Doors Open 2010

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A week tomorrow - Saturday May 29 - and continuing on Sunday May 30 - 146 buildings across Toronto will throw open their doors and lay out the welcome mat for a public eager for a peak at places they normally wouldn't - and often couldn't - go. During the lead-up UrbanToronto will pick several of the locations to highlight for you. We encourage you to see any of the buildings on the list of course, but have a some favourites here for your consideration:

John St Roundhouse - Toronto Railway Heritage Centre

This is not the first time that the John Street Roundhouse has been on the Doors Open circuit, but this is the first year that it features the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre as a working museum. The Toronto Railway Historical Association has spent years restoring their bays in the roundhouse, restoring the turntable in the yard outside, and restoring many engines, freight cars, and rail buildings which have been moved to the site from across Toronto. A miniature railway has also been built onsite for the delight of children.

The location on Bremner Boulevard across from the CN Tower will be open both Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM until 5 PM, with last admittance at 4:30 PM. For more information on this site, click here.

UrbanToronto suggests that you time your visit to the Railway Heritage Centre so that you can join us next door at the Roundhouse and Steam Whistle Brewing.

John St. Roundhouse - Steam Whistle Brewing

Steam Whistle Brewing, located in the eastern bays of the roundhouse, opened to the public during Doors Open 2000. Ten years later, the beermaker has won numerous awards and is going strong. The brewery's insertion into the historic building has been done beautifully, and therefore the tours have been popular ever since. Tours start on the quarter hour and include a sample of the beer.

While Steam Whistle will be open both Satuday 10 AM until 6 PM and Sunday 10 AM until 5 PM, UrbanToronto suggests you plan to be there on Saturday at Noon or 1 PM when Steam Whistle's architect, Dave Taylor of Ware Malcolm, will be on hand to present the design process of creating a brewery in a historic industrial building. Come see the building, enjoy the beer, and meet some fellow UTers amongst the crowd. For more information on this site, click here.

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Doors Open takes place this coming weekend at 146 buildings across Toronto, with most buildings open to visitors both days. Some buildings only open for either the Saturday or the Sunday however, and today we will give you something to consider regarding your touring on Sunday the 30th.

If you have never been, it's worth spending some of your time this Sunday at two of Toronto's modernist masterpieces, both located on the same city block.

Gardiner Museum

The more familiar of the two is the Gardiner Museum at 111 Queens Park. Originally opened waaaaay back in 1984 in a building designed by Keith Wagland, the museum underwent a multi-award-winning expansion by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects and reopened as the first of the cultural renaissance building projects of 2006. The three storey modernist structure is clad in a buff limestone, and features bold but simple box shapes across the street from the Royal Ontario Museum. Along with touring exhibitions of ceramic art, the museum features a renowned permanent collection of these treasures: the BBC's Antiques Roadshow popped by for a visit when they came by in 2001. If you haven't been yet, maybe Sunday, May 30th 2010 is your chance to check it out.

McKinsey & Company

Around the corner at 110 Charles Street West, and a bit less known, is Siamak Hariri's 1999-opened McKinsey & Company building, another multi-award winner. McKinsey has only rarely been on Door Open before; possibly only once before for the inaugural Doors Open in 2000 in fact. This beautiful office space will make you wonder why you don't work of McKinsey. A prairie-style influenced modernist building, it features pale Algonquin limestone, copper, teak, mahogany, and large windows in long horizontal bands. Who knows how many years it may be before McKinsey opens their doors again, so do not miss it this Sunday!

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There are quite a number of architectural offices open to the public at this year's Doors Open, and they will likely all be quite interesting. This year one of the city's most renowned practices will go the extra mile and run a programme called 'Ask An Architect'. Diamond and Schmitt Architects will showcase a roster of their new buildings in Toronto, from across Canada, and abroad. Visitors will hear about developments at opera and symphony halls, the green revolution that is changing the landscape of design, the new look on campuses and the art of architectural illustration in watercolour.

Presentations will take place every half hour between 1PM and 5PM on both days, led by members of the renowned Toronto-based architecture firm. Visitors will also see models and renderings of works in progress.

The line-up of presentations at the Diamond and Schmitt offices at 384 Adelaide St. W:

Saturday May 29
1:15PM Varsity Stadium
1:45PM Sustainable design
2:15PM The art of architectural illustration
2:45PM Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia
3:15PM Algonquin College in Ottawa goes LEED Platinum
3:45PM The SickKids Research Tower
4:15PM Santa Fe Community College and New Mexico Highlands University

Sunday May 30
1:15PM Bridgepoint Hospital and the Don Jail
1:45PM Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia
2:15PM Evergreen Brick Works
2:45PM Southbrook Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake
3:15PM Designing better libraries
3:45PM Corus Quay
4:15PM The new Montreal Symphony hall

Many of these projects are ones which have generated significant discussion on UrbanToronto, and we hope members will attend and report back. Let us know what you learn!

 

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University campuses include some of the most interesting buildings across the GTA, and over the years many of them have been included on Doors Open. This year, one might be curious about the new Archives of Ontario building up at York University, more for what's inside than for the uninspired exterior, but for many it's a long way to go for only one building. Why aren't more York U buildings on the tour? The campus certainly has lots of interesting places to see that have opened over the last several years...

but the campus to hit this year is the U of T's Scarborough campus. Only open on Saturday the 29th, six buildings await your curiousity there, five of them six years old or younger, while the sixth is the classic 1965 brutalist structure by John Andrews that serves as the campus's multi-wing main building.

