Toronto June Callwood Park | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | gh3

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The design competition for June Callwood Park (west of West Harbor City) was held on October 18th to 21st. Four firms entered including Balmori & Associates and dTAH, gh3, Janet Rosenberg & Associates and PMA Landscape Architects and Ground.

You can view their entries here in PDF form.

That link also provides a list of jury members and a preliminary timeline.
 
I really like Balmori & Associates and dTAH's proposal, with its slopes. They're a nice break from the general flatness of the area. But I can't see those warming huts being installed. I suppose they could be fun, unless the homeless start living in them. Or perhaps, keeping with the general theme of recreating the precolonial shore of Lake Ontario which was evident in some of the entries, they're references to First Nations.

GH3's thick urban forest could really make an impact as well. Their seating arranged like a maze is a memorable touch.
 
I too really like GH3's scheme, the design with seating + lighting gives the impression of a very urban park setting in a metropolis environement which is appropriate for the Fort York Neighbouhood ... IMO a 'green' open space park at this location would be unnecessary (given there is plenty of green space to the north and south)
 
I am afraid that the Balmori hills will become muddy hills, with worn patches of grass, otherwise I like the shape of it as well. Janet Rosenbergs proposal was less than inspiring, but so is her work at CAMH on Queen St. As for gh3, I liked their proposal a lot, the glowing benches are great, but I do wonder how well this will work in the winter- that said, if they manage to get all those birch trees, combined with the glowing benches and the snow, this could be a phenomenal space. The PMA plan is also quite well thought out, but I am not feeling the funny purple bridge which runs along part of the park..Let's see who they go with, but IMO, Rosenbergs is the only one which I definitely don't want to see win, everything else would work for me.

p5
 
Context

The Fort York Neighbourhood is really shaping up ... this plan shows nicely what's being built, and what's to come ~

(left to right)

Waterpark City + Atlantis ... Angelique St ... Neptune 1+2 .. Gzowski St ... June Callwood Park .... Bastion St ... West Harbour City 1 ... Grand Magazine St ... West Harbour City 2 ... Iannuzzi St ... Malibu ... (go north) ... LTD ... Bruyeres Mews

FY_context.jpg
 
I wonder where the wood would come from for the warming huts in the Balmori/dTAH design. Scavenging would deplete supplies quickly. One could roast some marshmallows or Kielbasa on a cold winter day and hang out with some friends. The possibilities are endless.

Sure, there's a variety of things which could go wrong, or no one will use them, or they'll be used occasionally to burn evidence, but the potential experiences could be great as well.
 
Balmori & Associates and dTAH:
It's too bad the warming huts are a great idea, but they won't work here. They'd be abused for sure.
I love the Gardiner Chandeliers! They would look awesome.

gh3:
My favourite part of this one is that it comes off as feeling like a park in a city. A true urban park.
The only worry I have is the birch trees would die from people peeling off the bark. They'd have to put up signs telling people not to do that.

Janet Rosenberg & Associates:
Nothing about this one stood out to me as interesting at all. It seems more of a suburban type of park setting.

PMA Landscape Architects and Ground:
Also not too much interesting about this. I like the light candles. I don't like the food ideas, with various things like raspberries planted. They'd just be gone as soon as they appear, and would be really pointless. Very limited enjoyment that would be.

I'd have to go with the gh3 proposal as the most interesting and realistic urban park.

One question though... why the heck is George Stroumboulopoulous one of the jury members? He's a host for a tv show that covers media and entertainment. Sure he is intelligent and smart, but I wasn't aware he really had the credentials for making important decisions regarding park space in the city.
 
I can only imagine the size of snowdrifts the Balmori & Associates & dTAH would create. Could be amazing and I wonder you could have those fire huts heated with natural gas. Though, i'm positive nothing like that would ever be approved for public safety. Shame really.
 
A nice variety of spatial solutions for the judges to choose from. When it's built, few visitors to the park will twist themselves into knots worrying that it's all too "clever" for them to understand if the design engages them and therefore works.
 
Wild street names.
Wonder what they were smoking.

from the May 2005 'The Fife and Drum', Newsletter of the Friends of Fort York and Garrison Common:

Names Chosen for Streets and Park in FY Neighbourhood

On February 16, 2005, City Council approved seven new names for streets in the Fort York neighbourhood. This brought to an end a process that began almost two years earlier when a committee of landowners in the area, city staff and Friends of Fort York met for the first time to bring forward streetnames having a special resonance there. Over the course of a dozen meetings more than seventy suggestions were considered, most of which were passed over because they lacked enough significance or duplicated the names of other Toronto streets. However, before any recommendations could go before Council, they had to be acceptable first to the Fire, Police and Emergency Medical Services people.

An effort was made to strike a balance between recognizing some the fort’s defensive features and honouring people who played important parts in its history. The seven names Council approved are Angelique, Bastion, Bruyeres, Grand Magazine, Gzowski, Iannuzzi, and Sloping Sky. (see plan) The reason for suggesting Bastion Street is obvious; it is in a line with the fort’s southwest bastion. Similarly, Grand Magazine Street recalls the powder magazine in the south ramparts that was blown up by the retreating British forces in 1813. The explosion resulted in the death of many American soldiers along with their leader, General Zebulon Pike. A leading native ally of the British at the Battle of York was the Mississauga warrior Sloping Sky whose native name was Nawahjeghezhegwabe. Angelique Givens is recalled as being fearless in confronting the American troops in 1813 as they plundered her house of its contents including the clothing of her seven children. When the fort was rebuilt in 1814 Lt.-Col. Ralph Bruyeres, a military engineer, oversaw its design. Gzowski Street honours both Peter Gzowski, the late broadcaster, and his ancestor, Sir Casimir Gzowski, a Polish emigre who constructed one of Ontario’s first railways from a terminus south of Fort York to Georgetown, Guelph and beyond. For many years Gzowski’s Wharf was a feature on the waterfront there. The seventh streetname honours Dan Iannuzzi who died in 2004. He founded of the Corriere Canadese and Ethnic Press Association of Ontario as well the pioneering multilingual TV station CFMT (now OMNI) Channel 47 located at Bathurst Street and Lakeshore Blvd.

In a separate motion Council also agreed that the extension of Fort York Boulevard to be built this year between Bathurst and Spadina would be called Fort York Boulevard rather than Bremner Boulevard, its name from Spadina through York Street.

But perhaps the happiest recommendation coming from the committee and approved by Council was to name the important axial park linking the fort with Lakeshore Boulevard after June Callwood, the journalist and social activist, who said she was delighted to know her name would be attached to a place where children will play. The Friends have established a fund in June’s honour for the improvement of this park beyond the Parks Departments’s usual standards.
 
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AG, you are forgiven for some cynicism regarding street names - often they are just plain stupid, with little thought put into them. In this particular case the City definitely had a scheme to it all!

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