Toronto Ripley's Aquarium of Canada | 13.11m | 2s | Ripley Entertainment | B+H

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I just came across a few documents today (dated April 2007) which detail the possiblity of a Toronto Aquarium. The developer is Oceanis Australia Property Group who are developing similar facilities in cities around the world (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, etc.).

At this point, all I have is some basic renderings and a site plan but from that it looks like architectsAlliance will be handling this one. It is a three level space with a huge glass facade facing south.

The site they have picked out is at the base of the CN tower, north of Bremner and west of the Convention Center (Can someone get a Google Earth screenshot of this?).
 
Shouldn't we be shooting for a Great Lakis Aquarium?

aA?

I love aA condos, but for an aquarium we need a Starchitect: Aquehryum.

Boo!

42
 
Oh, good. Our annual aquarium announcement. I was waiting for it.

TORONTO PLANS TO OPEN $60 MILLION AQUARIUM
February 26, 1997
Ripley Entertainment plans a $60 million aquarium near the lakefront's Ontario Place featuring "tens of thousands" of fish from around the world, company President Bob Masterson announced Tuesday.

Aquarium dilemma; It's a tough business, U.S. experts say And local proposal lacks key elements
24 January, 2005 -The Toronto Star
How do you turn several thousand fish into one white elephant? It's not a magician's trick.

CHASING THE OLYMPICS, TORONTO CONSIDERS A NEW WATERFRONT
November 7, 1999
News Toronto Bureau
Canada's largest city may soon undertake a massive redevelopment of its waterfront that would include a new transit line, an aquarium, museum, parks and a floating hotel.

York will have new museum dedicated to underwater creatures
Toronto Freeman and Expositioner, July Number, 1806.
Town's new "aquariamme" to hold live sea creatures such as octopuse and possibly even a mermaide; To be open to publicke for viewing; Fees upon entrance are a shilling! To be located on water at Front Street.
 
I keep hoping for an aquarium, but the site by the CN Tower is a terrible spot. It would make the most sense to build it right on the water, like Chicago's. This could be 'the' thing to attract people to our new east side waterfront.

That said, it still seems very pie-in-the-sky right now, so I'm not going to get too excited.
 
^I like aquariums and all, but if the project proposal is to be an info-tainment company franchise no thank you. How about one day this is just put to rest and a project proposal spearheaded by the provincial government (this being the provincial capital after all) is implemented to build an Ontario Aquarium. The focus of the centre would be Ontario marine environments and private and corporate donations would be encouraged.
 
I'm quite fine with a "small scale" aquarium at the foot of the CN Tower. As a company looking to start a tourist attraction in Toronto, wouldn't one of the best spots in the city be right next to a mature, popular landmark like the CN Tower?

Would this kill any of Toronto's plans (or rather, the dreams of some people) to build a big landmark aquarium somewhere along the waterfront. I don't think so. Just like Toronto has more than one museum, Toronto can handle another aquarium. If we do get our landmark aquarium we can consider the relationship between it and this smaller aquarium as something like the ROM and the Gardiner Museum.

The Tokyo Tower has an aquarium at its base, which claims to have 50,000 fish...

image_008.jpg
 
I like the idea of a smaller Ontario marine based aquarium by the CN Tower, leaving the possibility for a waterfront landmark aquarium open.

If we only get one though, I say go big or go home.
 
egotrippin said:
I like the idea of a smaller Ontario marine based aquarium by the CN Tower, leaving the possibility for a waterfront landmark aquarium open.

If we only get one though, I say go big or go home.
Click to expand...

That's fine, but why would the local aquarium featuring predominantly local fish and other marine life be so divorced from our local body of water. I suggest we create stronger connections between the fish in captivity and their 'free' counterparts by placing the Ontario Aquarium (working name) on or beside Lake Ontario? The starchitect-constructed star-quarium could reside in its initial place beside our other 'star' attraction (2-for-1 tickets?).
 
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