Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

[achender]

A phone pic from last night.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

First time seeing the Guastavino tiles actually in gold colour.

AoD

 

[Garuda]

With the concourse closed this would have been a good time for VIA to update their arrivals/departures board to a retro display similar to Paris Gare de Nord

https://soundlandscapes.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/the-gare-du-nord-and-its-sounds/

 

[Richard White]

A phone pic from last night.

View attachment 97844

Is it just me or does it look brighter in the Great Hall now that the grime is cleared

 

[DSC]

First time seeing the Guastavino tiles actually in gold colour.

AoD

Yes, they look great and they are getting them cleaned remarkably quickly. On Wednesday it looked to me as though they had just about finished installing the new metal studs on the ceilings etc of the VIA concourse and the electricians seemed to be finishing up too. I suspect that one day soon we will see new ceilings.

 

[Maco in the 6]

I can't wait for the new chandeliers to be installed

 

[DSC]

I can't wait for the new chandeliers to be installed

The City cancelled the contract for their fabrication so I am not sure what is going on with them.

This was reported back in early October:

For those worried about the lighting in Great Hall:

Request for Quotation - Prequalification

Call number: 3907-16-3141
Commodity: Goods and Services, Electrical Supplies
Description: Toronto Union Station Great Hall Chandelier Fabrication,65 Front Street West, Toronto.
The purpose of this Request To Pre-Qualify is to solicit information about your firm’s previous performance and ability to undertake custom luminaire fabrication, specifically regarding Toronto Union Station Great Hall Chandelier Fabrication,65 Front Street West, Toronto.
Issue date: October 6, 2016

Closing date: October 20, 2016
at 12:00 Noon
Notes: Viewing Copy

3907-16-3141-Viewing Copy.pdf (627 Kbytes) - Posted on 10/06/2016 04:08:19 PM
The addenda and/or other files listed above are included with the Call Document purchase price but must be downloaded as separate documents. To view the document, click on its filename. To save it to your workstation, right-click on the document's filename,then select "Save Target As..." (or "Save Link As...").

Buyer: Maharaj-Thevathasan, Leana

Phone number: 416-397-5190
Email: lmahara@toronto.ca

Location: City Hall, 17th Floor West Tower
Client Division: Real Estate Services

Security deposit: No
Non-refundable document fee: $50.00 + 6.50 HST = $56.50

THIS TENDER CALL WAS CANCELLED (20 October 2016).

 

[W. K. Lis]

I can't wait for the new chandeliers to be installed

Chandeliers might "take away" from the ceiling murals.

 

[mdrejhon]

Chandeliers might "take away" from the ceiling murals.

Then maybe specially design the chandeliers as simple diffuse 30s style Artdeco uplights to shine more light on these murals and ceiling. The whole hall will be brighter when cleaned, and more than make up for the reduced direct lighting, and still be brighter at ground level. Or a combination thereof. Just brainstorming.

 

[Richard White]

Then maybe specially design the chandeliers as simple diffuse 30s style Artdeco uplights to shine more light on these murals and ceiling. The whole hall will be brighter when cleaned, and more than make up for the reduced direct lighting, and still be brighter at ground level. Or a combination thereof. Just brainstorming.

Well.. as much as I would like to view the Sistine Chapel at Union Station there is only so much they can do in terms of lighting.

 

[steveintoronto]

I know this has been discussed prior, much to the chagrin of some, but the blind faith of worship of LEDs is going to come to grief at Union. (And I'm an electronic tech working with these for decades, they have their uses, and social lighting isn't one of them)

How fresh can you get?

Some NYers Are Struggling To Adapt To Harsh, 'Authoritarian' LED Streetlights
by Nathan Tempey in News on Feb 2, 2017 12:42 pm
[...]
As the last of the Christmas lights came down this month, it became undeniable: the new light-emitting diode streetlights that the Department of Transportation is installing citywide had gone in along their street, one of them flooding their bedroom with light. The Department of Transportation started replacing the city's 250,000 yellow sodium streetlights with LEDs in October 2013 under then-mayor Michael Bloomberg, who hailed the project as a conservation measure that would save the city $14 million a year in energy and maintenance.

