
Despite its great clarity, the Jury observed upon closer examination that in the West 8 proposal many existing features of Toronto’s Central Waterfront are altered. The jury felt that there are some significant existing elements along Toronto’s Central Waterfront such as the existing Music Garden, Harbourfront skating rink, HTO Park (now under construction) and other selected moments along our current waterfront that reflect the collective efforts of many citizens in our city at large.
The jury felt strongly that these existing elements must be maintained and included in a vital new continuous water’s edge promenade and Queens Quay Boulevard. The jury felt it was imperative that the West 8 team work in consultation with the designers of the existing public elements to ensure that the interface between the continuous waters’ edge promenade and specific existing moments is handled in a respectful and sensitive manner.
The jury appreciated West 8’s proposal to provide floating seasonal pontoons that would create small moorings perpendicular to the continuous water’s edge promenade and ensure flexibility as the Toronto Central Waterfront evolves. The jury felt that during the warm weather these short wooden fingers would contribute to the vitality of Toronto’s Inner Harbor. During the winter months, these floating pontoons would be store elsewhere and remounted the following season.
By contrast with the great power of these basic components, however, the jury felt that many other elements proposed by this design team were kitschy and unconvincing including the Maple Leaf Boardwalk Island, Simcoe on a Stick and Chinese Dragons and they detracted from the strengths of their design submission. The jury felt that the resources for the implementation of the project must focus on the two key goals and not get sidetracked on other less convincing areas.
West 8 proposed a new pedestrian link from the CN Tower to the central waterfront and a new public park at the base of the CN Tower. The jury felt this idea was worthy of further exploration but it is beyond the scope of this design competition and should not deter from the primary competition goal.

[nitzomoe]

where are they puting that poweplant that they anounced recently?

[urban 2.0]

... I think of all renders that I've seen of Toronto in the past while the one on the left is the one that gets me the most excited. If actually built as shown, it would be a fabulous new vista for Toronto. The look of the buildings with the curve leading to a grand boulevard that leads to Downtown would be a welcomed gateway so lacking in the east end.

Standing the park, or driving in from the north, would create a new visual excitement. I really like the tall tower to the right of the drawing, it would be highly visible from the DVP, eluding to something more, yet hiding the new town until you go past it. So like the Downtown Markham drawings, I hope nothing changes before the shovels hit the ground!!