Recent content by PaulF

NPS is not inviting for a couple of reasons - 1. the darn pedestrian walkway says "do not enter"; and 2. once you're in NPS, there's nothing to do. Nothing neighbours on to it. The french fry trucks on the street are the big draw. It's a shame really. Maybe we need to tear down city hall and...

CN Tower is the best architecture in the City. Period. It makes (almost) everything else look like a series of small compromises. It is still amazing to look at - whether from afar or from right at the base. Modern, yet timeless. It's great.

A few follow-ups. Regarding using the Don and other ravines as park spaces, this was recently suggested by Marc Ryan at PublicWork in the Star: http://www.thestar.com/bigideas/experts/2014/02/26/remake_torontos_ravines_into_a_worldclass_park_marc_ryans_big_idea.html Personally, I think green...

I'm trying to find some more reliable data, but most of downtown Toronto has less than 1 hectare of parkspace per 1000 people, which is well below that of other cities...and compared to suburbs where this number is often higher and doesn't include private greenspace (i.e., backyards), the amount...

I view toronto's problem as both a park problem and a public space problem. With respect to public spaces, i agree that so many other cities have great public sqaures. I spent a summer living in florence, and like many european cities, these squares tended to be outside churches or other...

Very much in agreement. Downtown residential population has doubled in the past few years, and downtown public space and park space per resident still remains among the lowest in the City. I am not against development or density, but for a dense city to be livable, people need to have some...

I will go through the Lake Ontario Park document and see what it contains. I run this area every weekend in the summer - down to Cherry Beach, through Tommy Thompson Park, and out to the Beaches - so I'm curious to see what's planned. From first glance, my concern is that a laterally...

This place is far better than the AGO development. In my opinion, this is the best (from the outside) cultural redevelopment in Toronto period. The form, materiality, colour palette, ability to blend with the historic structure, the way it is visible from the street and allows people to enjoy...

Dont people find the greys and blacks and lack of shape monotonous and boring? Splashes of grey brick buildings around are okay, but the design of this area was supposed to reflect architectural diversity and be reflective of designs of buildings and a neighbourhood that evolved over time, with...

Agreed with the posts that the silva cells have really helped the tree growth and are contributing to an amazing feeling down there. They were used on Bloor St too, so lets see how that strips trees evolve over time. The redo of the public realm on Front between jarvis and parliament was a...

On another matter, who had the idea to put that exterior glass railing on the outside of the window wall system? That looks like a future maintenance disaster. How are window cleaners going to clean the windows behind that glass section or the inside of the glass section itself?