Windsor Terrace and Kensington were the first neighborhoods to get the LED treatment, and as city installation crews fanned out across Brooklyn, then Queens, complaints started to pour in. A DOT spokesman said in December that the agency has only received 12 complaints about the new bulbs. However, 311 data suggests there have been more: between October 2013 and the present, New Yorkers have made 1,739 311 complaints filed under "Street Light Lamp Dim," three quarters of them in Brooklyn and Queens. The drop-down menu for the DOT complaint form linked on the 311 website includes no option for a light that is too bright, meaning at least some of these complaints are likely about the new LEDs (for the record, the DOT advises people with complaints about lights being too bright to choose "Light shining in the wrong direction").

"Can't they just slap some gels on them already?" Van Woerden asked, leading a reporter and photographer to her street-facing bedroom, where the blue light so disturbed her sleep that she has installed blackout curtains. Before she put them in, she said, she had a hard time falling asleep, and, "I would wake up in the night and just obsess about the light."

"It would be fine if it was just a different" color on the spectrum, Loose said, chiming in.

There is something to this. The lights installed in Ridgewood and across Brooklyn and much of Queens are rated 4,000 degrees Kelvin, a measure not of brightness, but of what's called color temperature. A sodium bulb has a color temperature of around 2,200K, meaning it contains many fewer blue wavelengths, and many more red and yellow ones. Researchers have found that blue lights in the 4,000-5,000K range pose problems, including increased glare, which can hinder road safety, and disruption of people's circadian rhythms. You know how people are telling you to limit your screen time before bed? The same principle is at work here. [...]

http://gothamist.com/2017/02/02/no_sleep_in_brooklyn.php

It's even more than colour temp, it's the *nature* of the photon alignments...but I digress...people are waking up to them, as they're not conducive to natural speep. Resistance is futile...

 

[Richard White]

I know this has been discussed prior, much to the chagrin of some, but the blind faith of worship of LEDs is going to come to grief at Union. (And I'm an electronic tech working with these for decades, they have their uses, and social lighting isn't one of them)

How fresh can you get?

http://gothamist.com/2017/02/02/no_sleep_in_brooklyn.php

It's even more than colour temp, it's the *nature* of the photon alignments...but I digress...people are waking up to them, as they're not conducive to natural speep. Resistance is futile...

They are brighter though and I think that is what they are going for. They are also more energy efficient than halogen or fluorescent bulbs which in a building the size of Union can eat up a ton of hydro.

I do know what you mean though regarding the lack of sleep. I made the mistake of putting a bright white light on my nightstand next to my bed. It is so bright I can pretty much do open heart surgery with it.

LEDs are great but they lead to situations like this:

 

[steveintoronto]

They are also more energy efficient than halogen or fluorescent bulbs which in a building the size of Union can eat up a ton of hydro.

Actually not, especially when you are a 'bulk' user (you're usage is constant, and you get a huge discount price since you count as a regulation ballast on the system.) I'll detail further, perhaps in a string devoted to the topic. I'll just add this: "Penny wise, retina foolish".

 

[Richard White]

Actually not, especially when you are a 'bulk' user (you're usage is constant, and you get a huge discount price since you count as a regulation ballast on the system.) I'll detail further, perhaps in a string devoted to the topic. I'll just add this: "Penny wise, retina foolish".

I get what you are saying. Prorated due to the high volume of usage. It is the same arrangement the TTC has for their properties.

 

[W. K. Lis]

I know this has been discussed prior, much to the chagrin of some, but the blind faith of worship of LEDs is going to come to grief at Union. (And I'm an electronic tech working with these for decades, they have their uses, and social lighting isn't one of them)

How fresh can you get?

http://gothamist.com/2017/02/02/no_sleep_in_brooklyn.php

It's even more than colour temp, it's the *nature* of the photon alignments...but I digress...people are waking up to them, as they're not conducive to natural speep. Resistance is futile...

That's SAD. (As in Seasonal affective disorder or winter depression, winter blues, summer depression or seasonal depression.)