Four and a half years after the winning entry of the Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization Competition was announced, the first of the major changes to take place at ground level is finally nearing completion. The aging skate pavilion at the southwest corner of the square was demolished over a year ago, and its replacement, designed by Perkins+Will Canada, is now awaiting its last pieces of cladding. While the wait has been long, we think it's looking pretty good.

Two UrbanToronto members, AndroidUK, and Nice Tommy have focused their lenses on the building in the last month to give us a look at the progress. First, ArdroidUK's shot from June 28:

image by andrioduk

Nice Tommy's shot from July 1:

image by Nice Tommy

and AndroidUK's shot from July 29th:

image by andrioduk

The pavilion will be joined by many other changes coming over the next year. With a planned completion of late summer 2012, other components include the Peace Garden being relocated to the west of the walkways, the walkways themselves being upgraded, a restaurant being built, disappearing fountains being installed in the square, many new trees planted, a new Queen Street forecourt to replace the patchy pieces of lawn to the south of the walkways, and more.

UrbanToronto has just created a new dataBase entry featuring several of Perkins+Will's and Plant Architect's renderings to help you understand what is coming. Click on the link below to get a thorough look at the project.