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At last week's Design Review Panel, the design and planning guidelines being applied to the new Toronto provincial courthouse were run by the panelists for a second time. Located in the highly prominent empty lot on Armoury Street immediately northwest of City Hall, the much-anticipated building is being developed by Infrastructure Ontario (IO), with the current Planning, Design, and Compliance phase overseen by AECOM. Given the many sensitivities surrounding the project, a cautious approach is being taken, with a set of planning guidelines being laid out first before bringing a design team on board to formalize a building.
The site constraints dictate that a tower courthouse is necessary, estimated to measure in at around 22-25 storeys. The new complex will bring together many Ontario Court of Justice criminal courts operating across Toronto onto a single site.
Presenters stressed that the architecture of the building must respect its immediate context, in particular its intrusion into the views of Viljo Revell's iconic City Hall. The height of the tower will therefore be limited so as to preserve the autonomous expression of City Hall, and a rectilinear massing is preferred so as not to detract from the curving forms of the Modernist landmark. The materials of the building will be a mix of opaque and transparent surfaces to break up the massing that will be chosen so as to be respectful of its historic context.
New images show an outline of a building form on the site and subsequent areas of streetscape and public realm improvements around it. It is important to note that this outline does not represent a final building form, but rather illustrates the maximum zoning allowance within which the building will fit. The new tower may be smaller than the outline shown, or may take on a different shape that varies from floor to floor, but it will not extend beyond the footprint illustrated in the diagram.
As with its previous appearance at the DRP, the public realm around the building played heavily into the presentation. Security measures dictate that the new building must have only one entrance, which will be located off of a small plaza at the south end of the site. A total revamp of the surrounding streetscapes is also included, which would see one lane of parking eliminated on Centre, Armoury, and Chestnut Streets to expand the sidewalks. An interesting aspect to note is that the reworking of the streetscape is expanded to include sidewalks stretching north to Dundas Street and south to Nathan Phillips Square.
The importance of the context within which the new courthouse is located plays heavily into the design guidelines for the building. Presenters highlighted the wider neighbourhood, pointing out the site's relationship within the 'Civic District', which includes the Superior Court of Justice Building and Osgoode Hall to the south, City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square to the southeast, and Old City Hall, which currently contains courthouses and whose future use is uncertain, further to the east. The new courthouse complex is being viewed as the final piece of the puzzle that will complete Toronto's Civic District.
The DRP members praised the direction and goals of the document, and were pleased with many of the priorities set out, but offered some words of caution moving forward. Panelists recommended that more clarity be provided by the guidelines so as to avoid misinterpretation, as some items such as the expanded streetscape scope were unclear, or were included as suggestions but weren't mandatory. While urging a more explicit description of scope and requirements in the guidelines, Panelists also warned that the language should allow some flexibility within the framework, so as not to be too prescriptive in terms of the architecture and expression of the building itself.
Panel members also strongly argued for an expansion of the public plaza southward, overtaking Armoury Street to connect to Nathan Phillips Square. The hotly contested issue, which was also discussed at the previous DRP meeting, revolves around entrance and exit ramps to the underground parking under City Hall at the east end of Armoury Street, which must remain open for vehicular access. Panelists suggested that even a simple change of paving material to extend the plaza south would be effective, stressing that a visual and physical connection between the new plaza and Nathan Phillips Square is integral to the success of the project.
The design guidelines are expected to be finalized in the coming months, with a Request for Qualifications for potential design teams scheduled to be issued in summer 2016. Construction is expected to begin as early as Fall 2017, with tentative completion projected for 2021. The Design Review Panel is being given a prominent role in the project as the design evolves, and the courthouse will be returning for more appearances in the near future.
We will keep you updated as more details regarding the project continue to emerge. In the meantime, you can get in on the conversation in UrbanToronto's dedicated Forum thread, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
