Toronto 300 Front Street West | 156.05m | 49s | Tridel | Wallman Architects

adma said:
Listen, only twerpy virgin male adolescent skyscraper/development geeks are really really longing for Toronto becoming another Hong Kong (let alone another Dubai) within this century...
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... on second thought ... naaaaaa.
 
I liked the idea of the parkette being on the west side with the building to the east. This building and parkette only take up half of the parking lot that currently exists. No doubt, the other half will be developed soon. If the original plans remained and another tower was built on the western half of the lot, we would have seen a parkette with buildings on either side, and the podium tucked in behind. Now it will be a park on the corner with 2 buildings to the side.
 
As nice as ultra-density is, parkettes are great. I love having a nice place to sit down and take in the city from a calmer perspective.
 
A spot of greenery is always needed. A well maintained parkette is like an oasis.
 
Dont worry. The parkette wont be much bigger than the little bit of space outside the RBC building across the street, which I think blends into the streetscape. It's not going to be a big waste of space.
 
Jdot said:
Dont worry. The parkette wont be much bigger than the little bit of space outside the RBC building across the street, which I think blends into the streetscape. It's not going to be a big waste of space.
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You mean the sidewalk?

There's actually that nice little park right across the street, on the south west corner of john and front. I don't recall the name of it. In fact I didn't even realize it was there until this past summer.
 
Cloud Gardens, the green component of the original BA center, and the only complete part of the original design is still one of my favorite 'urban spaces.' The small Park in between University and Simcoe on Front is also a winner. The aforementioned park at John and Front is also quite nice.
 
yep Cloud Garden is quite cool though last time I visited it some sections of the wall had been vandalized and there empty drink containers floating in the water and the garbage can was over-flowing. Also, way back on Nuit Blanche I was walking by that little sitting area between CBC and Simcoe Place and the entire area including every single table was covered in piles of trash. So my first point is - why the F are people such slobs and secondly, whatever property owner is responsible for these spaces has got to spend more effort on keeping them atleast clean, if not secure from vandalism.

And while I'm on a rant... was anybody else at Caribana last summer? I think I saw 1 garbage can the whole day - is that the official plan? Is it actually easier to sweep a layer of trash off the street than empty bins? Maybe that is the case but it was ridiculous by the end of the day walking around in garbage and twisting your ankles on empty water bottles. Couldnt have been a good impression on tourists.......
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like the crying aboriginal fellow.

Our reputation as a clean city has been in jeopardy for years now.
 
You think that's bad. I was in London for a week and saw 2 garbage cans max the entire time.

Although I think they're afraid of bombs or whatever. I hate to admit it, but I eventually just gave up and threw my trash on the ground. I had been carrying it around for a good 30 minutes.
 
gei said:
You think that's bad. I was in London for a week and saw 2 garbage cans max the entire time.

Although I think they're afraid of bombs or whatever. I hate to admit it, but I eventually just gave up and threw my trash on the ground. I had been carrying it around for a good 30 minutes.
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It is true that they are concerned about security. When i was there 2 years ago I just gave my garbage to the security guards and policemen in the train stations and they accepted it (a local told me to do that because I asked why there were no garbage cans). They also removed all the hooks from behind doors in the stalls in the washrooms so that bags could not be hung unattended.

The one thing that bothers me about the garbage cans in Toronto is the lack of ashtrays for cigarette butts. I know some of the big and ugly silver ones have addressed this, but I never see them around. Cities all over the world have ashtrays with their garbage cans. I would carry my finished smoke with me till I found one (usually no more than a half block) because I knew that they existed.
 
ya, I remember that about London too. I think for the most part I just carried my garbage with me in a bag until I got back to the hotel. Also throughout the rest of England there seemed to be no public recycling bins. Even for home pick up they had not yet started recycling plastic bottles... I was almost tempted to put my empties in my suitcase and fly them back here to be recycled, luckily laziness got the better of me.

As for the cleanliness of this city - I have never seen crews of sanitary workers roaming the streets like say for example in NYC where each neighbourhood business improvement association seemed to have their own crews constantly cleaning up... I guess they couldnt do it here because they would have to be unionized city employees making $20/hr instead of minimum wage.
 
gei said:
You mean the sidewalk?
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Nope, I mean the small parkette, which is the space where all those RBC employees smoke on the corner of Front and the ramp up to the John Street Bridge. You have just proven my point about these small spaces blending in.
 
The original vs revised proposals:

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