All of the details await at this link, but here's a quick look at the buildings that are open:

Academic Resource Centre, Brian McKay-Lyons, 2004

Arts & Administration Building, Montgomery & Sisam, 2005

Management Building, KPMB, 2004

Science Research Building, Moriyama Teshima, 2006

Student Centre, Dunlop Architects, 2004

 

[interchange42]

It's nearly impossible to pick a last building to highlight for our Doors Open series this year - over a hundred and thirty are left to consider - some on the list for the first time, some for the first time in a long time, some that are on every year. Maybe this is the year to go to one of the every-year bunch that we've missed in the past. Maybe it's a case of only running around to the first-timers. Maybe it's a case of heading to a part of town that we're not normally in, and doing everything in that area.

Hard to pick one... so here's 10 more notables: (with apologies to those that we don't mention)

City Hall Podium Green Roof - well, we've gotta see the brand new green roof, the first part of the makeover of the whole square.

Citytv and OMNI Television Rogers Studios - we've gotta get in to this controversial remake, and will be in line!

Distillery Historic District - Stone Distillery Building 5 - ah, another Distillery building to poke through! The museum like interior especially tempts - we're there!

Evergreen Brick Works - so much has gone on here in the last year here, that a visit should reveal a lot about the eventual finished facilities here!

Frontier College / Gzowski House - this looks intriguing, what have we here?

Gilda's Club Greater Toronto - the Lombard Street Firehall - it's a great cause... and should make for a memorable tour...

Le Méridien King Edward - the Crystal Ballroom is accessible again, and we're telling anyone who has not seen it to go!

Portlands Energy Centre - intriguing: this big ugly plant should have lots of cool machinery to ooh and ahh over - it's gotta be good for something...

Toronto Community Housing - 501 Adelaide Street East - gotta get into this TCHC building that a number of people have said is too good for TCHC!

TTC Mount Dennis Bus Garage - last year's standout Greenwood Shops is back on, but we want to see this new addition to the TTC touring lineup!

 

[khris]

I totally wanted to go to this today, but everyone I know sucks and doesn't seem interested in going. So I wanna go tomorrow. Anyone mind if I tag along with them?

 

[sungs]

I checked out the Roundhouse today, pretty cool. I'm wondering why there isn't much discussion on this thread, I thought urban Toronto would be all over this. I do think the limited time/hours takes away from it though.

 

[khris]

In the past Doors Open events, there was more discussion. This year though, not sure why there is no interest.
The hours definitely sucks 5pm for most places.

 

[hbl33]

I would be forced to visit again Sunday afternoon because of limited opening hours today. And how unfortunate of me, I wasted almost 1 hour after searching for my lost cam which it was rediscovered at D+S just in minutes before closing!

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

I was really thrilled by the John St roundhouse and Toronto Railway Historical whatchamacallit. Spent nearly 2 hours there.

 

[adHominem]

Had a lovely time at Moriyama & Teshima; it's a beautiful space, it's a shame it'll be gone within a year.

Also checked out the City Hall green roof opening. It's quite lovely, they did a great job. It seemed kind of silly to go, since I work a block away and can visit any time, but it was nice to be there for the opening day festivities. There were people in costume which covered them head-to-toe in fake clover. They must have been boiling under there!

Today, not so much. Sunnyside pavilion, then pedestrian Sunday in Kensington. I don't know. As much as I love Doors Open, for the first time in years there weren't many things on the list where I felt absolutely compelled to go.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

In the past Doors Open events, there was more discussion. This year though, not sure why there is no interest.
The hours definitely sucks 5pm for most places.

hahahaha... yeah, I totally get how 7 hours from 10am to 5pm for two days on the weekend would cut down on the opportunities. Whatever.

I went to see the City Hall new park/roof. Very impressive -- big, beautiful, great use of the space. I will be back. (BTW, the kids at the UofT residence that used to be a hotel on Chestnut have a bridge to this park! Totally urging my daughter to put this on the University wannahaves list!)

Then, I went to see the Roundhouse. Rode the turntable, checked out the engines, even took a quick peek at the Leon's. Gastronomic heaven lunch of poutine & pilsner. This is a fun little park! (BTW -- those whingers who were fulminating about the mini-train's garage not being 'appropriate' -- I looked around to see how 'bad' it was. Couldn't find it. Not out front, not near the mini-train station... so I followed the tracks. Nope, not over here, or here, or here... wait a minute -- there, stuck behind some trees! Behind a hill! Behind the brewery! Next to the Steam Whistle parking lot! A... perfectly appropriate, unobtrusive little garage with mini-turn table.

Whoever it was that complained about this has too much time on their hands and/or never saw it in context.

Good day, all round.

 

[adamg4848]

I love this. This is only the second year I have gone out, but all in all, I had a really good time. It really made me appreciate a lot of the buildings I just wak by everyday, and don't give them a second glance. My only disappointment was not getting to go to Diamond & Schmitt. I planned to go there first since it was about 5 minutes from home, but when I got there they weren't open yet. I hoped I would have time to stop by on the way back, but no such luck. Did anybody go there? If so, did I miss anything?

 

[MetroMan]

If I may respectfully say this, I think UT dropped the ball. This should have been a feature on the front page and should have had a dedicated forum section where users could post their experiences and photos at different venues, each with their own thread.

I had a hard time finding this thread, buried in the Out & About section (appropriate I know, but hidden) and after 2 days of Doors Open, Im writing the 14th post.

Urban Toronto could have been the headquarters for Doors Open and should propose it to organizers next year.

 

[egotrippin]

Ugh, I came down with an awful cold this weekend and completely missed out. For one, why did I have to get sick this weekend, and two, who gets a cold at this time of the year? I am so disappointed, so I will be living vicariously through everyone's photos and reports on UT to come!